Agriculture Future of America Leaders Conference

It’s Wednesday and I think I have finally caught up on my sleep from this weekend. I’ll not complain, however, because I had an excellent experience at the Agriculture Future of America Leaders Conference.

Never heard of AFA? I hadn’t either, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that I happened upon their website while searching for scholarships last winter. I found the scholarship over Christmas break and hurriedly applied. I had technical difficulties submitting it and even had to call the organization for help, but I felt like I needed to apply and refused to give up. One day in the spring I found out I would be interviewed over the phone for the scholarship. It was nerve-wracking waiting until after graduation to finally interview, and then waiting even longer to find that I had been chosen, but it was well worth the wait.

The best thing about the conference is that it is a ‘leaders’ conference, not a leadership conference. In high school most of the conferences I attended focused on developing leadership skills. That’s a very important thing to do, but what do you do once you have those skills? How do you actually become a leader? What would established leaders say to those of us who are just starting out? How do I make this practical? These are the questions that I've found myself asking, and the questions the AFA Leaders Conference set forth to answer.

Over 500 college students from around the country met at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City November 3^rd through the 6^th. They had been selected through either a scholarship process like I had, or for university or industry sponsorship. Students were divided into three different tracks based on age. Track One focused on developing our professional selves, Track Two focused on communicating about agriculture, and Track Three focused on taking the big step from college life into the real world. 

I loved our theme, "My Piece. My Place. Our Future." If you look at the agricultural industry as a puzzle, you will notice that the people involved are very different. We all have different skills, abilities, and passions. It’s when we work together that we create a united front and a beautiful picture of the future. How true! During our time at the conference, we each dug into ourselves to better understand what piece of the puzzle we each were and met people with the same sort of vision but a different piece. I met a girl from China who was interested in bioengineering, students that excelled in economics and business, those who aspired to reach students through agricultural education, and those who wanted to go back to the farm. Whether your passion is science, mathematics, communications, or mechanics, just to name a few, there is a place for you in the agricultural industry. 

Here’s another funny part of the story of my adventure getting to AFA. When I applied, I had no clue about what this organization was. When I got to college, I realized that there were several of my friends going. It was great getting to know my friends and acquaintances better. I had known we all had different interests within agriculture, but getting to discuss our specific career plans and dreams was great. 

Beyond establishing and strengthening relationships, the conference gave us the opportunity to listen to leaders who had valuable advice. I could write a book about the specific details that I learned, so instead I’ll condense it down to a list:

• Don’t waste the summer after your freshman year. Take an internship, paid or unpaid, and get some sort of experience. It shows initiative down the road.
• Ask good questions- to recruiters, interviewers, employers…
• Don’t seek the quick fix to your problems, look for the next right answer. Think outside the box.
• You can never dream big enough, but you need goals and persistence to achieve those dreams. Dreams lead to vision, vision leads to goals, and goals lead to action.
• Know who you are and what you believe, and stick to it.

Here's an experience I won't soon forget. Sunday morning before we adjourned, three students from Track 1 had the opportunity to be a part of a forum about the three aspects of worldview: values, passion, and assets. This session was led by Justin Knopf of Knopf Farms in Kansas. When it came time to select students to discuss their worldviews, Mr. Knopf asked for a volunteer from Mizzou (where his wife is from). When no one else came forward, what could I do but volunteer? I went up front, nervous of course, and sat while Mr. Knopf called for someone from Kansas State (where he is from) and then another from any other school. I'm a quiet person and don't go after opportunities to speak in front others, however, I feel like this was a good chance for me to improve my speaking skills. The topic was all about what I believe in and why I want to be a communicator, and so it was easy enough to do that. I feel like self-evaluation is an essential part of being a leader, and so I hope that taking the risk to speak about myself will encourage others to evaluate their own selves.  

We’re continuously reminded that as agriculture changes, agriculturalists must stand up and raise their voices about what’s changing and why it’s changing, or someone else will. This weekend was a great stop along my journey. It reminded me of how important it is to remember who I am and what I’m out to do.