James Roes of LeRoy will take part in the Minnesota Pork Ambassador Competition at this year’s Farmfest, the annual agricultural exhibition located at Gilfillan Estate in Redwood County.

Roe, pork ambassador for the Mower County Pork Producers Association, is a student at South Central College in North Mankato. His parents are Rick and Jean Roe.

The new Minnesota Pork Ambassador and the first and second runners-up will be announced at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5 in the Forum Tent on the Farmfest grounds. The public is encouraged to attend. The state ambassador and runners-up will represent the state’s 4,400 pork producing families at various educational and promotional functions throughout the year.

The individual selected as Minnesota Pork Ambassador earns a $1,500 scholarship. The first and second runners-up receive $750 and $500 scholarships, respectively. Judges also recognize the writer of the best essay and the participating county pork ambassadors pick a congeniality winner.

There will be 10 county pork ambassadors taking part in this year’s state-level competition. The event previously took place in January at Minnesota Pork Congress, but organizers decided that Farmfest — with its thousands of attendees — would better highlight this outstanding youth leadership development program.

“This is an exciting change of venue for our state Pork Ambassador competition,” said Minnesota Pork Board Vice President Curt Johnson, of Jasper. “We are very confident that our move to Farmfest will provide the program more exposure and will give the public a greater opportunity to meet these outstanding up-and-coming agricultural leaders.”

The Minnesota Pork Ambassador program is funded through the mandatory Pork Checkoff and is sponsored by the Minnesota Pork Board.