National Corn Growers Association has been around for – decades but when it comes to membership this farmer-led, and driven, organization is reinventing itself every day. With so many issues and outside forces effecting corn growers a strong collective voice is more important today than ever.
That’s why NCGA will be hosting a new, interactive program that will focus on member advocacy on July 25-27, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While some of the foundational recruiting methods haven’t changed, our target grower population has changed dramatically, according to Mike Shelby, NCGA association and membership services manager.
“As a grassroots advocacy group, numbers still count and when you are a shrinking part of the population, we need every farmer to join and weigh in on the issues including the next generation. So, we must ask ourselves what motivates a millennial grower to belong to a trade association today? How do we market to a younger, and more diverse grower population?” Shelby said.
That discussion will be paired with a communications training with a focus on social media and grassroots training. Getting to a busy target audience like farmers requires the right motivation and articulating the value proposition of membership, Shelby noted.
“This much we know, if we want to reach the next generation of grower-members, we need to build the next generation of ambassadors to reach them,” Shelby said. “And that’s a fundamental challenge we will tackle because it is critical to a successful future for every corn farmer and their family.”
To find out more about this opportunity, please contact the membership manager at your state corn association. Or, membership questions can be directed to Mike Shelby at shelby@ncga.com.
COVID-19 Resources
NCGA is taking a series of actions to do our part to help contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the economic fallout it is creating for corn farmers and our customers. Short term, this means instituting policies to protect the health and safety of our stakeholders and the broader communities we serve. Long term, we’re focused on creating solutions to help corn farmers and our customers recover from the financial impacts of this crisis.
CommonGround
CommonGround is a group of farmers connecting with consumers through conversations about science and research and personal stories about food and misinformation surrounding farming. Supported by the NCGA and state corn organizations.
SHP
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) is a farmer-led initiative that fosters transformation in agriculture through improved soil health. Administered by NCGA the partnership has more than 220 working farms enrolled in 16 states. SHP’s mission is to utilize science and data to partner with farmers who are adopting conservation agricultural practices that improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the farm.