Nebraska LEAD Program Fellow Returns from National Seminar

Nebraska LEAD Program Fellow Annalyssa Fountain of Bellevue, NE returned home after participating in a ten-day National Study/Travel Seminar conducted by the Nebraska LEAD Program, February 7-16. Dr. Terry Hejny, Director of the Nebraska LEAD Program served as group leader for the study/travel seminar to Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

During the seminar Nebraska LEAD Fellows met with business, industry and government leaders. Several highlights included visits to: MyCo Planet, Region 7 EPA and Dairy Farmers of America to meet with Farm Journal and U.S. Premium Beef, among others in Kansas City; American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Embassies of the Canada and Romania, USDA, in Washington, D.C; the Greater Chicago Food Depository, NuFarm, and the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in Chicago. Also included in this year’s experience were briefings regarding the John Deere operations in Moline, IL.

A major objective of the study/travel seminar is to provide participants with the opportunity to meet leaders who help shape local, state, and national policy in agriculture and related areas and to create first-hand exposure to varied social and economic conditions/issues that exist in the United States. The mission of the Nebraska LEAD program is “to prepare and motivate men and women in agriculture for more effective leadership” and is designed to speed up the leadership process. The Nebraska LEAD Program includes men and women, currently active in production agriculture and agribusiness. The Nebraska LEAD Program is a two-year leadership development program under the direction of the Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council and in cooperation with the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Program content, essential to leadership, focuses on economics, government, human relations, communications, international trade, sociology, education, the arts, social-cultural understandings as well as agriculture.

For more information, or to request an application for Nebraska LEAD 43, contact the Nebraska LEAD Program, 104 AgCom Bldg, PO Box 830940, Lincoln, NE 68583-0940 or telephone 402-472-6810. For more information about the selection process or to request an application, visit their website at www.lead.unl.edu. Application deadline is June 15, 2024.