At Work and Play in Florida..... (Part 2)

So, day two of the National YF&R Conference is largely defined by the Collegiate Discussion Meet.  It starts out first thing in the morning, back to back rounds of college attending members of the YF&R who have competed in their home states to earn the right to compete at the national level.  The Discussion Meet is held nationally at two levels of competition, one for the collegiate and one for regular YF&R members.  The regular discussion meet is held at AFBF's annual meeting each January, while the collegiate meet is held each February at the YF&R conference.  Collegiate members are able to compete more than once in the national meet, as long as they have not won it previously.  Regular competitors cannot compete again after they have won their state competition and competed at the national level.

The Discussion Meet is set up to simulate a board discussion, preparing YF&R members for future involvement in their county and state Farm Bureau Board.  They are judged on their participation in the discussion as well as an opening and closing statement on the topic being discussed.  Cooperation, knowledge, presentation, and speaking skills are all part of the scoring, also.  Their are four rounds.  The top scorers from the first two rounds move on to a round of 16, known as the sweet sixteen, from which they are narrowed to a 'final four.' 

Because our state competition is small, we have only had one contest, involving both collegiate and regular members, and so we send a competitor to whatever national meet they qualify for.  The last three years we have had collegiate winners.  This year, Stacie Schwandt, from Spring Creek, and one of our State FFA officers, won the state meet and represented us at the contest in Orlando.

Below are the five questions that were randomly drawn for each round--recently a fifth question was added so that it is no longer a given what the final round's topic will be.

 2011 Discussion Meet Questions

1- Farm Bureau is the leading voice for agriculture but not the only voice. How do we encourage other agricultural groups to work together for the common good of our industry?

2- Government has always been involved in agriculture. Is the current level of government involvement a net hindrance or a net benefit to agriculture?
3- How will food movements such as “foodie” and “locavore,” which are focused primarily in urban centers, influence national agricultural production and federal programs?

4- Has technology become essential for American farmers? Should Farm Bureau influence and encourage all generations of farmers, ranchers and agriculturalists to embrace technological opportunities?

5- Given recent challenges, such as volatile food prices and limited world food supplies, do American consumers adequately appreciate the importance of US-produced food? Will American consumers consider American agriculture important to our security in the future?

It is always great to watch as the 4-6 members of the board panel discuss these topics, share ideas, and show their skills.  Sometimes it gets a little intense--a lot of them are out there to win no matter the cost, while others are more relaxed.  If you want to see it in action, come to our state meeting this November in Fallon!  Or, you can contact me for more information if you are interested in getting involved.

Stacie represented us well, though she did not progress through to the last two rounds.  We were excited to have her there with us.

BUT, the title of this post is about work AND play, so I had to add some play into the mix...The first afternoon of the conference we were actually done with workshops and meetings by about 4:00, which gave us the chance to to get half-price tickets to EPCOT CENTER.  Where we travelled around the world and back in just a few hours.  And, like I said before, the weather may look chilly, but it was in the seventies, even as the rain misted or fell.

And what happens when you are at the YF&R National Conference and the Super Bowl is on?  Well, you just have an even bigger party than usual!!  They combined the awards dinner on Sunday night with the Super Bowl party, so we said good-bye to the retiring AFBF YF&R Committee, and a few other things, then they brought out the burgers and pulled pork and wings and salads and cookies and brownies.  Then, we watched the big game on the big screens!

Hannah, Stacie, Ken, Stephanie, Grant
Michellle, Pete and Lee
Enjoying the Super Bowl Party!

And a few minutes enjoying the beautiful weather on a hammock on the sandy side of the lake.

We also had a few hours to visit Disney's Magic Kingdom the first day we were there.

Lots of snapping turtles, bunny rabbits, and even armadillo's around the resort.  Two of our Nevada people saw armadillo's while we were there, unfortunately, it wasn't me--though I'll tell you about the alligator's next week!

A night shot of the resort reflecting on the lake with a low ISO on my camera--just having fun.