The American Farm Bureau Federation hosted their annual Young Farmer & Rancher Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Missouri this weekend.  According to coordinator Marty Tatman, more than 1,100 attendees gathered from across the nation to learn, network, and be inspired.

“Advocacy, Leadership, and Motivation were the three key areas that the committee wanted to focus in on this year.  So we picked three keynote speakers that would be able to speak on behalf of each of those topic areas.  Another thing we try to do with the conference is create a lot of opportunity for networking and sharing ideas,” Tatman told me.

It seems the committee, made up of 26 young farmers & ranchers representing various farm backgrounds, has worked hard and achieved the goals they set.  Keynote speakers included former NFL player, Jason Brown, motivation speaker Kelly Barnes, and founder of Voices in Advocacy, Roger Rickard.  Breakout sessions covered topics from public speaking to big data.  Miss America 2016 Betty Cantrell made an appearance to focus on healthy children, and participants even got to spend time in a Q&A with President Zippy Duvall and Vice President Scott VanderWal.

And while being on the committee is no small task, member Katie Farley assures me it is all worth it.

You can hear the full interview with Marty Tatman here:Interview with Marty Tatman, American Farm Bureau Federation

Listen to the story of committee member Katie Farley here: Interview with Katie Farley, AFBF Young Farmer & Rancher Committee