Recently, there was an event called “Farmfest Virtual 2020”. During the event they had a section for women in agriculture. The keynote speaker was Sherry Saylor, she’s a part of the American Farm Bureau’s Women’s Leadership Committee. Her speech was all about the four C’s that you need to successfully be an advocate for the industry.
- Composure – She said that everyone in agriculture has lost their composure at one point, but we have to keep it in check. You can’t be negative or rude when talking to someone about agriculture. If you do that, then they’ll want nothing to do with ag because of the way you acted.
- Conviction – “I don’t think we’d be in agriculture if we didn’t have conviction,” Saylor said. She brought up how ag is one of the essential industries and we need to be passionate and share our stories with those who may not know too much about it.
- Connection – Saylor mentioned that everything comes down to relationships. We can build those relationships by being very transparent about what’s happening with people’s food and who’s producing it. She said that if you’re transparent about those things, people are more likely to trust you. That’s when you can make some strong, lasting relationships.
- Courage – This is probably the hardest one for people. Being a part of the industry takes courage because there are so many people that are skeptical and want to rip on agriculture. That’s where advocating is key. Giving people the correct information about how things work so that they don’t just believe everything they see on social media. With that, comes hate and criticism as well. That’s where courage is needed.
With these four factors in mind, you can be a great asset to the ag community and represent what the industry stands for!
