One young farmer from Illinois just completed the NCGA DuPont New Leaders Program, hoping to further serve his industry in great ways in the future.  Thanks to Matthew DeSutter, Woodhull, for taking time from his schedule to learn more about leadership and advocacy.

A busy week of meetings in the middle of July focused on our nation’s capital concluded the program. Twenty-six farmers from 15 states took part in the overall program, which was generously co-sponsored by DuPont and is aimed at preparing participants to be strong advocates and leaders for today’s agriculture.

“It was great to meet many of those participating in our events this week, like the action team meetings, our Corn Congress policy sessions, and visits to their members of Congress,” said NCGA Chairman Martin Barbre. “These new leaders are the future of our organization, and it was inspiring to see the passion and energy these men and women bring into everything they do. We're also very grateful for DuPont's support in this growing effort.”

For the participants, the week began with Monday spent in Wilmington, Del., learning about the history of DuPont and the important work the company is doing specifically in the area of crop protection. In Washington, they attended policy meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Completing their DC experience, the team had an opportunity to thank members of Congress and their staff for the GMO labeling vote, encourage revision of EPA’s draft risk assessment of atrazine, and urge support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

This is the second plenary session of the program, which kicked off in January in Des Moines, followed by activities at the Commodity Classic convention and trade show and month webinars April through July focused on key issue areas and reports from participants on their interim activities. 2016 marks the third year of this program.

This year’s overall program participants were: Jonathan and Bridget Hitchcock, Georgia; Casey and Teresa Schlichting, Iowa; Matthew DeSutter, Illinois; Sam and Stephanie Halcomb, Kentucky; Corey Pace, Kentucky; Greg Dell, Maryland; Brent and Bryce Krohn, Minnesota; Ben Storm, Minnesota; Brian Martin, Missouri; Phillip and Lindsay Sloop, North Carolina; Ben Bakko, North Dakota; Deb Gangawish, Nebraska; Joel and Jenna McAfee, Nebraska; Tyler and Whitni Drewes, Ohio; Rob Holman, Tennessee; Bert and Brittney Ring, Texas; Robert Baylor, Virginia; and Trent Jones, Virginia.

IL Corn is now seeking nominations for the 2017 Young Leader class!  If you are interested, please contact the IL Corn office at ilcorn@ilcorn.org.  Spouses are encouraged to apply together for the program.