Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Diary of a Dairy Wife: About That Gap, The Unexpected Part II

I spent the last two days at a statewide Farm Bureau Federation conference. I have spent a lot of time at these different conferences. This particular one is called Officers and Leaders. It's goal is to inform and help to develop the organization's officers and leaders. I have attended this conference a couple of times and so many other leadership conferences. We always have general sessions with great speakers and workshops with lots of information. Overall you usually always learn a thing or two and meet some new farmers with struggles similar to your own.

My last blog post was about agvocating (yes autocorrect...I mean aGvocating) and trying to bridge the generational gap. This post is going to be a follow up to that. This year's theme was "engage" and focused on engaging the younger generations and how to keep them interested. This is a hot topic, not only in the Farm Bureau Federation, but in most other grass roots organizations. 

I have heard the question asked over and over again. I have heard an older generation ask where the young people are. I have heard staff members ask the same questions. Why can't we get the young people involved? What does it take? They won't come to our meetings. They don't commit the way we think they should. They don't respect how we do things. I would like to sort of use this forum as an open letter to anyone asking those questions and making those statements.

The Milkman and I have been involved in the ARFB (Arkansas Farm Bureau) since right after we got married about 11 years ago. We have attended conferences and meetings. We have gone on big trips and little trips. We have participated in leadership opportunities. We have received awards and recognition for our work on our farm and in the organization. The YF&R (Young Farmer's & Rancher's) program has allowed us to make friends from all over the state and some from other states. We have received opportunities that we wouldn't have had because of our involvement. Farm Bureau Federation is an amazing organization and we are proud to be a part of it.

It hasn't come easy. I have personally invited friends/family/acquaintances and anyone I could beg, bribe, or barter to come to our meetings. And sometimes I get one or two to show up. And time and time again they will come to a meeting or two and then nothing. They don't want to come back. And finally I will ask, "What happened?" The response I get blows me away. One particular couple had came a few times and someone from our group had said, "What are you doing here? Don't you young people have anything better to do than come to a meeting like this?" And the person that said it had no idea they were discouraging a younger person. That single question held the power to remove a promising leadership couple from our organization. 

I'm stubborn. I will not be ran off by someone that is so miserable that they have to say something so discouraging to a future leader. 

There are more stories like that and it happens in more than just my local organization. You finally convince someone to come just to have them completely turned off by the fact that someone wasn't welcoming, said something discouraging, or the fact that the business carried on is less than productive. 

My generation of farmers are under attack like agriculture has never seen. We are under fire from so many different directions that we just take cover and put every ounce of will that we possess into keeping our heads above water and out of the line of fire. We trust very few with the ability to protect our farms. We are so busy trying to keep up that multi-tasking is the only answer. We are only able to remember meetings because of an email or a calendar alert on our phones. I truly believe this is where the generations above us confuse us as being disrespectful. 

Are we sometimes inappropriate with holding our phones in front of our faces? Yes. Yet, we are also able to have instant information that would have taken days to get around before we all had it in the palm of our hands. We can gather and give information in a matter of seconds. If you are talking about an event in a meeting and we are on our phones it is likely that we are taking notes. We no longer need a pencil and paper to do it. We keep everything in one place.

The question is asked, "What can we do to engage younger folks to attend and be involved?" but the reality is that the person asking doesn't want to really hear the answers. The person asking that question will probably not like the truth. That is one of those questions I can give a watered down answer to, but it will get us nowhere. I will give the answer to that question. Are you ready?

Change.

It is black and white. Right in front of you. 

Change how, you ask?

As we get older we tend to do things in a routine manner. We do it the way we've always done it. I'm only 31 and I find myself using that answer. When a new member comes along and they say, Why do y'all do it like that? It would be so much more efficient to do it this way." and I say, "Because that's just how they've/we've always done it."

Guess what....it ain't working.

The average age of the farmer is going up. The numbers of folks willing to give their time is going down. 

My generation and younger have obligations on top of obligations. We want to give our time to worthwhile organizations. We have jobs. We have farms. We have kids. We have hobbies. We don't have time for all of those things as it is. We rarely spend time with our friends so it isn't likely that we want to come to a meeting or an organization's dinner to just hang out. We want to be productive. We want to make a difference. We want to change the way people view agriculture. And we cannot do any of that if we have no volunteers because we can't make our meetings worthwhile. And sometimes we need to do all of those things while we are sitting in a tractor rolling up hay. 

The beauty of technology is that, while face to face interaction is extremely important, we can still accomplish great things from our homes. From our tractors. From our barn. It isn't disrespectful. It isn't taking our obligations lightly. It is efficient. 

How can we get young people involved?

Change.

Change isn't easy, but if you aren't going to accept change you will have to accept defeat.

The message doesn't need to change. The tactics must change. The acceptance of new ways. The ability to put your faith in a 27 year old farmer is going to keep these organizations alive.

Do not ask the questions if you do not intend to hear the answers. I'm known for my soapboxes, brutally honest answers, and my inability to fake it. I wear my feelings right on my face. I am not a good actress. I see things for what they are and make no excuses for it. 

It is hard to convince young people to give up their time to be involved in more. Their plates are threatening to overflow as it is. We have to give them reasons to be engaged. We started our involvement wanting to know what Farm Bureau would do for us. What is worthwhile about the organization. As time has passed and we now know that this organization is worthwhile. We know that they work their tails off to make sure farmers have their rights. We know that our time isn't being invested in worthless activity. And the question of "what can Farm Bureau do for me" has become "what can we do for Farm Bureau?"

I think we get wrapped up in this nice package coming off an assembly line. We do the same actions, have the same responses, and never change things. And we forget to really look at what we are doing. After a while the packages get sloppy and the assembly line workers don't notice because they are just doing what they've always done. Sometimes  you gotta step back and look at that line and say, "Hey, you know what? We need some fresh eyes in here. We need someone that notices that the line isn't working. We need people that care about what we do." Those fresh eyes may change up the line a little bit, but the packages will sure look a lot better.

If you ask the question, "How do we get new people involved?" or "Why don't they come back?" Take a good look at your methods. Think about the way you looked a the younger person and how you treated them. 
Did you welcome them? 
Did you put them in their place...like at the kids table at Thanksgiving? 
Did you try to understand their way of doing things or did you just decide it was different and you weren't interested?

If you refuse to accept change, prepare to accept defeat. When you aren't able to carry the weight anymore there will be no one to relieve you. There will be nobody to carry on. Who could have imagined that agriculture would be under fire the way it is today? Think about what will happen if there is nobody to carry on the grass roots tradition. Without those roots there ain't no grass. 

My way of getting things done may not be the same as yours, but that doesn't mean it won't work. These younger folks want to feel like they are putting effort into something that makes difference. Give them the opportunity to do that. Loosen up on the reigns a little bit. 

My challenge to anyone asking how to get young people involved is to look past your way of doing things. Open up to trying something new or at least a new way of doing the same thing. If it doesn't work that's okay. And ask, specifically, what the younger folks need and actually listen to their answers. I don't like a watered down version of the truth so I am not likely to give one. Ask for the truth, be willing to listen, and follow through. Give us room to spread our wings a little...we may not fly, but at least we showed up.




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