My family has always been members of Dawson County Farm Bureau, and by association, Nebraska Farm Bureau. At one point my father was county vice-president. We always went to the summer picnics and other events.
When I graduated from college I had to get my own membership, partially for insurance purposes. Farm Bureau Insurance is one of the most used benefits of belonging to Farm Bureau. I started attending the county annual meetings with my parents, always a good meals and friends to visit with.
After getting married in 1985 I was nominated for a seat on the county Farm Bureau board. At the meeting I found out I was running against one of my many older cousins. Much to my surprise I was elected and my journey started.
In December, 1985 I attended my first Nebraska Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, and I haven't missed another since. The first year we went to the banquet, as the county board picked up the tab for all county board members. I remember the packed steamy banquet hall at the Holiday Inn in North Platte, in a blizzard. And all those people. They seemed to all know each other and were quite noisy visiting.
In 1986 I was elected as a voting delegate and I fell in love with Farm Bureau. Here we could debate policy and influence potential legislation. IT WAS FUN! I have always held strong beliefs and was not afraid to share my ideas. I quickly ran into other similar strong believers. Even after arguing with them over silly little points we became friends. Many are still close friends, Naomi, LaDene, Russ and many others.
That year Barb won a Young Farmer and Rancher (YF&R) Discussion Meet and with it a free trip to California to compete at the American Farm Bureau. WOW! More neat people farming everything you can imagine.
Since those early years Barb & I have served many years in many capacities with Farm Bureau. One of us has been on either the county board or the state board of directors since 1985. I have no ideas how many miles we have driven, trips taken, or nights in hotels since then. But it has all been worth it.
Our girls grew up at Farm Bureau meetings. Until they got into high school they attended at least part of each convention too. Many of our Farm Bureau friends remember them from stroller on. Now our oldest is on a county Farm Bureau board in North Dakota.
Several times I was challenged beyond what I thought I could do and was trusted to do it well. Thanks to Nebraska Farm Bureau presidents Bryce and Keith for pushing me.
This year was a little strange for Barb & I at the state convention. For the first time since 1985 we had no official duties, except for judging the YF&R Discussion Meet. We spent much of our time visiting with old friends we hadn't seen for a year or two or three. We caught up on kids and grandkids (theirs). We talked to many of the politicians and other agricultural leaders who have become good friends over the years.
Last night at the annual banquet we were once again in a large room (not steamy this time) packed with people. But now they are all friends. And I was one of many adding to the noise level. We honored Keith Olson who served 9 years as Nebraska Farm Bureau president and really nurtured me as a young Farm Bureau member.
While Farm Bureau may not be your group, I highly advise all of you employed in production agriculture to join and get involved with at least one agricultural organization. There are too few of us to sit on the sidelines. Like anything else, the more you put in the more you get out.
I advise you to go all in!
Showing posts with label NFBF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFBF. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Farming and kids
Barb and I have been Ag Pen Pals with a classroom of Lincoln students for many years. We have had several teachers from several different schools over the years, but have generally had 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade students to write to.
First graders are a little difficult to write for because you know they don't have the language or math skills yet to comprehend much about farming. But they do enjoy talking about our animals. They are always amazed that farmers don't name every animal on the place, but when faced with a picture of 1,200 steers, they admit that would be hard to keep straight. We always loved the pictures they made for us to start the year.
Some of the schools we have written to are in areas of Lincoln with a high immigrant population. Not just Hispanics either, as one school had 25 different native languages represented in the student population. Many different backgrounds made our job a lot of fun, as usually one student in the group had been on a farm at some time.
When possible we schedule a visit with our classroom when we are in Lincoln for one of our many meetings there. That is where the real fun happens. Our students have spread the word through the school that we are coming, so when we show up everybody knows why we are there.
The current teacher we work with is a real gem. She has her students totally under control. They are learning manners, as well as numbers and letters. As an example, this year when we visited we were escorted to their room by two of the students who very politely asked us to follow them. When we got to their room another boy got up and asked us for our coats to hang them up and then escorted us to our seats of honor in the front of the room, all without any prompting from the teacher who was working with another student.
This class is a 3rd grade class and as you might expect is a little more fluent, but we were not ready for the level of questioning we got. The very first question was, "What is your favorite crop to harvest and why?" Another difficult question to answer was "What is alfalfa?" It is hard to describe without visual aids, and we had not brought any alfalfa pictures with us. At least several students had horses and knew what hay was so that helped. One bright young man noticed I am short one finger and asked about that. And so on.
We always try to bring a gift or memento for the students and one popular and easy to come by gift are farm caps. It took no time at all to locate 35 extra caps around the house, which were boxed and delivered to the classroom. While our class didn't have 35 students, we brought extras so the students could have a choice. You never know when they have a grandparent or aunt or uncle still on the farm and have already taken sides in the red-green controversy or someone in the family has an affinity for one seed corn brand or another.
When the 40 minutes that we were allotted had passed they sang a little song thanking us for coming to visit. How sweet. There is a good chance we'll get back one more time this year and one can only guess what questions they'll be able to come up with.
This is all part of the Ag Pen Pal Program, which in Nebraska is coordinated through the Ag in the Classroom program. If you are a farm family or a retired farm family and have time to write just three letters during the school year, you too could be an Ag Pen Pal. The program is always looking for more volunteers and will start you out with a class next fall. Just look up Ag in the Classroom on the internet and you can be connected or contact your local county Farm Bureau for more information.
If you are a teacher that would like to add this to your curriculum options let me know and I'll get you in contact with the right people. If you are a Nebraska teacher, you don't have to have a class in Lincoln or Omaha to be connected with an Ag Pen Pal. Any teacher in any classroom in the state may request a Pen Pal as we realize the need is just as great for ag education in rural areas as well. If you are reading this and live outside Nebraska many states have similar programs that we can put you in contact with.
First graders are a little difficult to write for because you know they don't have the language or math skills yet to comprehend much about farming. But they do enjoy talking about our animals. They are always amazed that farmers don't name every animal on the place, but when faced with a picture of 1,200 steers, they admit that would be hard to keep straight. We always loved the pictures they made for us to start the year.
Some of the schools we have written to are in areas of Lincoln with a high immigrant population. Not just Hispanics either, as one school had 25 different native languages represented in the student population. Many different backgrounds made our job a lot of fun, as usually one student in the group had been on a farm at some time.
When possible we schedule a visit with our classroom when we are in Lincoln for one of our many meetings there. That is where the real fun happens. Our students have spread the word through the school that we are coming, so when we show up everybody knows why we are there.
The current teacher we work with is a real gem. She has her students totally under control. They are learning manners, as well as numbers and letters. As an example, this year when we visited we were escorted to their room by two of the students who very politely asked us to follow them. When we got to their room another boy got up and asked us for our coats to hang them up and then escorted us to our seats of honor in the front of the room, all without any prompting from the teacher who was working with another student.
This class is a 3rd grade class and as you might expect is a little more fluent, but we were not ready for the level of questioning we got. The very first question was, "What is your favorite crop to harvest and why?" Another difficult question to answer was "What is alfalfa?" It is hard to describe without visual aids, and we had not brought any alfalfa pictures with us. At least several students had horses and knew what hay was so that helped. One bright young man noticed I am short one finger and asked about that. And so on.
We always try to bring a gift or memento for the students and one popular and easy to come by gift are farm caps. It took no time at all to locate 35 extra caps around the house, which were boxed and delivered to the classroom. While our class didn't have 35 students, we brought extras so the students could have a choice. You never know when they have a grandparent or aunt or uncle still on the farm and have already taken sides in the red-green controversy or someone in the family has an affinity for one seed corn brand or another.
When the 40 minutes that we were allotted had passed they sang a little song thanking us for coming to visit. How sweet. There is a good chance we'll get back one more time this year and one can only guess what questions they'll be able to come up with.
This is all part of the Ag Pen Pal Program, which in Nebraska is coordinated through the Ag in the Classroom program. If you are a farm family or a retired farm family and have time to write just three letters during the school year, you too could be an Ag Pen Pal. The program is always looking for more volunteers and will start you out with a class next fall. Just look up Ag in the Classroom on the internet and you can be connected or contact your local county Farm Bureau for more information.
If you are a teacher that would like to add this to your curriculum options let me know and I'll get you in contact with the right people. If you are a Nebraska teacher, you don't have to have a class in Lincoln or Omaha to be connected with an Ag Pen Pal. Any teacher in any classroom in the state may request a Pen Pal as we realize the need is just as great for ag education in rural areas as well. If you are reading this and live outside Nebraska many states have similar programs that we can put you in contact with.
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