Discussion Meet

Young Farmers & Ranchers: Leadership Conference Achievement Award Excellence in Agriculture Award Discussion Meet Committee of the Year Spotlight Food Check-Out Week YF&R Gives Back Request Information

Eligibility

Contestants shall be members actively involved in agriculture, and between the ages of 18-35; they shall not have reached their 36th birthday by December 31 of the year competing. Past Discussion Meet State Winners are ineligible to compete. Anyone who has received a fee or honorarium for public speaking is ineligible. County, State and American Farm Bureau employees are ineligible.

Collegiate Eligibility

Collegiate contestants should also be undergraduate college students, not enrolled in a graduate level program at the time of their state Collegiate Discussion Meet competitive event, involved in a college of agriculture with at least a minor in an agricultural field of study.

Competition

The strength of Farm Bureau is largely in its ability to involve members in analyzing their agricultural problems and deciding on solutions that best meet their needs. The Discussion Meet provides an opportunity for greater participation on the part of young, active farmers and ranchers and helps them develop a greater command of basic discussion skills.

The three fundamentals of general discussion are constructive criticism, cooperation and communication. The contestant's responsibility is to exchange ideas and information in an effort to solve a problem.

The California Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers State Committee will conduct an orientation; two round robin contests, a sweet sixteen round and a final round. The first topic will be announced during the orientation, while the rest of the topics will be announced following each round of discussion.

Discussion Meet winner Jake Wenger of Stanislaus County.

2008 Contest Winners

Congratulations to Discussion Meet winner Jake Wenger of Stanislaus County. During the California Farm Bureau Federation's 90th Annual Meeting in Burlingame Wenger came out on top while addressing the question of how Farm Bureau can involve new leaders developed through its Young Farmers & Ranchers program. Wenger spoke of starting early, with students involved in 4-H and FFA youth programs, and taking their interest in agriculture to the next level. Wenger works on a fourth-generation family farm that grows walnuts and almonds, along with his two brothers and his father, CFBF First Vice President Paul Wenger.

As the winner, Wenger earned a Dodge pickup valued at $30,000, plus $4,000 in cash prizes from sponsors at Dodge, Bank of America, California Farm Credit Associations, the Nationwide family of companies and State Compensation Insurance Fund. He represented CFBF in the national Discussion Meet competition at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in San Antonio in January 2009.

Collegiate Discussion Meet winner Jackie Mundt, CSU Fresno

In the separate Collegiate Discussion Meet, a student from California State University, Fresno, won the competition while discussing how the nation's aging infrastructure should be improved to accommodate transportation of farm goods. The winner, Jackie Mundt, studies agricultural communications at CSU Fresno and earns a $500 prize from the California Farm Bureau. CSU Fresno won the team competition. Mundt was a Sweet 16 finalist for the national title in February, 2009 at the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference held in Sacramento.

Registration for the 2009 CFBF Discussion Meet Competitions are due October 1, 2009.

Download

Application (PDF, 12 KB)
Application (Word Doc)
Collegiate Application (PDF, 12 KB)
Collegiate Application (Word Doc)
Manual (PDF, 137 KB)

Topics

1: How can agricultural producers reach out to the public to gain their support on important issues impacting agriculture?: Environmental; Animal Welfare; Food; Collaborating with other industries
2: The U.S. has the safest food supply in the world. How do farmers continue to improve the public’s perception of their products?: Domestic supply; International supply; Industry safety standards vs. government safety standards; Conventional and/or organic
3: What can be done to encourage young people to get involved in the agricultural industry and remain there?: Profitability; Niche marketing; Production agriculture; Agri-business
4: How can we continue to bridge the gap between farmers/ranchers and lawmakers in order to have an influence in the changing political environment?: Different generations; Training (county, state, national); Different industry segments

Reference Material

1: How can agricultural producers reach out to the public to gain their support on important issues impacting agriculture?

Feedstuffs Foodlink: feedstuffsfoodlink.com

Animal Care and Well-Being: Facts not Fiction: www.animalagriculture.org

Conversations on Care: www.conversationsoncare.com

Your Agriculture: www.fb.org

Advocates for Ag: advocatesforag.com; www.advocatesforag.blogspot.com

Animal Welfare bibliography: www.agmrc.org

2: The U.S. has the safest food supply in the world. How do farmers continue to improve the public’s perception of their products?

Know Your End Users Top Producer magazine , September 2008: www.agweb.com

Food Safety/Security: Feedstuffs Foodlink

Organic Foods: Feedstuffs Foodlink

Phytosanitary Regulations Shape Fruit and Vegetable Trade Patterns: USDA, Amber Waves, April 2008; www.ers.usda.gov

Center for Food Integrity: www.foodintegrity.org

3: What can be done to encourage young people to get involved in the agricultural industry and remain there?

Top Producer online -Young Farmer Program seminar: www.agweb.com

Don’t Wait for Dad Top Producer Jan. 2008: www.agweb.com

Beginning Farmer Center-Resources to help our next generation of farmers: www.extension.iastate.edu
Online publications: www.extension.iastate.edu

Food Industry MarketMaker: MarketMaker is a national partnership of land grant institutions and State Departments of Agriculture dedicated to the development of a comprehensive interactive data base of food industry marketing and business data. It is currently one of the most extensive collections of searchable food industry related data in the country. All the information can be mapped and queried by the user.; national.marketmaker.uiuc.edu

Agricultural Marketing Resource Center: www.agmrc.org

Farmers for the Future: Two farms in one: Crops, livestock, and sightseers complement each other on this Indiana farm; Successful Farming Dec. 2008; www.agriculture.com

What are the Skills of Financially Successful Farmers?: www.agecon.purdue.edu

Top Farmer Crop Resources on the Web: www.agecon.purdue.edu

4: How can we continue to bridge the gap between farmers/ranchers and lawmakers in order to have an influence in the changing political environment?

Farmers are Engaging Consumers in a New Way: www.fb.org