By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Camryn Clift of Princeton, Ky., Courtney Heiser of Attica, Ohio, and Sarah Lehner of Delaware, Ohio, participated in the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA) Ag Voices of the Future program – and all found the time spent in Washington, D.C., to be worthwhile.

The program is designed to expose young people with a connection to the farm to an education on major policy issues and advocacy, said Michelle Hummel, spokesperson for the American Soybean Assoc. It will also encourage them to consider careers within agriculture associations and industry, as well as government regulatory and legislative programs.

“I hoped to learn more about policy and how it is developed and how things are run in Washington, D.C.,” said Lehner. “You take a government class in high school, and you hear about all of the issues on the news, but without going there and experiencing it, you can’t understand how everything works.”

She is a freshman at Ohio State University majoring in animal science with a possible double major in agricultural business. Her family has a diversified farm operation with dairy and beef cattle while also raising corn, soybeans, wheat and hay.

“The tariffs that are affecting farmers were a huge issue,” Lehner said. “This program helped me understand this issue, what is causing it, what needs to happen to potentially fix it and how to interact with lawmakers to try to come up with solutions.”

The program affected her career plans in that it gave her a better understanding of the industry and the opportunities available. It broadened her interests, and she is now more aware of the business side of farming.

Clift also said the program was relevant to her career path. As an ag communications major at Murray State University, she is interested in farm journalism and advocacy.

“It was my first time in D.C.,” she said. “It demystified lawmaking and the regulatory process, and put faces and personalities to the organizations that we see in the news, especially ag news, organizations like the EPA and USDA. It filled me in on how the process works.”

Clift lives on a typical “big three” farm she said: corn, wheat and soybeans. Her family also has a small feedlot for cattle.

Heiser lives on a similar farm producing those three crops. Like Lehner, she is a freshman at OSU, and like Clift, she is majoring in ag communications. Heiser became aware of Ag Voices of the Future while scrolling through social media.

The opportunity popped up on Twitter, and she thought it would be a great chance to interact with kids from around the country and see Washington. She met the board members of the Ohio Soybean Assoc. and accompanied them to visit their Congressional representatives and talk about issues facing agriculture today.

“Not all of our Congressmen were able to meet with us, so we met some of their staffers,” Heiser said. “One of the things that I valued most was that those staffers didn’t always understand the issues that were facing agriculture today; we have to go there and advocate. So they got a little bit educated on those issues.”

Other program participants were Caleb Swears of Arkansas, Erin Chalupa of Iowa, Nathalie Yoder of Florida, Cameron Walls of Illinois, Mary Kate Morgan of North Carolina, Shelby Riggs of South Dakota and Abigail George of Wisconsin.

For more information, visit soygrowers.com and click on the “Learn” tab and then “Ag Voices of the Future.”