Young Farmers: Bring your flames to the table

Young Farmers: Are you still waffling over applying for one of the state-level Young Farmer awards? Stubborn!

Okay, here’s another one of last year’s winners wagging their finger in your direction. Don’t make her push you:

Back in January, at the national Farm Bureau convention in San Antonio, Sanilac County’s Darcy Lipskey was able to see the real impact her Young Farmer Excellence Award had on not only her organizational resume, but those of hundreds of peers from across the country.

In applying for one of Michigan Farm Bureau’s four Young Farmer awards, she found an opportunity to organize her own leadership plan by documenting work she’d already accomplished, both within the program and on the farm. 

“You don’t always measure your own success, but when you do you’re able to see growth,” Lipskey said. “If I hadn’t applied for the Young Farmer award, I wouldn’t have been able to see as clearly what I’ve accomplished.”

For Lipskey, those local achievements started with doubling the turnout at Sanilac County’s Project RED (Rural Education Day) — from barely 300 kids to 550 — and participating in educational stations outlining the role agriculture plays in our lives. 

Throughout the application process, Lipskey said she learned a lot about writing out goals and tracking outcomes. She also found a lot of similarities between the program’s interview process and those similar conversations necessary when applying for a job or promotion: conversations that involving questioning scrutiny and the need to professionally talk through your own strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments.

“You never know when the time will come when you need to tell your story,” Lipskey said. “We all have cool stories, but no one knows you like you do, so it’s important to learn how to share it.”

Even without bringing home the national-level award from Texas, Lipskey said she still felt like a superstar.

“I got pulled off stage by Michigan Farm Bureau Media for an interview about my immediate reactions and thoughts. It made me feel like I’d won the Super Bowl because even though I wasn’t a winner, they wanted to hear from me and how things went.” 

Another benefit from the application process is the hidden value of strolling down Memory Lane, and how it can bring your own resiliency into focus.

“If you don’t have luck one year, don’t give up, because it’s really interesting to see what you can accomplish in the next year. Even early in your Farm Bureau career, it’s helpful to document what you’ve been doing. It gives you something measurable that heightens what your later achievements look like.”

Any involved county Farm Bureau will tell you those achievements come in all shapes and sizes. Lipskey has some wise guidance there as well:

“Think of something new, or maybe an older activity that needs rekindling and find a way to reignite it — it could be your way to bring something back to your community. Taking ownership even of a recycled or updated project helps you become a better leader.

sometimes projects can get lost in leadership transitions —

“There might be hurdles, but when you sit down and really examine problems, you think of solutions. It may be small steps at first, but eventually that ignites a fire inside that you can start using to solve other problems.” 

But you won’t know what flame you can bring to the table if you don’t apply.

“It can be a challenging process, but it definitely helps you grow — in more ways than we can write down.”