Iowa Farm Bureau Federation

Education, ag in the classroom: promoted scholarship opportunities for members awarding scholarships to high school seniors. Ag in the classroom coordinator conducted a series of presentations to pre-k through 8th graders at five schools in the county. The courses provided information on topics including corn, soybean, swine, and beef production along with the numerous by-products that are derived from each of them. Provided a virtual experience farm chat from the tractor to classroom students while planting and harvesting crops. During the summer, two county libraries participated in summer agricultural education opportunities provided through our partnership with our agricultural in the classroom coordinators.

Agricultural public relation events: to help celebrate ag week during march, the county farm bureau ran ads in the local newspapers and radio informing the public about the number of jobs in the county that are related to the agricultural industry. They aired ag trivia questions on the local radio station. The first call-in respondent to correctly answer the multiple-choice question received a gift certificate. It is estimated that thousands of listeners were influenced by the advertising. The company donated wood chips for 4-h and ffa livestock exhibitors, conducted a youth tractor pull, provided free watermelon, and provided a sweet corn feed meal with the proceeds being donated to all county food banks. The county farm bureau donated $10,000 to the webster county fairgrounds for a new swine, goat, and sheep show arena. Sponsored farm news ag show pancake breakfast hosting agriculture vendors to attendees.

The company has various programs that are aimed at providing information to members on current agricultural issues through newsletters, meetings, etc. 1,950 members were benefitted in this manner during 2024.