COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gathering information about county fairs kept Kayla Scott pretty busy in July. Since she took over as organization director for the Ohio Farm Bureau, serving members in Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson and Tuscarawas counties, in mid-summer, she’s focused her attention on county fairs and prepping documents to present to each of her four county farm bureau boards.

“That’s one of our biggest things right now,” Scott said. “We’re about midway through county fair season for our counties, and then all of our annual meetings – where we’ll present to all of our members within each of those four counties, what we’ve been up to for the past year.”

As she fulfills her initial responsibilities, Scott hasn’t lost focus on the other goals she has set in her new position. “I’m looking forward to working with some of our board members who are very passionate about mental health initiatives, and energy sectors, and ensuring that our members in all of our counties are very well prepared,” she said.

Scott, from Mineral City, Ohio, grew up raising and showing pigs, dairy cattle and sheep with her family. She spent her time traveling across the country to show livestock as well as participating in Tuscarawas County 4-H, where she was a member for 10 years.

Scott has received multiple degrees from The Ohio State University, including an associate and bachelor’s degree in agriculture, and she will earn her Master of Science degree this summer. During her tenure with the university, Scott completed a study abroad in the United Kingdom, competed on the meat evaluation team, and conducted a variety of statewide research and Extension projects – a career she considered pursuing after college. “Originally, in school had an interest in Extension work,” she said. “But Extension positions aren’t very available.”

As Scott was struggling with figuring out her next career move, she got some guidance from Trevor Kirkpatrick, who held the position before Scott. He explained what the role of organization director was all about and how it might appeal to her.

“He was telling me about the position and thinking it would check all of those same boxes that were drawing me to a job with extension,” she said. “I like creative problem-solving with farmers, and getting to advocate for those farmers as well as being their voice. Those would be the two biggest pieces: problem-solving and advocacy – I just really love that part of the job.”

Scott worked at a commercial swine barn, a local feed store in eastern Ohio, and two College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences research labs at Ohio State.

The variety of those experiences has helped Scott develop an overall picture of agriculture, which many do not get to see. Her understanding of agriculture from the production standpoint of small farms and commercial agriculture, the business side, the retail sectors, as well as the research side, gives her a wide-ranging perspective of the industry.

“I think it was the culmination of all those different experiences that gives me a well-rounded background to be able to try to help farmers with any sort of problem they have,” Scott said. “There are a lot of things that I’ve just been exposed to that I think help with understanding everything from the policy to our membership drives – also just getting to the core and the root of what we do, of helping farmers throughout the state.”

In this role, she will work with the county farm bureaus to address issues important to members and their communities. “Each county is, is unique,” Scott said. “Here in Tuscarawas County, there have been quite a few issues regarding the rural wastewater management policies and just how those have been implemented. So I’ve been working with our board members on trying to figure out how we can create a policy to help protect them and ensure that they’re not going to be spending thousands of dollars to fix something that’s a non-issue.”

Energy management is an issue common to Scott’s four-county area. “I would say probably the biggest thing – trying to strike that balance of oil, gas, agrivoltaics, and then some of the carbon capturing that’s coming on the scene,” she said. “I would say the energy sector is, is a huge part of what we’re doing in the county right now.”

Scott, Jennifer Grigsby and Yvonne Ackerman make up the team that will work with farmers and approximately 10-12 board members per county in the area.