For participants in the 2023 Gary Langley Memorial Golf Tournament and for the Young Farmers and Ranchers program in the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, this weekend serves as the beginning of a new committee leading the way in agriculture for members and potential members ages 18 to 35.

“There’s not as many people our age that are doing, you know, what my husband and I are doing, and we honestly didn’t know that there was this many of us that were doing it until we got more involved in Farm Bureau and was going to the YF&R Conferences and things,” said Savannah King, Sharkey County farmer.

For Sharkey County row crop farmers Savannah King, Young Farmers and Ranchers is a way to make connections to others within agriculture. In Tate County, Anna Rhinewalt and her family enjoy the YF and R program because it gives them a voice and not just inside Farm Bureau.

“I was in Cleveland speaking with some junior staffers, with some congressmen on the state and federal level, and so that’s just kind of given me an opportunity to step up on my soap box and share some of the issues that we go through,” said Rhinewalt.  “Also at the same time making Farm Bureau and those that are representing us aware of those issues and kind of having a collaborative effort to see if we can solve some of it.”

But gathering here in Hinds County for a little fellowship and golf has a purpose. Not only does money raised here go to scholarships for current college students and future AG leaders, the YF and R Committee and Mississippi Farm Bureau as a whole remembers former committee member Gary Langley killed in a tractor accident, a reminder farming isn’t easy and you need friends and family to help along the way.

“You’ve got a support system and, whether it’s exactly what you do or very similar to what you do or something you maybe aspire to do, we’ve got people in every single facet, said Carl David Parker, Young Farmers and Ranchers Chair. “It’s group thinking.  Everybody brings each other up, kind of makes each other a little smarter, little better. It’s just they inspire you to do more and you inspire them.  It’s just sort of a network effect.”

“Sometimes, you know, when that’s your livelihood, what you’re doing to support your family and the people you love, you have to make sacrifices,” said King.  “So, it’s become a great thing to meet so many people that understand what you’re going through.”

Just like their crops this time of year, the Young Farmers and Ranchers program is growing. From less than one hundred attendees at the annual meeting just a few years ago to this February’s where 400 young farmers came together on the campus of Mississippi State University. Word is spreading.

“You do literally become family.  People that I joined YF&R with that are on my year, I mean, they’re some of my closest friends that I speak to on a daily basis,” said Matt Hammons, former Young Farmers and Ranchers chair and current MFBF staff member.  “So, common interest and then, you know, it just becoming a family.  It’s a great program, really is.”

That means individuals and businesses outside of agriculture are taking notice. Marcia King, vice president at Bank First in Noxubee County, sees this growing group and wants to work with them to help with what comes next on their farms.

“They’re the future.  I’m from Noxubee County and it’s predominantly all agriculture,” said Marcia King.  “If you don’t have those young farmers coming up, where does that leave your counties?  It’s extremely important for us to be an asset to them and to be available for them.”

This year’s Young Farmers and Ranchers committee came together for the first time to catch up with old friends and make new ones, because agriculture is always stronger together as one voice.

“You meet people that, even though they may farm a different commodity or, you know, ranch or whatever, they still go through the same struggles,” said Savannah King.

“I think it’s just kind of made us aware of the fact that we need to be involved with the people that are helping us out,” said Rhinewalt.

“Whether you’re a soybean farmer in the Delta or you’re a cattle farmer in south Mississippi like me, you come into an organization like this, and you can build upon what you already know,” said Parker.