While “tweeting” this morning on the social network Twitter, an incoming tweet highlighted a group of American Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) telling their story at 30,000 feet. This piqued my interest and I just had to investigate.

I went to the AFBF blog and found the following post, written by Will and Joni Gilmer: All good things must come to an end, and such was the case this Tuesday as over 700 young agriculturalists said goodbye to Tulsa, Okla., and the 2010 Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership Conference. The theme and goal of the conference was to encourage and empower the attendees to “Stand Up, Speak Out,” and it didn’t take long for that to happen.

Somewhere between 20-30 YF&Rs happened to all be on the same flight from Tulsa to Atlanta, accounting for about one-third of the flight’s passengers. Sometime after we had reached our cruising altitude and the captain had turned off the seat belt sign, one of our members started walking up the aisle to the front of the cabin with one of the flight attendants.

With her permission, he proceeded to address the passengers over the P.A. about our conference and our organization. He even lightened the mood further by playing the song “Brick House” over the system, which got one of the flight attendants and several YF&Rs up and dancing in the aisle.

After returning to his seat to a rousing round of applause from the whole cabin, he successfully lobbied to have another YF&R member go to the front and sing an agriculturally-themed song to the crowd. The cockpit crew even got in the act before it was all over and played cow and horse sounds over the P.A.

I won’t mention the names of those involved just in case the FAA has a problem with it, but they all did a great job of representing agriculture and creating a positive memory for their fellow passengers. It just goes to show that you should always be prepared to share your story ... you never know when or where you’ll get the opportunity!

This was a total riot! I loved reading this post and seeing how the younger generation responded to their charge of telling their story. When all of them return home to their farms, ranches and off-farm jobs, my hope is that they don’t lose their zest for telling the story of their industry.

One way they can continue to be passionate about agriculture is to keep their focus. After reading the following quote from Napoleon Hill, it’s clear we need to keep looking and focusing on our goals and dreams. He said: “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”
While at that conference, the Young Farmers and Ranchers got charged up to head out and tell the world about the benefits of agriculture. But, as we often do, when we get home and wade through the muck and mire of everyday life, we lose that intense fire to keep telling our story.

Our weakened desires take hold and we no longer have the passion for what we set out to do; instead, we are sometimes hopeless that the misperception of agriculture will ever change.
It can change and it will, as long as you pull your head back up and refocus on your goals. With your new focus, your desire will deepen, the flames of passion for your goals will be fanned and you’ll be back on track before you know it.

Keep telling your story – how much heat you want from your fire depends on you.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments may write to Melissa Hart in care of this publication.