People want leadership. More importantly, says John Buck, people want ag leadership. The founder of TurnKey Leadership provided these thoughts during the National FFA Organization's New Century Farmer conference held in Johnston, Iowa.

Buck spoke with the 50 college-aged participants about creating a consistent message to give to non-producers. “Many critical issues are facing ag today. The profession needs advocates who can meet those challenges head on ad promote he great tings that farmers and other agriculture professionals do,” Buck says.

Opportunity for Learning

Jeremy Fair, a participant of the conference from Newbern, Tennessee, says the best opportunity for the day came when he had the change to speak with Case IH representatives about their latest products and technology.

“I think a lot of the things they shared with us will help improve our productivity and the efficiency,” he says. “I know firsthand with the precision ag we can implement those ideas and it will affect our bottom dollar and make us more profitable.”

In addition to learning about new products, the participants toured several local plants, including Louis Dryfus, a local ethanol plant and the Barilla pasta plant. Mitch Rocks, from Perrysville, Ohio, explains how these tours opened his eyes to how he helps put food on the table.

“We have an ethanol plant close to where I live, but I have never been to it. It was cool to see how we grow the corn and its final product is in someone’s car,” he says. “Touring the pasta plant was another aspect of seeing how we grow wheat, and seeing the final product on someone’s table as pasta.”

The New Century Farmer conference is sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred, Rabo AgriFinance, and Case IH, with media partner Successful Farming, as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.