Ryan Rhoades, a soybean farmer from Prospect, Ohio, recently joined 12 other farmers from across the country to complete the two-part Leadership At Its Best program, co-sponsored by Syngenta and the American Soybean Association. This leadership training program is designed to provide the skills necessary to be an effective voice for the U.S. soybean farmer. Participants were trained in media relations, public speaking skills, soybean industry policy issues, future trends, effective advocacy and organizational leadership.

Part one of the Leadership At Its Best program was held last August at the North American headquarters for Syngenta Seeds near Minneapolis, Minn. During this part of the program, the farmer-leaders also had the chance to network with fellow participating farmers representing the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). Part two of the program was held in conjunction with the recent ASA board meeting, held March 12-14 near Washington, D.C. During this session, the training put a greater emphasis on preparing the farmer-leaders for meetings with legislators.

ASA Chairman Ron Moore, a farmer from Roseville, Ill., had the opportunity to meet the participants of this year’s Leadership At Its Best class and observe part of their training.

“It’s exciting to spend time with a new group of leaders interested in becoming more involved in our association and helping improve the soybean industry,” Moore says. “Our industry needs engaged, intelligent spokespeople taking the lead, and Leadership At Its Best offers training to boost these individuals to the next level of advocacy for U.S. soybean farmers.”

Ryan Rhoades and the other members of the 2018 Leadership At Its Best class received a special certificate to acknowledge their graduation from the program. After the program, all participants joined other farmer-leaders on visits with members of Congress to discuss key policy issues affecting soybean farmers and the agriculture industry.

For more information about Leadership At Its Best, visit the ASA website at soygrowers.com.