If you look through the Arizona Farm Bureau family from county board volunteers to the staff team and members in elected offices, several of them have walked along the leadership path with others known as Project CENTRL. Now is the time to encourage the next generation to take the journey with new people to sharpen skills and learn things from different perspectives to strengthen our agricultural industry by applying for Project CENTRL’s Class 33 by Friday 3/15/24. Current Arizona Farm Bureau member, Kirk Dunn is a part of the Arizona Center for Rural Leadership’s flagship program: Project CENTRL Class 32. His participation is helping others without a background in production agriculture learn about precision agriculture, entrepreneurship, and natural resource stewardship done by our farming and ranching families. He also is learning more about other parts of rural Arizona’s economy, people and places.

Project CENTRL is a competitively selected and tuition-free experiential-learning leadership development program for 16 people connected to rural Arizona. Over the course of nine seminars across Arizona, Washington, D.C., and Sonora, Mexico participants build personal leadership skills, learn about the issues facing rural Arizona, and connect with leaders and experts.

“I had Farm Bureau members in my Class 9,” shares the Center’s Board Chair, Glenna McCollum-Could a consultant and Past President of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “And as I’ve stayed involved with CENTRL as a volunteer and trainer, I’ve seen Farm Bureau members both teach others about the importance of production agriculture and learn new perspectives from their classmates who are involved with other parts of the rural economy.” 

As a public-private partnership between the non-profit Center and the University of Arizona Division of Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension participants and alumni are backed by organizations invested in and committed to rural Arizona.  

If building new skills, gaining new knowledge and meeting new people to benefit rural Arizona sounds interesting to you, consider applying for Class 33 by March 15, 2024. All the details and application materials are found at www.centrl.org/apply  

There are several opportunities to connect with the organization in person during events open to all to learn more from the people in the program now or some of the 700+ graduates since Class 1 in 1983. Calendar and complimentary registration available at www.centrl.org/events