Every year the Ohio Farm Bureau takes a group of Young Ag Professionals to Washington DC. Each county has the opportunity to send a representative every four years on the trip. This year Medina selected Christina McDowell. The following is a a summary of Christina’s trip.
I would like to thank Medina County Farm Bureau and Ohio Farm Bureau for the opportunity to represent our community on the Washington, D.C. Leadership Experience trip in September. It was truly an amazing experience learning how Farm Bureau and other organizations are working with our elected officials to support our nation’s farmers.
As a group, we were able to hear from multiple speakers about policy and how organizations and people work together in DC. We heard from representatives of American Farm Bureau, Rural Affairs at the White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy, US Grains Council and Staff of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture.
As an added bonus, we were able to visit the Ireland Embassy where we discussed the agriculture trade between our two countries and the implication of Brexit of Ireland’s trade.
A lot of this visit revolved around trade, as Congress is still discussing the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. I learned how much of our agriculture economy is dependent on trade all around the world. Farm Bureau and other agriculture organizations are advocating for farmers and trade, but what really makes our government work is involvement. We the people need to be informed, get involved and advocate for government policy that effects our lives.
Thank you to American Farm Bureau, Ohio Farm Bureau and Medina County Farm Bureau for advocating for farmers and our community.