Upon joining the American Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee last year, Jon Iverson had anticipated a lot of travel.
The coronavirus outbreak dashed that expectation, but the YF&R committee made the best of the situation with remote “Ag Connect” meetings every month to keep young farmers engaged in the organization. Iverson considers those virtual meetings a silver lining to the pandemic and believes they will continue even after the virus brought under control.
“We wouldn’t have done that if we hadn’t had to go virtual,” said Iverson, a third-generation farmer in Woodburn, Ore. “It’s an easy, non-time-consuming way to get involved.” As the newly elected chairman of the national Farm Bureau’s YF&R committee, Iverson nonetheless hopes to resume the in-person networking that’s often associated with that position.
The 34-old-old Iverson, who previously served 12 years on Oregon’s YF&R committee, will act as spokesman for the YF&R program and will sit on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s board of directors during the year-long term. “My job really is to speak for the committee and YF&R members,” he said. A graduate of Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in crop and soil science, Iverson works in agronomy at his family’s diversified farm operation, which grows seed, tulips, squash, hemp, hazelnuts and grapes in Clackamas County.
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