The American Farm Bureau Federation recently honored eight outstanding young farm and ranch leaders as graduates of the organization’s 10th Partners in Advocacy Leadership (PAL) class.
The PAL program was designed to help agricultural leaders accelerate their engagement abilities and solidify their roles as advocates for agriculture. The program focuses on taking farmers and ranchers, age 30 to 45, who have already begun their personal development journey and moving them to the next level.
In its tenth year, the two-year program offers a high-level, executive-type curriculum that provides participants with unique opportunities to represent agriculture in the media, on speaking circuits or in testimonial arenas. Program graduates are prepared to step forward and promote issues important to those in the farm-to-consumer food chain.
Graduates of PAL Class 10 are:
- David Hafner — Florida
- James Henderson — Colorado
- Beth Hodge — New Hampshire
- Jenny Holtermann — California
- Sarah Ison — Ohio
- Matthew McClanahan — Tennessee
- Derek Orth — Wisconsin
- Kyle Wilson — Utah
PAL training involves four learning modules designed to develop specific leadership skills while exploring components of leadership and its theories and philosophies. The modules build on one another over the two years of the program and include intense, in-person, hands-on training.
“The work and commitment that PAL graduates put into this program is commendable,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “Their dedication to advocating on agricultural issues will benefit rural communities at the local, state and national level.”
The PAL program is sponsored by AFBF, Farm Credit and Bayer CropScience. For more information or to sign up for the program, check out the program’s website.
