Winter agriculture convention season gets into full swing in the coming weeks. At the end of January Indiana Farm Bureau hosts Step up for Ag, their Young Farmer Conference at the Indianapolis Marriott East in downtown Indianapolis. Allie Rieth, Young Farmer & Youth Programs Coordinator explains the conference focus.
“We’re really encouraging folks to figure out to Find their Voice and use their story to kind of connect with people not as familiar with farming and agriculture. Our keynote speaker this year is Roger Rickard. He is an advocacy expert who speaks with groups all over the country talking about how people can better tell their story and what it really means to make those personal connections with people so they better understand where we are coming from.”
Rieth added, “We usually have about 500 young farmers. A lot bring their families and it’s for young farmers of all ages, really. Those young at heart are welcome to attend.”
The conference is January 27-29. If you plan to attend the American Farm Bureau annual convention January 6-11, Rieth says the Young Farmer Conference is a great place to channel your energy and enthusiasm coming out of Phoenix.
“And we have three of our state competition winners who compete at that national convention. Our Excellence in Agriculture award winners, as well as our Achievement Award winners and Discussion Meet winners compete there, so they’ll be very excited to 
come back and share those experiences with everyone. It’s a great networking opportunity to meet other young farmers, folks from all across the state that have a lot of different agriculture experiences, and just to be able to come together and learn with and from each other.”
Rieth told HAT they’ll do breakout tracks centered around production, professional development, technology and communications, in addition to business. The business track, sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America will focus on responsible financial planning using the Growing Forward program from FCMA.
Registration is open now at the INFB website. Find Your Voice with Indiana Farm Bureau membership. You can become an Indiana Farm Bureau member by joining online at www.infb.org/findyourvoice.