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Recently, we told you about Kylie Wheeler, who is originally from Carroll County, but now lives in Henry County and works for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. She also was the winner of Indiana Farm Bureau’s Discussion Meet that was held during their convention in Fort Wayne back in December.
Not only did Kylie get the chance to travel to the American Farm Bureau Convention last week in Salt Lake City and compete among other top state winners—she also made it all the way to the Final Four and finished fourth.
“You know, I’m not an emotional person, but I did tear up a little bit there. I was so excited to get the opportunity to compete in that final round,” she said.
She says she put in a lot of preparation ahead of the national competition.
“I reached out to producers in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, California, and Georgia,” she said. “I was really trying to expand my knowledge and gain a better understanding of issues that are happening around the country.”
One of the topics that Kylie had to speak about during the Final Four round was water issues, which has become an important topic for Hoosiers with the proposed LEAP District that Gov. Holcomb (R-IN) and others are pushing for that would send millions of gallons of water each day from the Tippecanoe County area south into Boone County in order to spur additional economic development northwest of Indianapolis.
“Actually, I referenced the LEAP project and the fact that we’re seeing water quantity issues for the first time right in my opening statement,” said Wheeler. “I was able to bring that up right away and say this hasn’t been an issue in Indiana, but it is now and how can we model maybe some of our policies and some of our stances off of states like Utah and Idaho who have been seeing these issues for years.”
For winning the Indiana Farm Bureau Discussion Meet, Wheeler received a $1,000 cash prize and all of the expenses covered from her trip to Salt Lake City to compete at the American Farm Bureau Convention.
For finishing fourth in the national Discussion Meet, Wheeler receives a Case IH-branded Solo Stove worth more than $1,000, courtesy of Case IH.
Click below to hear C.J. Miller’s conversation with Kylie Wheeler, as she talks about her fourth-place finish in the American Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer’s & Ranchers Discussion Meet.
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