33 ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER SEPTEMBER 2024 fundraising efforts led to two butchered hogs donated to their local food bank. All tallied up, JFAO members across the province raised more than $95,000 for local initiatives in 2023. BUILDING LEADERS The 2024 JFAO president, Carson Wagner, a dairy farmer from New Hamburg and an Oxford County Junior Farmers member, says that Junior Farmers has been an integral part of his journey as a leader in rural Ontario. As a member for nine years, he says he got more involved provincially after the Covid-19 pandemic, taking on the role of Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) representative, allowing him to hone his leadership skills with a provincial organization – which encouraged him to take on the role as JFAO president. Taking those leadership skills with him when he moves on from Junior Farmers (JFAO membership is for young people ages 1529), he sees an opportunity to get involved in organizations like OFA, the local dairy producer committee, and to continue with 4H as a leader. JFAO alumnus Barclay Nap from Wellington County credits Junior Farmers for helping him develop the skills he uses every day as president of the Wellington County Federation of Agriculture and as an owneroperator of a community-shared agriculture business. “What I learned in Junior Farmers was indispensable,” says Nap, who was a member of Halton Junior Farmers in the early 2000s. Learning how to run effective meetings and lead a board of directors were among the skills that JFAO taught him. “You need to have order and direction in a meeting, follow parliamentary procedure, have an agenda,” he says. “I cannot put a value on how much I learned about budgeting, something I use not only with OFA but also in my business,” he adds. HISTORY LIVES ON After ‘graduating’ from JFAO, Nap continued as a volunteer, helping struggling and new clubs form. A chance encounter with Carm Hamilton, a former JFAO secretary-treasurer and member of the Alumni Archiving Committee, led him to his passion project – collecting, documenting, and digitizing thousands of pieces of JFAO history and memorabilia. His collection includes photos, magazines, club and provincial meeting minutes, and lists of members and directors of clubs across the province. He has also interviewed past JFAO presidents and members to create a ‘living history’ of the organization. The collected provincial memorabilia and documents have been archived at the University of Guelph, with local archives, museums, and historical societies receiving boxes of local club historical items. • GORDON ORR, HOWARD LAIDLAW, AND WARNE EMMOTT All tallied up, JFAO members across the province raised more than $95,000 for local initiatives in 2023.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQzODE4