February 18, 2016 Becoming a Young Farm Leader By: Jonathan Van Keulen Past-President, Mainland Young Milk Producers

A Bit about me Grew up on a dairy farm in South Surrey Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness in 2009 from Dordt College Farm with my dad and my two brothers We have also have 15 employees to help with the day-to-day operations Became involved with the Mainland Young Milk Producers (MYMP) 7 years ago Currently serving as the past-president

Overview  History of MYMP  MYMP Events  Getting Started: Challenges  Becoming Involved: Successes

History of MYMP MYMP held its first meeting in March, 2007 The MMPA Board noticed a lack of younger dairy producers at their meetings They wanted to build capacity within the youth of the dairy sector & train new leaders This would hopefully avoid Board transitional problems in the future They wanted to build & promote a healthy, young and vibrant industry MMPA provided a start-up base operating fund

MYMP Membership Organization of young dairy producers Members are dairy producers and employees in the dairy industry Aged Membership is free MYMP has a core following of 200 young producers Average turnout of 60 to 75 per event Larger events draw up to 160 attendees

Mission & Goal Mission: Develop, connect and empower young dairy farmers Vision: Be the model organization for other young dairy farm associations

MYMP Directors Jason Prinse – President Andrew Vink – Vice-President Brittney Schurmann - Secretary Lorene Barnum - Treasurer Carla Soutar Ryan Thibaudier Nick Janssens Jared DeJong Jonathon Van Keulen, Past President

MYMP  Through various events, MYMP is working to: 1)Build the future leaders for the dairy sector 2)Educate young milk producers to become good decision makers for their industry 3)Foster of a closer dairy farm community by involving spouses and families

MYMP Events MYMP plans 5-7 events per year: Spring AGM Spring / Summer educational event Fall educational event Harvest Party in October Winter Gala in early December Events range from seminars & workshops to tour days to social events

MYMP Events Examples of other past events: Cow Scoring & Social Calf Dehorning & Social Evening with the BC Milk Marketing Board Young Farmers talk Banking

Getting Started: Challenges Selling tickets for events & collecting the money for tickets sold Getting a commitment on numbers for food and caterers at events This is a larger challenge when you’re starting You don’t know how many tickets to expect to sell Lack of resources Money to run events Staff to help plan and organize events Teaming up with a parent organization was a key to our success

Teaming up with a parent organization MYMP is a subsidiary group of the Mainland Milk Producers’ Association (MMPA) Operates under the direct authority of MMPA MMPA represents about 350 milk producers in the lower mainland area of metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley accounts for almost 70% of the milk produced in BC MMPA fully supports the goal of the MYMP and includes MYMP in events such as Ag Day in Victoria

Teaming up with a parent organization Benefits: $15,000 per year to MYMP to help fund programs and events. This is more than matched by sponsorship from dairy allied trade Sponsorship of one MYMP Director to attend the Dairy Farmers of Canada Annual Policy Conference every year Staff support for organizational details

Becoming involved: Successes Former members of MYMP are now actively involved serving on dairy producer boards as well as various producer committees of the following boards: Mainland Milk Producers’ Association BC Dairy Association BC Milk Marketing Board Direct industry involvement on these committees is not the only measure of success  Personal successes are also achieved

Becoming involved: Successes Direct industry involvement on committees is not the only measure of success Personal successes are also achieved: 1)Involvement is educational  It’s good for you and good for your operation 2)Involvement gives you a better understanding of government policies  Gives you greater opportunity to influence government policies that could affect your farm 3)Involvement is social  Helps build friendships and networks in the dairy industry

Becoming involved: Successes  It helps you stay current on industry issues and trends  This helps you react as a business leader & improve your operation It’s professional  It’s social  It’s healthy  It connects you with your local government It gives you several opportunities  Including potential trade missions overseas

A success story Mainland Young Milk Producers is a good success story  But a lot of things have worked in our favour The Fraser Valley is a small area that is still highly concentrated with dairy farms  Many members can get to meetings within an hour There are a lot of young people in the dairy industry in the Fraser Valley Keep in mind that there are different challenges in different areas Every group will face challenges & every solution will be slightly different

Becoming involved It’s:  Good for you  Good for your farm  Good for your industry

MYMP Members having fun!

Questions