NKY Agriculture leadership Program Aims for the Future 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, volunteerism of Americans peaked around 30% in 2004. Today, that number is 25 percent. This leadership decline is also apparent in the agriculture community. This loss of leaders coupled with the great diversity of agriculture operations here in northern Kentucky, highlight the importance of having engaged farmers in organizations, and part of the conversations around public policy that affect the farming community. 

UK Agriculture Extension Agents from Pendleton, Campbell, Boone and Kenton Counties began working on a leadership program in October 2018. This program had an aim of recruiting younger farmers who could become effective leaders in our region. Extension Agents designed and implemented an 8 session program to help them hone their leadership skills and covered such topics as effective leadership, diversity, communications, agribusiness, working with local, state, and federal government officials, and policy organizations. In addition, a retired leadership development professional mentored the participants that had the goal of creating a project that could make a positive impact on the regions' agriculture. The seven participants in this class worked together to form a working group to address informing the public about local farms and farm operations. They chose to use social media to pass along relevant and research based information and news of the agriculture industry. They launched Ag Where You Live NKY in March. The group posts on this website about local markets, local products, and local issues facing the farming community. The page currently has 75 followers. 

Since the thrust of this program is to develop leaders, the 2 participants from Pendleton County that participated in NKY Ag Leadership have gone on to lead in their county. One participant has worked with local legislative representatives to amend the Homebakers Bill which restricted farmers in the added value product development across the state. The result of their work and will result in farmers continuing to be able to add value to their farm products and maintain viable agri-businesses which will be an longterm outcome.