Commentary: Boot camp helps women learn to advocate for agriculture

By Leah Groves

When you get called by the media for an interview, do you know how to answer the tough questions? Do you know how to talk about what Farm Bureau is and what it represents? Do you know how to create a message and connect with your audience?

I had the pleasure of attending the Women’s Communications Boot Camp hosted last month by the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C. It is an intensive four-day training for any female Farm Bureau member interested in building skills to communicate about agriculture and Farm Bureau.

Each spring and fall, 15 women from across the nation are selected. In this class, we were personally coached and trained by AFBF staff on advocacy, public speaking, communicating with elected officials, social media strategy, targeted messaging and working with the media. We focused on current issues facing agriculture. The topics of focus for this session were sustainability, the farm bill and taxes. We were asked to choose a topic and stick to our message through the session.

The training, hosted by the Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Program, was led by Women’s Leadership Committee Chair Isabella Chism and Vice Chair Lorenda Overman. We heard their farm story, how they are involved and where it has led them today.

As part of the experience, the group toured Washington, D.C., and heard about the preparation that occurs before an election. We spoke with AFBF President Zippy Duvall and Executive Vice President Joby Young. We heard from Cynthia Iglesias Guven from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service about the upcoming International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026.

In our sessions, we talked about how to tackle the tough topics and how to craft a message, but most importantly, how to prepare for a media interview. We participated in mock radio interviews, mock TV interviews and public speaking situations. The goal in each scenario was to stick to the topic and guide the message.

We went to Capitol Hill to meet with our representatives to talk about issues facing agriculture. This opportunity not only helped me learn more about Farm Bureau but more about how to present myself.

Trainings like these are important to build skills to be able to create a baseline on having a clear message. Interviews can be tough. When you are passionate about something and maybe feel attacked or misunderstood, it can be easy to get sucked into the negativity or some of the negative wording, which can lead the interview in the wrong direction.

As an advocate, it is important to stay calm, ask questions to create a shared value, use positive language and don’t be afraid to guide the conversation. I know this is an area that is a challenge for me, so I have to think, how can I take a step back and connect with the person and give them key positive wording but get my message across.

This can be as simple as understanding that everyone wants safe, affordable, reliable food or we all care about the environment and protecting the land.

Being able to tell a story that is relatable and remembering that most people don’t understand or know “ag” terms, it is important to describe what you are doing and why. When you are planting that cover crop, what is it doing? How is it helping? A word I use a lot is “operation” when I should simply say “farm” or “ranch.”

In California, we have such a wide variety of agriculture that not all stories and situations are the same. But being able to tell your personal farm or ranch story or what you do in your role makes an impact, and that needs to be known and heard.

That’s where I feel the beauty of Farm Bureau is and why I advocate for Farm Bureau. It is important to learn more about what is happening on a national level and the value and impact of being a grassroots organization. It is important to hear from other states about what they are doing to share the diversity of stories from across the nation. We are all unique, but we come together to share a bond of agriculture. Farm Bureau is the trusted voice of agriculture and supports all farms, ranches and rural families everywhere.

Applications open in December for the 2025 spring session of the Women’s Communications Boot Camp.

(Leah Groves is program manager of Agriculture Innovations for the Siskiyou Economic Development Council and works on her family’s vineyard and winery in Trinity County. She may be reached at groves.leah12@gmail.com.)