Three Herbert students, Callie Robinson, Tate Kerns, and Delaney Turner, recently competed in the final four of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet, an annual Young Farmers and Ranchers contest. The Tennessee Young Farmers and Ranchers Summer Conference was held July 19 – 20 in Lebanon, Tennessee, where these students traveled to compete.

Callie Robinson, an Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications major, went on to be named the 2024 Collegiate Discussion Meet winner, with Tate Kerns, a Construction Science and Management major, finishing the competition as runner-up. Each student who advanced to the final four received a cash prize of $200, and an additional $1000 for being the state winner. As the Discussion Meet Winner, Callie will go on to compete in Denver, Colorado at the Farm Bureau FUSION Conference, which brings together leaders from three program areas; Promotion & Education, Women’s Leadership, and Young Farmers & Ranchers.

This annual, professional development contest is designed to simulate a committee meeting where discussion and active participation are expected from each participant. All participants in this particular contest are college-age and are evaluated based on the exchange of ideas on a predetermined topic. The major goals of this contest are to assist in building discussion skills, develop an understanding of impactful agricultural issues, and explore how to work within a group to problem-solve. Tennessee Farm Bureau (https://tnfarmbureau.org/discussion-meet) describes successful participants as “productive thinkers rather than emotional persuaders and assists the group in creating ways to implement the solutions discussed and highlight Farm Bureau’s involvement in those actions/steps.”

The Herbert College of Agriculture could not be more proud of these students!