Farm City Breakfast celebrates agriculture, overcoming adversity

By Jazmine Knight

The Chamber of Commerce hosted its 20th annual Farm City Breakfast at Word of Life Church to celebrate the importance of farmers, producers and agriculture and their impact on the St. Joseph economy.

“Agriculture is the basis for a lot that happens in this whole community,” said Matt Staley with FCS Financial and scholarship committee member.

Out of everyone that was recognized, a few individuals received special highlights.

Patt Lilly was inducted into the AG Hall of Fame as the 2024 award recipient.

Several high school and collegiate agriculture scholarship winners were highlighted as well.

“Agriculture, education, we have to support the education for that next generation. And that’s so important for this group,” Staley said.

Staley said he believes providing these scholarships is so crucial because of the high costs of education and the difficulties of getting people involved in agriculture, particularly if they don’t have that type of background.

“They see the opportunities and they start to integrate with the people that are in agriculture, it really they start to see the opportunities that are out there,” Staley said.

Staley, who was a scholarship recipient himself, said he loves seeing the recipients come back to be vital parts of the community.

“To hear them come back and tell their stories about how much help that was and support that was just a pleasure for us to be able to do that,” he said.

Keynote speaker Amberley Snyder was the highlight of the event. She shared her story about growing up and living her dream life. She was a 4.0 student, had a great family and was gaining more and more success in her rodeo career.

In 2010, she was traveling in her pickup truck when she lost control and rolled over, which ejected her from the vehicle.

“I injured my spinal cord, and that’s now why I’m in the (wheel)chair,” said Snyder.

Snyder, now paralyzed from the waist down, let her family, faith and love for riding horses motivate her. Eighteen months later, she returned to her saddle, with a seatbelt this time.

“Now I get to compete amongst the best of the best and the only paralyzed professional racer in the United States. And I’m also a keynote speaker and trial around and get to share my story,” she said.

Her inspirational words lit up the room.

“We all go through something,” she said. “I’ve just learned that, you know, God gives you the challenges that are meant for you, but he also is going to give you the power to overcome them.”

When she speaks to crowds, the biggest thing she wants people to take away is that they are not alone no matter what they are going through.

“It’s okay to admit that life is hard when things aren’t going the way that you plan, but you absolutely have the strength to continue to move forward,” she said.

Snyder, who was also an FFA officer in high school and for the state of Utah, said agriculture needs to be more widely recognized.

“Regardless of if you’re a farmer, right, you don’t have to be that,” she said. “But being involved in agriculture is being a leader. You know, it’s continuing to help shape and mold our world right here.”