By LINDA CHION KENNEY
linda@observernews.net
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Harvest Awards, presented annually to recognize outstanding efforts in hometown agriculture.
The luncheon is a precursor to the Hillsborough County Fair, which this year runs Nov. 5-15. Both events are at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds in Dover.
The 2026 Harvest Awards luncheon is set to begin at noon, Oct. 20, to recognize the accomplishments of families, individuals and organizations for their achievement and commitment to agriculture and likewise, the effort to preserve the county’s agricultural heritage. There is no charge to attend, but advance reservations are required.
Harvest Awards are announced annually in five out of 10 categories but always to Farm Family of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Woman of the Year.
This year’s honorees are John Davidson (Lifetime Achievement), Hilda Castillo (Woman in Agriculture), Plant City Commons Garden (Outstanding Public and Community Service) and Everglades Farm Equipment (Outstanding Agribusiness).
Of particular note for the Riverview community is this year’s Farm Family of the Year, Astin Farms, which in 2011 opened Astin Family Farms in Riverview, as the packing and cooling facility for the family’s 540-acre farm.
According to company reports, the family, prior to that, in 2001, had formed the Astin Strawberry Exchange, a state-of-the-art factory run by a full-time staff to handle the sales, marketing and distribution of their crops.
Astin Farms took root in the early 1920s, when Sam Astin Sr. moved to Plant City from South Georgia, having “saved enough money to buy a small feed store downtown and a few acres of land.” Also noted in company reports, “in his spare time he began farming a few row crops, mainly consisting of corn, pole beans and a couple rows of strawberries,” having officially opened for business in 1923.
Family history continues, noting that Sam Sr. purchased land in eastern Hillsborough County into the Great Depression years, gradually increasing production of strawberries. Sam Austin Jr. was born in a two-room wood frame house, which reportedly still stands on one of the original Astin farms.
Sam Astin III, after high school graduation in 1982, joined his father full-time on the farm, assuming the management position under his father’s mentorship. Assisted by his wife, Buffy, and their three daughters, Madison, Payton and Baylee, the business remains a family business, representing now more than 2,000 acres of strawberry and blueberry fields, producing roughly 50 million pounds of fruit each season.
According to agricultural reports, farms accounted for 201,712 acres, or about 31 percent of Hillsborough County’s land area in 2022. Ninety-four percent of the county’s agricultural sales came from crops, compared with 6 percent from livestock, poultry and their products. According to county officials, more than 11,000 acres are planted with strawberries, as Plant City, home of the annual Florida Strawberry Festival, is known as the “Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.”
This year’s awards ceremony is co-chaired by fair board members Suzie Churchwell and Betty Jo Tompkins. The luncheon, Tompkins said, “is to honor traditions that have made Hillsborough County agriculture so outstanding, including everything agriculture from south Hillsborough County to Lutz and from the east and west ends of the county.”
Past honorees, with Riverview connections, include posthumous recipients Earl Lennard, a lifelong educator with tomato farming and agricultural education roots, who retired as Hillsborough County Superintendent of Schools and served later as the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. Also, Christopher Tompkins was an ag and environmental attorney, who as a student was a national winner in 4-H and FFA. His father was a past Riverview Citizen of the Year, and a past recipient of the Harvest Award for Lifetime Achievement in Agriculture.
In 2024, Karen Hamilton, a long-time agricultural education teacher at Riverview High, was named Outstanding Woman in Agriculture. Over the years past recipients have included Council Growers in Wimauma (Farm Family of the Year), Joe Sumner (Outstanding Farmer/Rancher), South Shore Chamber of Commerce and the Ruskin Community Development Foundation (Outstanding Public & Community Service) and Tomatoes of Ruskin and Sun City Tree Farm (Outstanding Agribusiness).
Harvest Awards was developed by Mike Mckinney, then director of UF/IFAS Extension in Hillsborough County and the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee. The goal was to inspire future generations and to strengthen the agricultural community by celebrating those who have advanced agriculture through leadership, innovation, service and dedication.
Upon his retirement, the advisory committee dissolved. Tom Umiker, fair manager at the time, secured putting the awards program under the leadership and administration of the Hillsborough County Fair Board of Directors.
Organizers say that in celebrating the quarter-century milestone this year, the hope is that the ceremony continues for “another 25 years, celebrating the best in Hillsborough County Agriculture and remembering and honoring those who were the pioneers of the industry.”
For a listing of past and present Harvest Award recipients, and to reserve complimentary luncheon tickets, visit www.hillsboroughcountyfair.com/. Reservations are required by Oct. 10. The Hillsborough County Fairgrounds in Dover is at 215 Sydney Washer Road. Call 813-737-3247.