Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, December 11, 2024
The Idaho Farm Bureau Federation at its 85th annual meeting Dec. 3-6 issued its first-ever Social Media Influencer Award, in keeping with the event’s theme that farmers and ranchers need to tell their stories.
“Who is the PR firm for agriculture?” award winner Jessie Jarvis, a third-generation farmer and rancher in the King Hill area, told an audience of several hundred people in Boise. “It is me and you.”
Farm Bureau members should tell their stories — which builds trust, makes ag relatable and tangible, and can help to combat misinformation — even if it means they must get out of their comfort zones to do so, she said.
“I’m wildly uncomfortable, but I’m doing it anyway,” she said. Agriculture is the wisest and purest pursuit, and we have to continue to share that message.”
Jarvis, who also founded and leads Of the West, a job platform for agriculture and Western industries, was presented the award for her efforts in spreading the word about agriculture through social media and other avenues, according to an IFBF news release.
The award is given to those who “go above and beyond to not only support agriculture, but to share agriculture,” said Joel Benson, director of the bureau’s information division.
“You have to be willing to advocate for agriculture,” president Bryan Searle said. “If you don’t tell the story, somebody else will. If somebody else tells that story, it might be false.”
“You have stories to tell,” Benson said. “Don’t be afraid to tell them.”
“Every state in America is great … but there is no place like Idaho, and there is no industry like Idaho agriculture,” Jarvis said in a social media post following her presentation. “I feel so lucky to get to share that story on behalf of my family and all the other hardworking ag families in the Gem State.”
The world will have an estimated 9.8 billion people by 2054, and farmers and ranchers will have the responsibility to feed them, said keynote speaker Rick Rigsby, a minister, motivational speaker and author.
“What you folks are doing is a calling,” he said. “You don’t walk away from a calling.”
State Department of Agriculture director Chanel Tewalt received the Defender of Agriculture Award, the Idaho Farm Bureau’s highest award for a state official.
Tewalt is “one of us,” Searle said in presenting the award. “She understands agriculture. … Director Tewalt is a defender of agriculture.”
“Ag has been foundational in every aspect of my life,” Tewalt said. Her relationship with Farm Bureau pre-dates her role as ISDA director.
Other awards went to Bingham County farmers Ralph and Joyce Dayley, President’s Cup, Idaho Farm Bureau’s highest honor; Wilder-area farmers Miguel and Camas Villafana, Achiever; Rigby rancher Paige Nelson, Excellence in Agriculture; Denton Perkins, Discussion Meet winner; and Eliza Dugan of the College of Southern Idaho, Collegiate Discussion Meet winner.
In other action at the annual meeting, the Idaho Farm Bureau House of Delegates voted to add a policy that supports state-funded research to improve and better understand the state’s aquifers.
