Chris Chinn has a favorite saying: "The world is led by those who show up."
Chinn, who helps run her family's hog operation and feed mill in Clarence, Mo., shows up.
Last year, she spent 170 days on the road as a volunteer spokesperson for agriculture and the American Farm Bureau Federation. The 33-year-old dynamo is also on state and county Extension boards, does 4-H work and volunteers to read to preschoolers. She is passionate about what she does and is convinced that her efforts—and the efforts of others like her—make rural America and farm families better.
But there aren't enough Chris Chinns out there. Even a quick glance at demographics shows that rural America and agriculture will soon experience a short crop of leaders.
First, the baby boomers have been running things, and they aren't going to be around forever. Second, farms are getting bigger, but there are fewer full-time farmers. The numbers just aren't there to support the same level of involvement as in the past, especially in state and national farm groups.
Numbers don't tell the whole tale of the coming leadership shortage, however. Intense business demands have made it more difficult for a younger generation of farmers to find the time for leadership roles. Cultural changes also play a part. Many of Chinn's generation of potential farm leaders are more involved in their families' lives than their parents were.
Finally, there is an attitude issue. Some observers say this generation is turned off by leadership roles, at least as they are now structured.
Declining numbers. As president of the Illinois Ag Leadership Foundation (IALF), Joyce Watson has been training future agricultural leaders for 26 years. For the past few years, she says, "it has been more and more difficult to draw (farm) people to the program. This year was a wake-up call for us. We had fewer (farmer applicants) than ever. They just don't exist."
IALF's centerpiece program is a two-year travel and learning experience for farmers and members of agribusiness, ages 25 to 49. It has been around since 1982 and has trained hundreds of men and women to be industry leaders and spokesmen. In most classes, Watson aims for a 50/50 mix of producers and agribusinessmen. In recent years, only 30 to 40% of the 30-member classes have made their livings as farmers.
Why so few? Watson agrees that familiar demographics are one answer. But farmers, she says, "are doing more and more with less and less labor and manpower." They simply can't afford to be away from home. Time, as the saying goes, is money.
Last year, 30-year-old Doug Morrow spent 125 days away from his 1,500-acre corn and soybean operation near Marion, Ind. His leadership resumé includes work with the county Farm Bureau, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and his current position as president of the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Morrow believes those 125 days of volunteer work cost him some potential rented land. "Some people think I get paid for these (volunteer) positions, so they think I don't need the money and they don't rent to me," he says.
John Buck, 37, who farms 800 acres and does custom work on 2,000 more near New Bloomington, Ohio, has had similar experiences. Potential landlords have told him that he was on the road too much and couldn't possibly have time to farm more land properly. "I could be farming 2,000 acres now if I had picked up all the ground I should have had."
Buck, who is a director of the Ohio Soybean Association and has his hand in several other farm organizations, says leadership roles have cost him in other ways too. "I can't have hands-on time with some of the things I love around the farm, like driving a tractor. I have to pay people to do that for me, which costs me money," he explains.
Given all that, it's not surprising that many young farmers are saying "No" to leadership, says Ken Pigg, a University of Missouri sociologist who studies rural leadership issues. "People look at the scope and the nature of leadership responsibilities and wonder, ‘Why would I want to do this?' And they back away."
Family matters. Chris Chinn's commitment to agriculture takes her away from her responsibilities at the farm and the family-owned feed mill. Most importantly, though, it takes her away from her husband, Kevin, and her kids, Rachelle, 10, and Conner, 6. "My family time became Farm Bureau's time," she says.
She relies on her extended family—especially Kevin's parents—to pick up the slack. And they do so magnificently. Chinn says the time away is worth it and is necessary.
She doesn't have much patience, then, for people who stand on the sidelines: "A lot of people say they don't have the time to volunteer. But I have found when you want something done, you ask a busy person to do it. They know how to find time to get things done."
Some young parents simply can't find that time. Many farm families today include a wife who works off the farm; sometimes the husband does too. Between those jobs, farming and family, there really isn't time for much else.
A cultural shift also figures in, IALF's Watson says. "I think a lot of young fathers are more involved with raising kids than their fathers were." It's hard for them to sit in a committee meeting in a far-off city while their daughters play their first softball games or their sons show cattle at the county fair.
Family history might contribute to young parents' reluctance to accept leadership roles, says Dave Durheim, director of program development for the American Farm Bureau Federation. "These are children of today's 60- and 70-year-old leaders who have been so involved (off the farm in volunteer roles)," he says. "They saw firsthand how much that took their fathers and mothers away from home. Maybe some of them are saying, 'That's not what I want for my kids.'"
Something else is going on with the younger generation: They don't like the way the older generation runs things.
"One of the problems with some organizations is that they operate in an old-fashioned way," says John Buck. "Meetings drag on and on and there is way too much rehashing of every issue. Make a decision and move on. Don't waste everyone's time."
That is a typical "now" generation attitude, says John Graham IV, CEO of the American Society of Association Executives. He works with leaders in many industries and sectors and has reached this conclusion: "Younger people are into instant gratification. They are not willing to serve on a series of committees and work their way through things. So serving on boards does not appeal to them."
Doug Morrow agrees. When you ask him about recruiting other 30-year-olds to leadership roles, "It's a tough sell," he says.
What to do? There is no one answer for getting young people involved. Time will remove some of the pressure as their children grow. And as the farming businesses mature, they should have more free time to devote to good causes.
Farm organizations can re-evaluate procedures if they want to attract more young leaders. Shorter meetings, perhaps? Meetings timed to avoid busy seasons? New communications skills?
"If you want young people involved, you have to embrace new technologies," Buck says. Use more e-mail and less paper; use iPod presentations rather than requiring attendance at meetings and presentations.
All of these things might help. One thing is sure, though. If things don't change, a leadership vacuum will grow. "We have almost skipped a generation of leaders already," says Farm Bureau's Durheim. "We have to do more to attract young people."