{"id":229943,"date":"2026-04-01T08:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229943\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:38:07","slug":"county-farm-bureaus-in-texas-partner-on-young-farmer-and-rancher-engagement-farm-bureau-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229943\/","title":{"rendered":"County Farm Bureaus in Texas Partner on Young Farmer and Rancher Engagement | Farm Bureau News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">Editor\u2019s Note: This article was written by Emmy Powell, Texas Farm Bureau communications specialist, and was originally published on the <a href=\"https:\/\/texasfarmbureau.org\/hale-swisher-county-farm-bureaus-recognized-for-young-farmer-rancher-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Texas Farm Bureau website<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">Hale County Farm Bureau and Swisher County Farm Bureau (Texas) teamed up to host a series of leadership and networking events designed to connect young farmers and ranchers with other members across the counties, as well as promote Farm Bureau programs and strengthen involvement among the next generation of agricultural leaders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">Nearly 60 young farmers and ranchers attended the leadership development meetings that featured speakers and opportunities for peer-to-peer learning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">\u201cOur goal was to help develop leadership among these young producers and also make them aware of the Farm Bureau resources out there,\u201d Barry Evans, Swisher County Farm Bureau president, said. \u201cWe hosted lunch and dinner options to help reach more people. Many young farmers and ranchers aren\u2019t aware of the assets that are available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hale-Swisher.Texas.CAE.2025.jpg\" class=\"w-auto mx-auto\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sol font-light text-4xs\">photo credit: Hale County Farm Bureau and Swisher County Farm Bureau, Used With Permission<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">The events focused on leadership, advocacy and the value of local Farm Bureau involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">\u201cThe counties chose to work together as a team to drive more interest in Young Farmer &amp; Rancher events,\u201d Justin Stoerner, Hale County board member, said. \u201cWhen people see others getting involved, it becomes contagious. Sharing a meal gave everyone a chance to network and learn about the opportunities Farm Bureau offers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">The collaboration expanded outreach in a sparsely populated region, drawing participation from neighboring Castro and Floyd counties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">\u201cWe\u2019re in a very rural part of the state, and the populations of the communities as a whole are declining,\u201d Stoerner said. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming more and more vital to work together and to encourage involvement from these young farmers and ranchers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">Evans agreed, noting that community connections are critical in agriculture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">\u201cFarming is hard. Ranching is hard. But it helps to know there are others facing the same challenges,\u201d Evans said. \u201cIt builds a stronger community and makes stronger individuals knowing others in their shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"voa-body-copy\">County Activities of Excellence<br \/>Hale County Farm Bureau and Swisher County Farm Bureau\u2019s young farmer and rancher engagement efforts earned the organizations a County Activities of Excellence Award from the American Farm Bureau Federation. They were among 25 counties invited to display their activity at the 2026 AFBF Convention trade show in January in Anaheim, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: This article was written by Emmy Powell, Texas Farm Bureau communications specialist, and was originally published&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-229943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}