Young Farmer and Rancher (YF&R) Program
The mission of the Arizona Farm Bureau's YF&R Program
is to provide opportunities and activities to promote learning, growth, and leadership on issues that will enable 18-35 old agriculturalists to secure a better future in agriculture.
To get a look at what YF&R has coming up this year check out the 2011-2012 YF&R Program of Activities
YF&R Membership is FREE in your first year! Click here to download an application (Check Young Farmer & Rancher Program and write "1st year free," then fax or send in.)
| State Committee Teleconference | Last Sunday of every month |
| Legislative Ag Fest, Arizona Dept of Agriculture | January 18, 2011 |
| Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Conference | Feb 17-21, 2011 Grand Rapids, MI |
| Day at the Capital |
March 15, 2011 |
Never Let Good Food go to Waste! Yuma YF&R Helps Local Food Bank with Efforts!
Tim Butcher, Joseph Dominguez, and Micheal Barkley own Hillside Farms. The Farms’ specialty is heirloom greenhouse tomatoes.
One of their recent crops was ready for harvest; unfortunately, they didn’t have a buyer. But rather than waste a quality crop of heirloom tomatoes, they connected with Arizona Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer & Rancher (YF&R) program to gather more hands to harvest and decided to donate the crop to the Yuma Community Food Bank.
Tim Butcher (left) and Joseph Dominguez of Hillside Farms rounded up the troops to save the tomatoes and feed the hungry.
Tim, Joseph and Michael are all members of YF&R and participated in the harvest along with Seth Sherry, his wife, Caroline, and their son Thomas. It’s worth mentioning that Caroline was due to give birth to their second child on the 30th (she was 4 days past her due date) and still pitched in to harvest the tomatoes!
Fresh heirloom greenhouse tomatoes ready for Yuma Community Food Bank.
This is what young farmers and ranchers do when they know there’s a need and they have good food to share.
Davie Brooks pitched in too, along with his family. Jim Platt also contributed to the effort. Together everyone harvested 370 pounds of tomatoes and delivered them to the Yuma Community Food Bank.
YF&R has plans to do more work with the local Food Bank in the future but knew this immediate opportunity could not be delayed.
With all the bad news we hear on a daily basis, it’s good to know a group of young farmers and ranchers are regularly making a positive difference.
Spring Planning Retreat
In May Cochise County hosted the Young Farmers and Ranchers Planning Retreat. The retreat started on Friday with afternoon tours around the agricultral tours around the Willcox area. We were lucky to be able to have private tours at Bonita Bean Company and Chase Farms Pecan Orchard. Our members we then treated to a Pitt BBQ and Potluck Dinner hosted by the Cochise County Farm Bureau. It was a great time and we had a lot of members join us for our shoot out at John Hart's Wagon Wheel Ranch.
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Saturday Kyle Perry from the American Farm Bureau joined us for some leadership training. He helped us decide on some goals and come together as a cohesive group to plan out next year's activities. Thank you to all of those that participated and for those that missed it make sure you mark your calendars for the Barn Dance we are planning this Fall!
Achievement AwardThe Achievement Award competition is based on the operating efficiency of a young farmer or rancher. The winner is selected on the basis of effectiveness, creativity and leadership skills exhibited at both the community and Farm Bureau levels.
Discussion Meet
The Discussion Meet is a panel-type discussion in which participants are judged on their ability to express ideas and opinions on the hottest issues driving agriculture. Participants attempt to influence each other by posing and answering questions. The goal is to reach a solution to a stated problem facing agriculture.
Excellence in Ag Award
The Excellence in Agriculture Award is designed as an opportunity for young farmers and ranchers, while actively contributing and growing through their involvement in agriculture, leadership ability, involvement and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations (i.e., civic, service and community.) These contests afford members the opportunity to meet and compare skills with people of similar interests from outside the immediate community. 18-35 year-old members are encouraged to participate in these activities.
Collegiate Discussion Meet
The Collegiate Discussion Meet is hosted by the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Program. This contest provides Collegiate Members the opportunity to become acquainted with hot agricultural issues and the YF&R Program. This event is held during the AzYF&R Annual Meeting.
Record Participation in State FFA Discussion Meet
TUCSON- Thirty-four of Arizona FFA’s best participated in the 9th Annual FFA Discussion Meet during the State Leadership Conference. The winner received a $500 savings bond, sponsored by Arizona YF&R.
The discussion topics were “How can agricultural producers reach out to the public to gain their support on important issues impacting agriculture?” and "how can we keep people in the agriculture?" The competiotion was tough this year and Arizona FFA was well represented in the Discussion Meet this year.
The finalists represented Gilbert High, Highland High, Paradise Valley- AAEC, Basha High School FFA. We would like to Congratulate Elizabeth Keuter of Highland FFA for a fantistic job. We hope to see you all next year for the 10th Annual YF&R FFA Discussion Meet. Thanks again to all of our volunteers!
Young Farmers and Ranchers Joint Leadership Conference
In February, 16 YF&R members attended the Joint National Leadership Conference in Orlando, FL. This year’s conference, themed “Engage, Act, Win”, focused on how we can work together to bridge the gap between consumers and agriculture.
Leadership workshops included topics on social media, effective communication, rural development, and farm management. Participants also had the opportunity to visit agricultural operations in the area and learn about Florida agriculture.
We had two Collegiate Discussion Meet competitors from the U of A: Zach McFarlane and Merel Rodenburg. Merel advanced to the Sweet 16. Both competitors did a great job representing Arizona!
