The context

From October 17-19, 2023, I attended the 14th Annual Meeting of Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) at Hilton Garden Inn, Denver Union Station, Denver, Colorado, United States. This well-attended event with 188 registered delegates from nearly 41 countries was organized by the North American Agricultural Advisory Network (NAAAN) and hosted at Colorado State University. It was an exciting opportunity for me to be part of deliberations on Building the Next Generation of Leaders in Agriculture — the theme of the meeting.

The meeting agenda

The meeting agenda included experienced speakers from the agricultural sector. They shared their experiences and stories related to the theme, Building the Next Generation of Leaders in Agriculture. Various sessions explored lessons learned within the global community, shared stories and experiences from 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) leaders, reviewed secondary and post-secondary agricultural education opportunities and discussed mentoring programs for young professionals, including the farmers to farmers extension approach. Also, we could hear from experts working with underrepresented and underserved communities, women and young farmers. The programs like 4-H and FFA really look very promising for making agriculture an exciting opportunity to attract and retain youth in agriculture, including effective leadership in agricultural value chains. I strongly believe such programs deserve to be expanded everywhere across the world, to make agriculture a glamorous and attractive entrepreneurship option for young men and women.

My role

At the Partnership Gallery, I presented a paper, “Bundled socio-technical innovations for women’s resilience and Empowerment.” I discussed our ongoing work — a collaborative effort of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with my institute (Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI)) and World Vegetable Centre, supported by CGIAR Gender Equality Initiative Her+. The key message I put forward was Green Revolution in many countries has been the finest example of technical bundling of seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, etc. In a similar manner, we need, alongside technical innovations, the bundling of social innovations — social capital, social norms, organizing women groups, sensitizing men about women’s role contribution in farming and integrating gender issues in agricultural extension, which can potentially enhance innovation adoption process toward empowering women and their resilience. The future of farming will have effective and more visible roles for women, so focusing on gender issues needs attention for preparing the next generation of farmers.

The field trips

 As a part of the meeting, there were three well-organized field trips to six farms.

I could visit two farms, viz. Kalcevic Farms and Emerald Gardens. Kalcevic Farms was a very large family farm (70,000 acres) run by fifth-generation farmers since 1898. Emerald Garden is operated by first-generation farmers (Dave and Roberto), with diversified operations including microgreens, mushrooms, food hub and agro-lab. All these farms are excellent examples of agricultural good practices, like crop rotations, healthy soil management, biodiversity, water conservation, regenerative agricultural practices, land conservation, agroecological and organic farming practices and so much more. Looking at the management of these farms, I could feel that these farmers are truly the leaders in raising awareness about the importance of farm land and keeping “farmers on farms,” which is really needed when many farmers are leaving farming across the world. Appreciably, these farms were well-connected with extension and advisory services of Cooperative Extension Service, university and county extension programs alongside programs like FFA and 4-H, and several other agricultural and community development initiatives.

Each of these farms we visited was showcasing resilience and adaptability in their practices under Colorado’s adverse dryland conditions. We can learn enough lessons from these farms to support the development of future leaders in agriculture and sustainable farming. I strongly believe these diverse farms, spanning from large- to small-scale, have potential to contribute to building the next generation of agricultural leaders within their communities and beyond.

Earlier, I wrote a little bit about 4-H, how it is helpful in preparing the future generations of farmers. Here, I would say about FFA’s importance. FFA is for students who want to engage in agriculture and aspire to be farmers, teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners and more. FFA helps the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members to develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of agricultural career pathways. FFA develops members’ potential and helps them discover their talent through hands-on experiences, which give members the tools to achieve real-world success. I believe, discussing 4-H, FFA and entrepreneurial farmers and their innovative agricultural practices truly justifies the themes of this meeting.

The takeaways from the meeting

For me, the three days of this meeting were a great learning opportunity. What good is happening in the agricultural sector of North American countries, in particular the United States, Canada and Mexico have lessons for the rest of the world though farming scenarios that are vastly different across the world. At the same time, the agricultural administration of these North American countries could gauge the challenges and opportunities in the agricultural sector of developing countries. I strongly felt the young farmers, women and marginalized groups need to be brought forward to modernize agriculture by building up their capacities and resilience. Appreciably, these issues were well-discussed at this meeting.

This 14th Annual Meeting of GFRAS, helped me understand a little bit more about agricultural extension and advisory services, particularly in North American countries. The visit to the Colorado State University Spur, including the veterinary hospital, was quite an inspiring experience for me and others. Truly, the Colorado State University Spur is a part of the evolution of education, and focuses on investing in the development of the next generation.

I thank NAAAN and the Colorado State University System for sponsorship and facilitating my participation. Also, I am equally thankful to my own organization, ICAR-IVRI for enabling me to attend this event.