Cave Spring, GA |
For Cleve and Emilia Jackson, the choice to serve and lead as the Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher State Committee Chairs was an easy decision, and was something they had a shared desire to do to further a cause they both deeply believe in.
“Cleve and I have always wanted to jump into the opportunity of leadership positions if they’re available, because we want to do something better with what’s around us. So we figured this is a great next step and when the opportunity came open for district one, we put our hat in for it and we were excited to take the chance to be able just to be on the committee. Then when the chance came open to run for chairs, we were at that point again where we were hoping to do something for everybody else around us, and we thought, ‘why not?’,” Say Emilia.
However, their decision wasn’t just about personal growth, it was also about a passion they both have for agriculture and making sure the industry has a voice.
“Every day, farmers like us across the state and across the nation are working hard to put food on our tables, but if we don’t take that next step and get involved in organizations like Farm Bureau that is serving as our voice at the state and the national level, that serving as a unifying body for agriculture in Georgia, then we lose our seat at the table. So, it’s vitally important that farmers like us continue to be engaged in organizations like Farm Bureau, because through organizations like that, we can tell our story,” says Cleve.
For the Jacksons, leaving a lasting legacy was a must, which is why they put a lot of their focus and attention on growing the program.
“Our end goal was to leave the Young Farmer Rancher program better than we found it. The best way we knew to do that was to get more people involved, because we know that serving on the young farmer and rancher committee and doing the young farmer and rancher events are really going to sink the teeth into the other young farmers and ranchers across the state. So what we focused our committee efforts on were to increase participation at all of our events, culminating in our summer leadership conference, where our goal was to have at least one person from every county represented at the conference. We didn’t quite make that, but our attendance increased from last year to this year, and we were really proud of that. From the engagement we had across the state we saw people that had never been, a lot of first time attendees come to the conference that had never been and we know that they will come back because of the experience they had and make our organization stronger,” says Cleve.
Though their time has come to an end, Cleve says the work is far from over, as he believes the need for engagement must continue in order to develop the next generation of ag leaders.
“There’s no doubt that Farm Bureau and the counties and the groups across the state do a wonderful job of educating consumers, of connecting with legislators and representatives, but that work is never done. Just like a farmer in the field has always has things to do, our list is endless, right? The same can be said for opportunity to engage and to connect with the consumer, legislator, the representative and not just us personally, but collectively across the state. We have great engagement from our members, but we could always do better, especially in the Young Farmer and Rancher program to continue to develop that next generation of Farm Bureau leaders,” says Cleve.
By: John Holcomb