Summer Leadership Conference Focusing
Members Towards Growth of Organization,
Future
No place like the sun, sand, and salt water of the Mississippi Gulf Coast to bring together the farm family of the largest general farming organization in Mississippi for a week of education, entertainment and fellowship. The 2024 Summer Leadership Conference gives members the opportunity to see friends and colleagues they only see a few times a year, but also for three specific areas for those in attendance with a focus on leadership development.
“I don’t know of any other persons that are better to tell the story and share agriculture than people who are in agriculture,” said Deniese Swindoll, DeSoto County member and volunteer. “There’s so much negativity being put out that we have to squelch that and you get a blessing out of it.”
First up are the Farm Bureau women and volunteers who keep county offices and the Ag in the Classroom program full steam ahead. For Deniese Swindoll in DeSoto County and Ashley Rhodes in Rankin County, volunteering in local schools is their passion, but they couldn’t do it alone.
“Our secretary, Michelle, she is very important in making sure our Ag in the Classroom run smoothly. She helps with scheduling everything, taking any requests from the teachers if they want us to come and do an Ag in the Classroom, to come and do an Ag in the Classroom program,” said Ashley Rhodes, Rankin County member and volunteer. “And so for us to be able to come here together, we not only get to know each other on a more personal level, which actually helps us bounce ideas back and forth, but it also helps with building that community so we can kind of help encourage each other.”
That’s why these sessions are specifically designed to develop county secretaries as spokespersons for the organization.
“Definitely when we meet the public every day. We are the face of Farm Bureau. So when people come in, they look at us. You know, they trust us,” said JoAnn Harris, Grenada County secretary. “So they have help teach us how to deal with people because it’s hard sometimes and then hope. Just what we heard. There’s hope. You know, it can be hope for everything.”
“It’s very important for the secretaries to know what the county women are doing…That secretary could say, hey, do you know we offer this program and we have someone here either local or at the state level that can come in and do some classes for you free of charge,” said Renee Keith, MFBF State Women’s Leadership Committee member. “We’ll bring all the material and just help you raise awareness of how important agriculture is.”
Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation awards over 200 thousand dollars in scholarships each year to students seeking a future in agriculture. For the first time, MFBF recognized and honored scholarship winners and their parents with an event in front of members, an important step to see students to the ultimate goal of graduation.
“We want our kids to stay in Mississippi. If they get a degree in agriculture and you can help them get that, they’re going to stay. They’re going to take that inner transference of wealth and legacy and carry it forward and make it better. They’re smart enough,” said Dr. Jesse Smith, President, Jones County Junior College. “They’re way smarter than we are. So, I think the time is right and there is not a bad thing about anything given to scholarships. It’s probably one of the best, most altruist things that we can do.”
And with speakers from across the country, there was truly something for everyone. From Miss Mississippi Becky Williams to Navy Seal Chad Williams to Congressman Mike Ezell and Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Patty Holbert all pushing members to go further, get involved, and take up a leadership role.
“The goal to me is to get as many people in the community involved and to attend, but also to be able to make it profitable so we can give back to the youth in the county,: said Patty Holbert, Kentucky Farm Bureau member. “Just get a group started and bring in all the partners you possibly can.”
“It’s about how we feel. Healthy looks different on everyone. Whether you’re a size 2 or a 12, you can be just as healthy as the next person, and in exercising, not only are we releasing those good hormones to build muscle and to build cognitive capability but we’re releasing endorphins too that make us happy,” said Becky Williams MS Mississippi 2024.
Beyond that, members heard updates on this year’s farm bill, the influence and effect of artificial intelligence on the farm, plus a variety of breakout sessions depending on what commodity their grow and raise from timber to row crops to livestock.
“I think you get a lot out of them. Like this morning, we had the guy from Washington give us some information on the ’24 Farm Bill and what to kind of expect from that,” said Cody Britt, Sunflower County row crop farmer. “There’s just things that I don’t normally talk about at the coffee shop at home or something like that. So, it’s a lot of information you can pick up at these.”
“We go into General Session and found out some scary things that maybe aren’t what we want to hear,” said Kipp Brown Montgomery County cattle farmer. “But, it’s facts and so we need to be aware of those things if we’re going to go out there and promote agriculture, and try and survive.”
“To be able to talk to people if we have a pine beetle infestation in our county and we want to be able to educate people and talk to them about that,” said Ricky Barrett, Jeff Davis County member. “We want to keep our roads safe and talk to people about why it’s important to find out about bugs, what they do, and how we can fix it.”
With meetings like these, the goals for Farm Bureau leaders is to grow the next generation of leaders from the classrooms to the farm.
“That’s a hard thing is to find farmers, you know, especially a younger farmer, and to get them in Farm Bureau that just does so much for the community, the schools, to promote agriculture, to teach the young kids where your food comes from,” said Scott O’Brian, Clay County cattle farmer. “You know that’s the thing. You know it’s just great.”