Will Gilmer of Alabama Elected as YF&R Committee Chair
SEATTLE, January 11, 2010 – Members of the American Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee elected Will Gilmer of Alabama as the committee’s chairperson for 2010. He will take over as chair in February, at the end of the committee’s leadership conference and serve for one year.
After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering technology and business from Mississippi State University in 2001, Gilmer returned home to his family’s dairy farm in central Lamar County, Ala. In partnership with his father, Gilmer now owns and operates Gilmer Dairy Farm, which includes a herd of 450 Holstein cows, heifers and calves, as well as more than 500 acres of pasture and forage crop production.
In addition to his daily farming duties, Gilmer maintains a Web site, gilmerdairyfarm.com, along with The Dairyman’s Blog, gilmerdairy.blogspot.com, in an effort to reach out to the public about modern farming practices. Gilmer also is active on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter under @gilmerdairy.
It’s these efforts and others he’s taken to tell agriculture’s story that Gilmer hopes will serve as an example to the committee members.
“I want young farmers, all farmers, really, to get more comfortable talking about their own operations,” Gilmer said. “Once they get there, they’ll be better equipped to discuss how the hot issues relate to their farms. They’ll be able to go more in-depth on those topics while maintaining their personal farming perspective.”
Being well-versed and confident on the issues most critical to agriculture will help farmers be better prepared for the front lines, telling consumers what agriculture is really about.
Although Gilmer has a heavy online presence, he doesn’t expect the committee’s outreach to be limited to the Internet.
“I want producers to get their stories out there – one-on-one in grocery stores, in presentations to civic organizations, on farm tours, through traditional media, as well as social media,” he explained.
A fourth-generation Farm Bureau member, Gilmer and his wife, Joni, also have served as their dairy cooperative’s regional young cooperators’ steering committee chair-couple.
The YF&R program includes men and women between the ages of 18 and 35. The program’s goals are to help younger Farm Bureau members learn more about agriculture, network with other farmers and become future leaders in agriculture and Farm Bureau.
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| Contacts: | Tracy Taylor Grondine (202) 316-6377 tracyg@fb.org |
Mace Thornton (540) 846-0263 macet@fb.org |
