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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 9, 2008

Agriculture Magazine Earns Accolades

In The Field has been selected 2008 Agri-Business of the Year.

Karen Berry, a lifelong resident, started the monthly agriculture magazine in November 2004 to give a voice to the farming community. She now has editions for three areas, Hillsborough, Polk and Marion/Levy counties. She is making plans for a fourth.

Berry worked in advertising sales, including for The Tampa Tribune, before she decided to try her hand at publishing.

Berry said Debbie Simpson, who is chairwoman for the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce agri-business committee, asked her a while back for nominations for Agri-Business of the Year. She said she passed along some suggestions and was shocked when she received a letter stating that In The Field was the winner.

The magazine will be honored at the annual Salute to Agriculture Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 13 at the Red Rose Ballroom at the Red Rose Inn and Suites, 2011 N. Wheeler St., Plant City. Marshal Sewell, state FFA president, will be speaker.

The awards are hosted by the chamber of commerce and sponsored by Farm Credit of Central Florida.
Dave Nicholson
Local Trio Fails To Advance At Contest

Competition was stiff, and the local GospelMets trio came home from a singing competition without a win but with a memorable experience.

The Gospel FOCUS 2008 national semifinals held June 20 and 21 in suburban Chicago drew 3,000 contestants, said Edith Langston, a member of the Plant City trio that includes her sister Rosetta Smith and goddaughter Lisa Hall.

The group earned a spot in the competition after successful regional performances in suburban Atlanta in April, one of six regional auditions for the semifinals.

The GospelMets performed three times during the two-day competition at a Harvey, Ill., church, eventually ending up as one of 93 surviving semifinalists, Langston said.

The trio survived repeated cuts at the finals to join 93 returning performers for the final day of competition and hung on until the number had been culled to 30, Langston said.

Despite the name, the nationwide talent search was not truly seeking gospel artists, Langston and the others in the trio observed. "There were some very good gospel groups there, and all us were booted out," Langston said, adding that many of the acts that got the nod performed "contemporary hip-hop stuff."

Still, said Langston, a longtime songwriter who rarely enters contests, "It was interesting; it was good trip." And surely there is a purpose, she adds.

"If the Lord hadn't wanted us to go through those doors, we wouldn't have gone. That was the door he took us through," said Langston, pastor of METS Ministries, a small Laura Street church.

What's next? "I'm just waiting on God to give me my next adventure," she said. "It's not over. Whoever God wanted to be there to hear us, they were there."

Thirteen semifinalists will compete July 26 in Detroit to pick the winner, to be showcased on a half-hour nationally televised program on The Word Network, a sponsor of the talent search.

George Wilkens

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