American Farm Bureau Convention Monday Recap: Innovation Challenge and YF&R Awards, Farm Bill Congressional Discussion and More

The American Farm Bureau Convention continued today with several awards presentations, an engaging slate of workshops and an inspiring keynote address.

Programming began with the Final Four round of the Young Farmers & Ranchers Discussion Meet, as well as workshops covering the upcoming tax cliff, strategies for promoting Farm Bureau and the history of Texas cattle ranching. House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) participated in a farm bill panel discussion.

During the closing general session, attendees were inspired by a keynote address from Eric Boles, CEO and founder of The Game Changers, Inc., a leadership training and development company. Boles is a global expert in talent development, change management and cultural transformation, and he coached attendees on how to foster growth and perform at their best.

Gripp, a startup from Indiana that offers farmers an operator-centric way to keep records of assets in combination with communication tools to keep everyone connected, was named the 2025 Ag Innovation Challenge winner, while Labby from New York was named runner-up. Gripp will receive a total of $100,000 in prize money sponsored in part by Farm Credit, Bayer Crop Science, John Deere, Farm Bureau Bank, Farm Bureau Financial Services and T-Mobile.

Winners of the Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award, Discussion Meet and Excellence in Agriculture competitions were announced. Kade and Morgan Hodges from Texas won the Achievement Award, Abby Campbell of Ohio won the Discussion Meet and Marshal and Taylor Sewell from Florida won the Excellence in Agriculture Award.

Also during the convention, members of the AFBF YF&R Committee elected a new executive team. Ryan MacKay of Massachusetts will be the committee’s chair for 2025, taking over the position in March at the end of the FUSION Conference, and will serve for one year. He will also serve a one-year term on the AFBF board of directors.

Daniel Jones of California was elected vice chair and Allison Whiten of South Carolina was elected secretary. They will each serve one-year terms.

Tuesday Preview

The annual meeting of AFBF voting delegates will take place tomorrow. Delegates will set Farm Bureau policy for 2025. Media registered for convention may attend.

AFBF President Zippy Duvall is available for interviews by request following the close of the voting delegate session. To schedule an interview, contact Mike Tomko, miket@fb.org, or Bailey Corwine, baileyc@fb.org.

All livestreamed convention content, including President Duvall’s keynote address and Cultivation Center Stage programming, will be available on YouTube.