In a Dec. 3 message to
county Farm Bureau leaders, MFB President Carl Bednarski broke the bad — but
not surprising — news that the organization’s winter 2021 Core Programs were
canceled to safeguard the health and well-being of members and staff alike.
Using feedback collected by the MFB State Board of Directors over the past
month, the following alternative structure has been approved for 2021.
In lieu of traditional
Core Programs (Growing Together, Lansing Legislative Seminar and President’s
Capital Summit) those dollars will be used to fund in-person or virtual
district-level programming, structured at each district’s discretion and
meeting at least one of these objectives:
-
Improve the
effectiveness of county Farm Bureau boards, provide concentrated leadership
development to county leaders and build organizational discipline.
-
Provide resources,
training and leadership development for county Membership, Promotion and
Education and Young Farmer chairs.
-
Enhance member
relationship building with state and federal officials while building their
issue knowledge and advocacy skills.
-
Build collaborative
relationships amongst counties and districts through idea sharing, networking
and best practice brainstorming.
-
Host a hands-on Young
Farmer leadership development activity in the form of district Discussion
Meets, emphasizing need for and support of the MFB membership pipeline.
With the help of home
office staff, the meeting(s) will be hosted and coordinated by key leaders of
the district including district directors, county Farm Bureau presidents, state
P&E and Young Farmer committee members and MFB Regional Managers.
All events or
programming must be conducted before Nov. 1, 2021. Each district will have a
budget of $12,500 to use toward their district event(s) to cover location,
meals, speakers, programing, etc. Core Program staff will set up a system to
ensure the events meet the meeting criteria and will streamline the survey and
reporting process to ensure we have good feedback to gauge member satisfaction
to this alternate format.
In addition to these
district meetings/programming, MFB will hold a series of virtual
sessions/training, meeting the above objectives, that members can participate
in at no charge. More information will be forthcoming regarding topics and
dates.
MFB program areas that
traditionally deliver Core Programs will work with corresponding state
committees (if applicable) to provide county-customizable resources and
templates to execute local virtual and in-person programming during the
continued uncertainty of 2021.
MFB staff
contact: Justin Hein, 517-679-4781