Nominations are now open for the 2026 Agricultural Adventurers Award, one of Eastern States Exposition’s (ESE) most meaningful and prestigious accolades. As ESE continues to advance as a national leader and authority in agriculture through initiatives including the Agriculture Is Our Culture campaign, it is our goal to bring attention to this effort to honor for farmers in New England.
The Agricultural Adventurers Award is the pinnacle of professional recognition, honoring those who have influenced how we grow and produce as well as how agriculture is understood, sustained and passed forward into the future. These are the innovators, stewards, educators and champions whose impact deserves to be recognized on the national stage.
The ESE Trustees that compose the Agricultural Adventurers Award Committee review nominations in search of candidates that embody excellence and vision. They prioritize those that have made a lasting contribution to agriculture. Intentional nominations ensure that this honor reflects the depth, diversity and future of the industry ESE proudly represents.
Last year’s award presentation demonstrated the growing reach and impact of this honor. Our 2025 recipient, the Bloom family of Copps Island Oysters, was featured through local media coverage as well as an Agriculture Is Our Culture storytelling video that brought their multi-generational legacy to life.
During an interview with ESE, Norm Bloom Jr., owner of Copps Island Oysters, shared, “This award I received means a whole lot. It means a real lot that people are watching. When they picked us and offered us this award—it was one of our better moments, I’d say,” he concluded with a smile.
Agriculturists often play a thankless role in our local communities, and the Blooms—like so many of our twenty-first century farmers—rarely receive their deserved recognition. The oystermen and women at Copps Island in Norwalk are aquaculturists, so their plots for harvesting are in salty waters along the Connecticut coastline, invisible because they are submerged. Passersby drive over the sound and walk by the farm, unaware that the hardworking hands at Copps are working year-round beside them to put fresh catch on tables statewide and beyond.
This video is a powerful example of how this award elevates its recipients while reinforcing ESE’s leadership and voice in agriculture through compelling, shareable content.
You can cast your vote by submitting an Agricultural Adventurers Award nomination form. Nominations close on Tuesday, March 3. Visit EasternStatesExposition.com for more details.
