American Farm Bureau Picks 7th Leader Class

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2013—The American Farm Bureau Federation has chosen a group of 10 young agricultural leaders to participate in the seventh class of the Partners in Agricultural Leadership honors program. Participants selected for the 2013-14 program are: Jillian Beaty, Wisconsin; Jason Bunting, Illinois; Joy Davis, Texas; Shannon Douglass, California; Stacey Forshee, Kansas; Joshua Geigle, South Dakota; Katie Heger, North Dakota; Adam Hinton, Kentucky; Elizabeth Kohtz, Idaho; and Brandon Whitt, Tennessee. The focus of Farm Bureau PAL program is to enhance participants’ leadership skills and aid them in discovering how they can best use their abilities for the benefit of agriculture. The program offers young farmers and ranchers the opportunity to continue building their skills after they have served as AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee members/officers or competed in national YF&R events. “Farm Bureau welcomes the 10 participants of the seventh PAL class and looks forward to the role they will play moving forward to strengthen American agriculture,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “The PAL program allows participants to continue on a leadership path within the Farm Bureau using their experiences from YF&R and other agricultural leadership roles.” Through PAL, young leaders will be given the opportunity to develop their skills in problem solving, persuasion and consensus building while learning about critical agricultural and public policy issues. Upon graduation from the PAL program, young agricultural leaders are prepared to represent agriculture in the media, on speaking circuits or in legislative activities. “The young farmers and ranchers that complete the PAL program are equipped to serve as ‘advocates for agriculture’ from their communities to Capitol Hill, telling the farmer’s story while raising awareness of agriculture-related issues,” said Stallman. State Farm Bureaus submit one applicant per state for consideration for the PAL program. Applicants must be “Sweet 16” finalists in the national YF&R Discussion Meet; top 10 finalists in the YF&R Achievement Award or Excellence in Agriculture Award competitions; former members of the AFBF YF&R committee or former state YF&R committee chairs. The PAL program is made possible through sponsorships from the Monsanto Company, the Farm Credit System, Agri-Pulse Communications and AFBF. Visit http://www.fb.org/index.php?action=programs.pal for more information on the PAL program. -30-