North Dakota Farm Bureau Foundation

Young Farm & Ranch Committee:The overall purpose for the formation of this Committee of the North Dakota Farm Bureau is that a focus on young farmer and rancher membership will ensure the future existence of the organization. Having new young people join and become stakeholders in NDFB will ensure that NDFB will continue to grow and thrive and be relevant in the future. Ultimately, NDFB will grow new leaders in these young people.Creating a YF&R Committee of young farmer and rancher members will enable NDFB to learn about the needs of this important stakeholder group and provide member programs and other benefits that meet the needs of this key constituency, thereby fostering lifetime members from each generation. Involving young farmer and rancher members in NDFB will help the board and members build relationships with each new generation. The NDFB board can get advice from the YF&R Committee about how younger members weigh in on current issues and programs and ultimately consider that input in their planning.The main objective is to host the annual Farm and Ranch Conference. The YF&R Committee gets 150-200 people to attend every February. They meet to plan this conference and to raise money for this conference through their annual raffle.We estimate 75% of the committee members go onto serve on our county and state boards in the future. Estimated retention rate is 93% of the committee members, stay and become lifelong members of the NDFB.

Promotion & Education:The purpose of the Promotion and Education committee is to facilitate and create programs that promote agricultural diversity and relay the importance of North Dakota Agriculture and its contribution to the state. The committee provides hands on support to NDFB and its programs including member county farm bureaus and its affiliates. They implement programs that are delegated to it by the Board of Directors. The P&E committee advises the Board of Directors regarding program and direction.One other area of accomplishment is raising money for scholarships to help members kids that want to advance their education. One of the main activities that the committee hosts is the scholarship auction that takes place at NDFB annual conference. This is our main fundraising event for our scholarship programOur other two main activities are the Special Assignment Pizza program where we move our education booths around the state and teach 4th graders about how their pizza is grown and brought to the table. The other main education outreach is the Living Ag in the Classroom where we are part of a committee that the Department of Ag spearheads, the Living Ag in the Classroom is where we participate with one commodity booth and teach 4th graders about that commodity. We reach an estimated 5,700 students per year. We give out $10,000-$15,000 in scholarships per year.