The need for issue-driven leadership in the agriculture and herbal resources sectors is important to the continued good fortune of Delaware’s biggest economic engine. Agriculture is Delaware’s most sensible industry, providing more than 69,000 jobs and just about $10. 3 billion in economic activity, according to the Delaware Department of Agriculture and a 2023 Feeding the Economy report.
To meet this need, LEADelaware empowers Americans as the First State. With significant input from the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), the two-year leadership program develops passionate and informed network leaders. One of the goals is to advocate for agriculture and herbal resources and to give a vital voice to local, regional and national policies and conversations.
Delaware’s program is fostered through a successful Maryland program, created to counter the government’s negative attitudes toward agricultural producers.
Kee thanked Kenneth Bounds, then affiliated with Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit, for leading the effort in Maryland. Bounds sought to mirror his good fortune in the First Estate.
Around 2003, Bounds secured a $10,000 commitment from the budgets of Michael Scuse, secretary of the Delaware Department of Agriculture, and Robin Morgan of UD, then dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. day.
“It’s a wonderful start-up capital to launch the program,” said Kee, who turned to Bounds to launch the inaugural LEADelaware program.
Given Kee’s established experience in agricultural and network leadership, plus a long career at UD Cooperative Extension as a fruit and vegetable extension specialist and state agricultural program manager, he was a logical fit. Kee was aware of the servant leadership program project, which combines career goals. while gathering the wishes of the network.
In the first cohort, Kee recruited six farmers and six others from similar sectors and organized the program, which includes a study abroad to cap off the two-year experience.
“The overseas examination field trip is paramount – learning about agricultural import and export markets from the attitudes and economies of other countries broadened my understanding of global markets,” said Laurie Wolinksi, LEADelaware alumnus, extension officer, and director of the Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center.
“Agriculture is a global industry and business,” Kee said. “To broaden their leadership, farmers or agricultural professionals have an idea of how things work and how other countries relate to the United States. The Port of Wilmington, for example, is the largest winter access point produced in Chile. “
The South American country was the first selection for the first of the program’s examination trips abroad. Later locations included Peru, New Zealand, and Argentina.
Fellows meet regularly and meet with local leaders and producers. They also stop at production sites and take weekends, such as in Washington, D. C. , to meet with policymakers and national legislators.
Since its launch in 2007, the program has 70 students, 15 of whom are affiliated with UD. Countless university members and UD professionals have worked as instructors. Several UD sites across the state are destinations on the varied agenda. Fellows are exposed to a wide diversity of topics to better appreciate the broader interdependence and intensity of agriculture and herbal resource management.
With Kee at the helm, two DU members signed up for the inaugural promotion: Cory Whaley, Sussex County’s director of extension and agricultural agent, and his colleague Wolinski.
“LEADelaware has allowed me to realize the many facets of agriculture locally, nationally and globally,” said Whaley. “It opened my eyes to what leadership is and what makes effective leaders. “
It was vital for Kee to schedule guest speakers who shared original leadership stories.
“We had leaders, other people who had been affected by the fire,” Kee said. “This brought up the detail of listening to and interacting with intelligent religious leaders with a history of good fortune and also a history that has had some very difficult times. ” times. “
When Kee left UD to serve an eight-year stint as Delaware’s Secretary of Agriculture, another CANR university took on leadership roles in the program, adding Bill McGowan, Tom Ilvento, and Michelle Rodgers.
“The leadership skills I developed in the program gave me the confidence to take on local, regional and national leadership roles,” Moore said.
“The training I got at LEADelaware helped lead our team to good luck in this assignment and in the end, opened a lot of doors for my career,” said Volk.
His leadership period continued to evolve. Volk, who now serves as interim director of outreach, analyzed the program’s effectiveness as a component of her pedagogical leadership in Ed. D.
“I was very interested in comparing LEADelaware to determine our effectiveness to date and applying the feedback I would receive from our partners, sponsors, and alumni to the program in the future,” Volk said.
Volk was at the helm of the program at a difficult time. COVID-19 thwarted Class V’s planned vacation to Southeast Asia; Class VI met most often virtually. The examination holidays of both classes included agricultural sites in the United States.
“I learned about spaces in Delaware agriculture that I had never had much of a clue about, such as urban farming, nurseries, oyster farmers, not to mention the high-tech industries that operate in Delmarva,” said Brian Ladham, senior scientist in avian virology at Delmarva University, the Department of Animal and Food Sciences and the Allen Biotechnology Laboratory. “With each new experience, I’ve tried to find a way to incorporate this industry into my efforts at UD. “
“Our biggest replacement for Class VII is that we are now looking to link our sessions around a not unusual theme: the environmental, economic and social sustainability of Delaware’s agricultural and herbal resource sectors,” Volk said. “
However, LEADelaware’s core project remains unchanged.
Kee hopes that in the long term LEADelaware will come with strong representation of farmers and staff in the agri-food and food industry.
“Farmers want to be transparent and have a strong understanding of their sector, at least in the segments where they are heavily involved, and be able to explain to other non-farmers and policymakers the importance of agriculture and the effects of those policies. both positive and negative, they have on agricultural production,” Volk said.
LEADelaware is supported by sponsors from several agricultural organizations, including the Delaware Chicken Association, FMC, Mountaire, Horizon Farm Credit, and Corteva.
Applications for Class VII are open until mid-November on the LEADelavare website.
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