Agricultural Leadership and Advocacy

My leadership journey started at a young age.  As the oldest of four boys, I took an active role in helping raise my brothers.  Growing up I was active in Boy Scouts and had the opportunity to learn from many older scouts about leadership.  I held many leadership positions within scouts but learned the most as patrol leader.  I achieved the rank of Eagle, the highest and hardest rank to achieve in Boy Scouts, only one out of every hundred scouts achieve this honor.  In high school I joined FFA and was elected chapter Vice-President as a Senior.  Attending Oregon State University, I was involved in several clubs.  I served as an ambassador for the College of Agriculture Science and was the president of the crops club and soil judging team as senior.  After college I joined Farm Bureau and have served as county Vice President and President.  With Oregon Farm Bureau I was also very active with the Young Farmers and Ranchers Program (YF&R), serving as the State Vice-Chair for two years. In 2016 I helped organize a young farmer seed grower trip to New Zealand, the trip was so successful I help organize another trip to Denmark and Iceland in 2023. In 2020 I was appointed to a two-year term on National YF&R Committee.  I was elected National Chair in my second year which came with the opportunity to serve on the American Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors.  In 2023 I was elected to the Oregon Farm Bureau Board of Directors representing Clackamas and Multnomah counties.  In 2024 I applied and was selected for Class 12 of the Partners in Advocacy Leadership (PAL) program, this is American Farm Bureau’s premier leadership and advocacy program.