Albany - The New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) is encouraging high school seniors who have been involved with agriculture and plan on continuing studies in an agriculturally related field to apply for the 2010 NYFB Agricultural Youth Scholarship sponsored by the NYFB Promotion and Education Committee. Scholarship awards are $1,500 for first place, $1,200 for second place and $1,000 for third. The first place winner will be invited to present their essay at the annual Spring Conference.

Students applying must have a family Farm Bureau membership or a Student Farm Bureau membership (a membership application may be included with scholarship enclosures). Students are required to complete an application and submit a brief essay answering the question, "If you had the power to change something in your community or on your farm, what would you change and why?"

At the district level, a personal interview and essay presentation may be scheduled at the discretion of the District Representative. The county winner will be the applicant scoring the highest for each county. The district winner will be the overall highest county winner. District level winners will have two weeks from the time they are notified to update any part of their applications for state consideration. The final applications must be sent to the Farm Bureau office in Albany and postmarked within two weeks of the date of notification for the student to be eligible. The state competition is based upon the application and attachments.

The application submission deadline is November 22. To nominate someone for the scholarship or to request an application, call 1-800-342-4143 or visit www.nyfb.org then scroll down to "Recognition & Awards" to "Scholarship Information & Application."