Posts filed under ‘The National Institute 2010’
PA Farmers at the National Institute
Just ran across this article on CF Grower abut the National Institute:
Pennsylvania Young Farmers attend National Institute in California
 |
| Pennsylvanians who participated in the National Young Farmer Educational Association Institute in Monterey, CA, gather following the final evening program. |
Thirty-four Pennsylvanians participated in the 44th annual National Young Farmers Educational Association Institute (NYFEA), held in Monterey, CA, last month, joining [other] young farmers from around the country in educational seminars and tours of the fertile Central Coast valleys.
Pennsylvania Young Farmers Association (PYFA) sponsored three young people to the conference to participate in the Ag Communications program and the Young Agricultural Leaders Event (YALE). They included Caleb Wright, Alexandria, a freshman at Penn State and member of the PYFA Board; Benjamin Shughart, Carlisle, State FFA chaplain and member of the PYFA Board; and Hannah Wentworth, Quarryville, a sophomore at Penn State and winner of the stipend offered by PYFA.
It is the fourth year that PYFA sponsored youth to participate in the national program to forge closer relationships with the next generation of agricultural producers. They interacted with Young Farmers and other young people from around the country.
Monica Abbott, Olympic Silver Medalist in softball for USA, brought an inspirational message of determination and hard work to those attending the YALE program.
Shirley Faye Herr, Lebanon and Cedar Crest Young Farmer member, participated in the Spokesperson for Agriculture segment of the program, presenting her speech along with other state winners. She had been named the Pennsylvania Young Farmers Spokesperson for Agriculture at the 2010 winter conference.
In the NYFEA delegate meeting, Carol Corman, Centre Hall, was elected president-elect, after serving two years as NYFEA secretary. Delegates representing Pennsylvania included Denise Sanner, Kutztown, current PYFA president, and Keith Leydig, Berlin, PYFA past president.
Tours included visits to operations in the “salad bowl” of California, including an artichoke operation, onion processing, a Dole facility that processed pre-packaged salads and a nursery that prepared seedlings for the area’s vegetable growers.
Attendees also visited the Monterey County Agricultural & Rural Life Museum, the Soledad Mission and Yesterday’s Barn, learning about the history of California.
Agricultural tours included:
• Ocean Mist Farms, which grows artichokes, a vegetable first brought to the Central Coast by Italian immigrants. Ocean Mist, located in the Salinas Valley, is the largest artichoke grower in North America.
• DOLE Salad Plant, which washes, cuts, packages and ships pre-packaged salads in refrigerated containers all within hours of being harvested.
• King City Nursery, where a wide variety of vegetable plants are grown for early planting.
• Gills Onions, a fresh-cut processor of onions for the food service industry which has a highly acclaimed advanced energy recovery system that allows them to convert most of their onion processing waste into renewable energy.
The 2011 NYFEA Institute will be held in Kansas City, MO, December 7-11. The Pennsylvania Young Farmers Winter conference will be held in DuBois, Feb. 8-11. For more information go to http://www.payoungfarmers.com
Environmental Stewardship – Presentation & Handout
Check out the presentation below from Tommy Bass & Jill Heemstra on Environmental Stewardship.
This presentation was given at the 2010 National Institute as part of the Environmental Ag Leaders Project. If you haven’t taken the Environmental Ag Leaders survey yet, we hope you will at http://tinyurl.com/nyfeasurvey.
Young farm couples take part in education program
From Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, one of our wonderful National Institute sponsors!
Group attends national conference addressing important issues facing young farmers
LOUISVILLE, KY (December 15, 2010) – Eight young farm couples were among a group of approximately 250 agriculture producers selected to attend the 2010 National Young Farmer Education Association program held this year in Monterey, California December 8-11.
The eight couples were sponsored by Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, a $17 billion ag lending cooperative serving farmers and rural residents throughout Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. Those attending on behalf of Farm Credit include:
• Gina and David Tighe of Ridgeway, Ohio
• Mandy and Andy Heath of Woodstock, Ohio
• Kent Pullins of Cable, Ohio
• Amy and AJ Booher of West Lafayette, Indiana
• Carrie and Josh Davidson of Frankfort, Indiana
• Heather and Mark Furrer of Brookston, Indiana
• Alicia and Jonathan Dye of Nancy, Kentucky
• Mandy and Whit Willis of Hillsboro, Tennessee.
During the four-day event, participants attended tours, meetings and interacted with other farmers throughout the country. The visit included Ocean Mist Artichokes, a Dole salad processing unit, Gills Onions, King City Nurseries, and numerous other farms and farm attractions in and near the Salinas Valley and Monterey County. “It was exciting to see the diversification in farm enterprises and experience a different part of agriculture,” said Liz Funderburgh, financial services office in Bellefontaine, Ohio and the FCS host of the conference for the eight customer-members.
Funderburgh went on to say that Farm Credit was delighted to sponsor a program that helps influence the changing face of agriculture. “Taking an active role in the future of farming has been an important initiative for Farm Credit for almost a century,” she said. “Sponsoring these programs gets issues out in the open and sparks important conversations and generates ideas. That’s a crucial part of our overall commitment to agriculture and to rural America.”
Mandy and Andy Heath of Woodstock Ohio; Lindsey DeBrosse and Kent Pullins of Cable, Ohio and Matt and Liz Funderburgh, FCS hosts of the trip.
The group toured Gills Onions in addition to making several other stops at local farms.
Exploring the “Salad Bowl” of the World
From our friends at Digital Bard:
Exploring the “Salad Bowl of the World”
On December 8th-12th, we traveled to Monterey County, California to shoot the annual National Young Farmers Education Association (NYFEA) conference.
Not only did we escape the freezing East Coast weathers for a few days, but we also enjoyed the Salinas Valley. Promoted as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” the valley is a stretch of just under 100 miles that runs between 2 mountain ranges and consists of some of the best farmland in the country. If you’ve eaten a salad lately, chances are it came from Salinas Valley.
Tours ran for the first two days and included stops ranging from major producers such as Gills Onions and the Dole Factory to more historical attractions including a local mission and the History of Irrigation Museum.
The final day consisted of speeches, salutes, elections, entertainment, and a communication competition for students in agricultural related fields. Monica Abbot, professional softball player, Olympic silver medalist and Monterey native was a featured guest speaker and helped motivate attendees to achieve their dreams by setting goals.
This is the third institute Digital Bard has done with NYFEA, each year in a different state. The touring conference helps attending agriculturalists (and tag-alongs like us) to understand and relate to processes outside of their local scope.
It was eye-opening to see an area dominated by large scale farming, yet still challenged by urbanization and environmental restraints. Next year…Kansas City, Missouri!
Notes from Monica Abbott’s speech
We were so lucky to hear from Olympian Monica Abbott at the Young Ag Leaders Event today! Here are some notes from the event:
When she was little, it wasn’t her choice to play softball. She played because she had an older sister who wanted to play. Her mother also played, and it became easy for her mom to take both Monica & her sister to practice. Monica wanted to be like her sister, so she doesn’t object. However, she found once she got out there, she wasn’t so good, which seems strange considering her accomplishments over the last few years.
Everyone has times they feel like they don’t belong. Monica felt shy & awkward while her sister shined on the softball field as shortstop and pitcher. Monica played right field some games and sat on the bench during others. But over time, Monica began catching for her sister, which was not ideal for a right fielder. Soon Monica decided to try pitching after some encouragement from her mom. She began consistently practicing and striving for success. She knew if she wasn’t putting in the time and effort necessary, even when others weren’t watching, she wouldn’t achiever her dreams.
Every day after school, Monica and her mother would go pitch. At first she was pretty wild, losing balls, denting cars and bruising her mother. Finally her mom said, “Monica, you know what. You’re starting to get better. You’re going to have to find your own catcher. You need to find someone else.” So Monica began looking for a great team, coach, and catcher to help her develop her pitching skills. With persistence, she’d ask her coach to help her practice. It was the dedicated time and guidance from her coaches over time that pushed her towards her dreams.
She wrote down her goals: Olympian, professional softball player, record breaker. And placed them by her bed. She asked questions, and used the answers she received to help her grow and become stronger. She continued looking for even more people to learn from. Within her Communications major, she asked great speakers questions like, “How do you stay calm in front of 5,000 people?” and used the answers to help her stay calm on the softball filed.
After a successful college career, she was asked, “What are you going to do now?” And she said, “Well, I’m going to be a professional softball player.” She stayed focused, continued asking questions, and pursued becoming an Olympian.
At one point she asked a pro wrestler, “What are some things at the Olympics that were unexpected to you?” He told her, “What I didn’t expect was – in my sport – weight is really important, and I’ve never had a problem keeping my weight. I weighed myself before I went and was 3 pounds under, so I knew I’d be fine by the time I got to Australia for the 2000 Olympics.” But what he didn’t realize was once he crossed the equator and got closer to the poles, he actually weighed heavier in Australia and had to lose 5 pounds in 4 days to compete. When you ask questions, sometimes you’ll be surprised of what you didn’t know and can learn from.
Monica urges our YALE leaders to ask questions and to use them to achieve their goals. She reminds them that one of the hardest things about asking these questions is the responsibility you take when you ask them. You become a leader because you have a lot of information. You have to hold yourself accountable. Accountability is being out there when no one else is, because you’re holding yourself to that standard. The only person who can hold you to the highest standard is you, so be accountable to yourself. It comes back to your actions, and that’s what accountability is.
Anyone from any walk of life has a wealth of knowledge, and it becomes your responsibility to share your knowledge. Monica encourages our young ag leaders to ask themselves what they can take back from our event to their communities and share. She says accountability is having a presence. Accountability is accepting failure. It’s losing. Monica says she hates losing, and she hates failure. But she uses it to fuel her fire.
Monica tells her our ag leaders that when you ask these questions, you have the courage to do what so many don’t. Take advantage of any opportunity to ask those questions and grow. Share the information, and see what messages others take from the information you have. Set goals, hold yourself accountable, and understand that goals can change over time. But when you set goals, ask questions – easy questions, big questions, any question, the growth you can have as a person will be incredible and will help not only you, but those in the organizations you’re a part of you, your family, your friends, and those around you.
We so enjoyed hearing from Monica Abbott & hope you did too!
What to bring this December to the National Institute
As we’re gearing up for the National Institute on December 8-11, many are wondering what to bring. Weather is a factor, as well as the different events. Here are some tips on how to pack your suitcase:
December in Monterey usually means lows in high 40s, days in the 60s. You’ll also get the onshore wind off the ocean, as it can get chilly in the area. For the Friday afternoon session and classroom setting, you’ll want to pack a nice shirt and clean jeans or khakis. Saturday, at the ag decision makers panel, wear khakis and a shirt; think business casual. At the Saturday evening awards banquet – guys should wear a dress shirt, nice pants, and a tie. For girls – wear dresses or nice pants. Also, prepare for the casual farm tours.
EDIT (from Mary Ann):
Hi everyone – As Institute approaches, I thought I would pass along what’s happening here in the Salinas Valley… Winter decided to come for a visit the other day. While the temperatures may seem warm to a lot of you, it’s darn chilly around here these days. The mornings drop to the low to mid 30′s and the highs are i…n the 50′s. If you are coming out to Monterey, please pack clothes for layering and comfy shoes. One of the tours will take you into an artichoke field – weather permitting. And the Ag and Rural Life museum is a walking tour. I am so excited to see everyone!!!
A John Deere rep will be at the entire institute. Keep in mind, other people sharing a table with you at the Institute could one day be a potential employer!
Other things you might want to bring:
- a jacket
- your camera (take lots of pictures & send them to us after the event!)
- comfortable shoes if you plan on “exploring” Monterey
- cell phone – with Twitter & Facebook apps if you’ve got them!
- a great attitude! It’s going to be an awesome time!
Feel free to check the weather before you jet set, go to Monterey Weather Forecast and Conditions.
We hope to see you at the Institute! Pick up the form at http://www.slideshare.net/nyfea/national-instituregistration-newsletter
For more information on the National Institute, visit http://nyfea.org or watch the YouTube video at http://youtube.com/thenyfea.
Join us at the National Institute this December in Monterey, CA!
We are so excited to announce that Olympic Silver Medalist Monica Abbott will be the keynote speaker for the YALE (Young Ag Leader Event) program at the 2010 National Institute held December 9th – 11th at the Hilton Resort & Spa in Monterey, CA.
For more information on Monica, check out our blog post.
For more information on the National Institute, visit http://nyfea.org or watch the YouTube video at http://youtube.com/thenyfea.
To download the National Institute registration form, go to http://www.slideshare.net/nyfea/national-instituregistration-newsletter%22.
National Institute news: Registration for YALE students (18 – 25) can attend Institute & YALE for $300/person. This includes Thursday’s tours & activities, Friday morning tours, lunch, Ag Communication contest & dinner on Cannery Row, & all Saturday’s events. This plan includes 4 nights hotel based on 4 per room. To register, those interested can call Christi at NYFEA ‐ 334‐213‐3276 – or e‐mail natloffice@nyfea.org.
When you send an e‐mail to natloffice@nyfea.org, send your contact information, address, phone, email, and school as well as a credit card to secure any additional charges that might occur during your stay. Christi will handle the arrangements and get back to you with your confirmation information.
At the Institute program, you will hear information on food safety and the new regulations that are being established in the Salinas Valley during the Ag Decision Makers College, which will eventually roll out across the nation.
Are you excited yet? We are!
Looking Forward to the National Institute
As we’re gearing up to the National Institute in December, we hope you’re as excited as we are! In addition to the tours planned, we’re looking forward to additional events such as the BBQ dinner and Cannery Row!
On Friday Night, December 10, 2010 – join us at Cannery Row and Bubba Gumps in Monterey, the original restaurant in the chain. You’ll be able to enjoy the “local flavor” of Monterey. You can meander around Cannery Row near the Monterey Plaza. Named after Cannerys that did sardines back in the day and a few of the original buildings there, it’s a very historic area. There are 2 sittings, like a cruise ship, for dinner. On a registration form, you’ll choose which time. There will be 3 different selections of food.
If you have friends or family that might not want to attend the tours, but would like to join us at the BBQ dinner Thursday evening or on Cannery Row Friday evening, we have prices for those individual meals – Thursday evening is $22 and Friday is $27 p/p. If you or anyone has questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mary Ann Hooker at inst2020@earthlink.net.
We look forward to seeing you at the National Institute on December 8-11 in Monterey!
Find the registration form at National InstituRegistration.
