Implementing Leadership Skills - Kayla Christians

Hello, my name is Kayla Christians. I am a stay-at-home mom of 3 boys (6, 4, and 3 years old). We live on a 16-acre ranch in the valley of Helena, MT. We have chickens and cattle to keep our family busy! When we are not on the farm, we are attending wrestling meets with the boys!?My Father-In-Law was the former Lewis & Clark Farm Bureau president, which was my start to attending my local Farm Bureau meetings. I joined the local YF&R group first, and now I am currently the Lewis & Clark Farm Bureau Secretary as well. I have been a member for around five years.

I applied for ACE to help me grow in leadership development. I was also hoping to gain some confidence in myself to be able to talk openly to anyone I encounter about farm-related issues. When I first applied for ACE, I thought it would be good for my local Farm Bureau to have someone go through the program and bring back new ideas and helpful resources to help grow the Farm Bureau presence in Lewis & Clark County.

I plan to take all my resources back to my local county Farm Bureau meetings and be able to grow our local involvement in the community and surrounding areas. This will help our local Farm Bureau name get out to the public and hopefully spark some new membership and involvement from our community members in our local Farm Bureau county events.

The most critically important issue to agriculture that I see right now is the younger generation not being able to have their own farm or ranch. It is hard as a new up-and-comer rancher/farmer to start their own farm or ranch. This could be due to not being able to afford land or the older generation not wanting to give up the reins of the farm or ranch to let the younger crowd take over. Participating in ACE, I am really looking forward to gaining the resources I can take back to my community to help the younger generation be able to obtain their goals of owning their own farm or ranch or being able to be the next generation in their family ranch or farm.

I plan to implement the skills and techniques taught through ACE into my involvement with my local County Farm Bureau and local community by bringing the resources we learn throughout the program to my local meetings. By doing so, it will help our local Farm Bureau get involved in the community and get a better presence around town and surrounding areas. I also will be working closely with my local YF&R members to bring forward my resources I learned to help others as well.

The world as we know is changing every year, continually developing your leadership and advocacy skills is crucial since the streams of doing so in the past may not be the most beneficial way currently. Continuing to grow in these skills will also help you be more of a valuable asset to farmers and ranchers since you are keeping up to date with your leadership and advocacy skills, as well as learning from new ideas.