IN a bid to highlight the role of women in agriculture, the Jamaica Agricultural Society’s (JAS) National Farm Queen contest has been separated from the Denbigh Agricultural Show, and upgraded into a stand-alone event.

The 13 parish farm queens who have been paying courtesy calls and touring agricultural facilities since last week, will vie for the National Farm Queen crown at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre on Sunday, June 25 at 6:00 pm, JAS president Senator Norman Grant said Monday.

The National Farm Queen who will become the JAS/agricultural sector’s youth ambassador for 2006/2007 will, as her first engagement, visit Calgary, Canada on July 13, for two weeks. She will be the guest of the Royal Agricultural Show and will be participating in a week of activities in that country.

At the launch of the 2006 Denbigh Agricultural Show at the Jamaica Broilers Group head office at McCooK’s Pen, St Catherine, Grant told the Observer that the JAS wanted to give the contest a “higher profile”.

The contest, the JAS president said, would have more focus if it were a stand-alone event.

“Having it at Denbigh affects our ability really to do the necessary tours, courtesy calls etc. In addition to that, all of the parishes have their own competitions and select a queen, so the run-offs have therefore helped in certainly positioning agriculture as a career choice and an option for younger people,” Grant said.

The crowning will be the highlight of an all-day family event involving a flora and fauna fiesta exhibition, which is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am on Sunday, Grant said.

“The JAS is going to be engaged in a serious drive to get more women not only actively involved, but more recognised in the agricultural sector because I think that they have a fundamental role to play and they have been playing a fundamental role,” he said.

Since last week, the farm queens have been paying courtesy calls on the governor-general, prime minister, leader of the opposition, minister of agriculture and Senator Grant.

The contestants will visit the Caribbean Broilers facility to look at the new genetic pigs project and to get an overview of the poultry industry.

They will also tour the Mavis Bank coffee factory, where they will see the production of Blue Mountain coffee.

As part of the contest, the farm queens will be judged on technical papers prepared by them from questions randomly picked from a box, the JAS president added.