The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation will soon select individuals to participate in Ohio Farm Bureau’s AgriPOWER program, an elite leadership program designed specifically for farmers and agribusiness professionals.
The yearlong program focuses on public policy issues confronting agriculture and the food industry and helps participants develop the skills necessary to become effective leaders and advocates for agriculture.
Emily Buehler from Columbus is a recent AgriPOWER graduate. She took part in the program to become more involved in Ohio agriculture.
“During high school and during college, it was really easy to be involved in the industry and be involved in 4-H and FFA and different clubs and organizations during my time at Ohio State,” said Buehler. “But I found that after graduation I kind of came out into the real world, even though I was employed in the agricultural industry, I wasn't involved. So AgriPOWER was one of those opportunities that I saw for someone kind of in that in-between phase where I was out of college, but I wasn't quite fully immersed in what my after-college life was going to look like. So AgriPOWER was that first opportunity for me to jump in and get involved.”
For Mechanicsburg’s Renee Hamilton, many of the skills that she picked up through AgriPOWER are already being put to good use in her professional career at Select Sires.
“By the time I graduated AgriPOWER, I was able to kind of transition my role a little bit and move into our building talent development team,” said Hamilton. “Now there are three of us on the team and I get to work with those ladies and get to help coordinator orientations and all kinds of things that are employee based. I've been able to take a lot of what I learned in AgriPOWER and kind of how to build stronger communities and how to really immerse yourself into personal development and bring that here and build our community here. So, it's been a great opportunity and if it weren't for AgriPOWER, I wouldn't have found another passion in my career.”
Applications for the next AgriPOWER class must be submitted by August 1st . Individuals may nominate themselves or have their nomination sponsored by their respective county Farm Bureau, other agricultural organization, or employer.
All applicants must be Farm Bureau members.
For complete application details, a schedule of sessions, more about the program, and tuition and scholarship opportunities, visit OhioFarmBureau.org/agripower.