After FFA

What's the next step after FFA? Mitchell Searle, state chair of the Young Farmers and Ranchers, presented about YF&R at the 2026 FFA Convention in Twin Falls. Here he is. Speaker 2: We're here at CSI, at the state of Convention, and Young Farmers, ranchers is telling these FFA kids that there is life after FFA and Farm Bureau and YF&R is that next step for them, for leadership development, and for staying involved in the ag industry, wanting to make an impact. My goal for YF&R is increase visibility and fill the pipeline of young kids coming in, whether that's FFA members knowing about it and being able to join, or collegiate chapters filling those up, making them very active and a good recruitment tool to let people know about Farm Bureau, and then they can join and go back to their home counties and be involved. Whether you're an ag producer or a consumer, being more conscientious about where your food comes from, the impact and role of agriculture, its importance, everybody needs to understand that better and place a value on it. As a society, farmers struggle when our efforts aren't valued and aren't understood. Doesn't matter if you're going to be a farmer or not, but being aware of where your food and fiber comes from for everything in your daily life makes you a more educated voter when it comes to making these policy decisions that affect farmers. Speaker 1: YF&R and FFA produce great Americans.