YF&R conference a success in Boise

BOISE—At the Red Lion Downtowner in Boise, almost 200 Young Farmers and Ranchers attended the YF&R annual meeting. The conference drew Young Farmers and Ranchers from just about every county in Idaho.

The meeting consisted of thee days of workshops and leadership training. Jason Fellows was elected as YFR State Director in December, he has a small ranching operation out of Franklin County, he said it's all about success.

“We’re excited about this conference. It’s a true leadership conference, we’ve had some great keynote speakers. The YF&R has a great thing, and we like to say its the plan: personal growth, leadership development, advocacy and we figure that those four things are a great thing that people can use to plan for success,” said Fellows.

The success evident in that packed convention room, and success evident in district leaders like Mitchell Searl out of Burley who says YFR is more than an organization, but also a tool.

“I think first of all its the networking, getting to meet other individuals from all over the state and pretty soon I find myself calling those individuals and saying ‘hey, can you answer my question about this, or how do you deal with aspect on the farm’, so it's not just meeting the others and saying goodbye, its making phone calls and seeing them years after years, it's been invaluable,” said Searle.

And that's a common theme at the YF&R conference, Paige Nelson is a district leader out of Rigby, who’s always on the lookout for members.

“If you are interested in improving yourself, your relationships, your farm operation, even if you are in a supporting role in agriculture, If interested in improving any of those areas, YR&R is for you and where you need to be,” said Nelson.

The YFR Conference in Idaho, training state leaders for tomorrow. For the voice of Idaho Agriculture, I'm Jake Putnam