Ryan Gobble, a senior majoring in Agricultural Sciences at Ferrum College, recently participated in the Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Conference held in Omaha, Nebraska from March 8 to 11.
During the event, Gobble represented Virginia in the Collegiate Discussion Meet and competed with other collegiate meet discussion winners from across the country. “We discuss agricultural issues and solutions that we can come up with to help mitigate those issues. Anywhere from water quality, to inclusivity with different commodities, to talking about how we can have a better relationship with politicians to ensure that agriculture can continue to thrive in the future, those are some of the topics we might get,” Gobble said.
Gobble had a great time competing and meeting new people. “I had so much fun and had great conversations, and I think I brought back some great ideas for how Virginia and the collegiate chapter at Ferrum can make a big difference and advocate for Agriculture. We can shine a positive light and let people know that we are the ones that feed, clothe, and fuel the world. It was a cool opportunity,” Gobble shared.
One of his biggest takeaways was being able to network with other agriculture students and professionals. “I got to meet people from New York, Oregon, Alabama, California, everywhere! I talked with people to see what they are doing in their collegiate chapters, what their state looks like, and how other agriculture commodities work,” he said.
Gobble also got to listen to lots of guest speakers at the conference. “Some of them were from other countries like Japan and Canada. Our keynote speaker was Rick Rigsby and each speaker gave a lot of great insight,” Gobble shared.
In the future, Gobble hopes to go into agriculture advocacy and literacy. “This experience allowed me to get up in front of people and really hone in on my public speaking skills. I also got to have tough conversations about agriculture and the current issues the industry faces. If we don’t acknowledge the problems, then we can’t fix the problems and make it better in the future.”
