Junior Farmers Association of Ontario delegates have elected Kurtis Smith from Middlesex County as their new president for 2016.
Smith has been involved with JFAO at the provincial level since 2008.
He says one of this year's major projects will be updating the organisation's strategic plan.
"We'll be looking for our members and alumni thoughts and opinions as to how they'd like to see JFAO grow in the coming years and we have a very strong alumni base and they hold a lot of knowledge and I really believe we need to tap into that knowledge to guide us into the future."
While membership has been holding steady around 350 for the past few years, Smith wants to see what they can do about increasing that number.
He's hoping the organisation's new Marketing Director - Amanda Brodhagen - will be able to help increases the awareness of the Junior Farmers organisation for potential members in that 15 to 29 age group.
"Getting the Junior Farmer name out there and ensuring that our alumni know that we're still around and we're still doing very, very well that they'll be able to get the word out there that we are a very good organisation for rural youth between ages 15 and 29."
According to Smith, Junior Farmer members have the chance to learn leadership and organisational skills as well as the opportunity to take part in exchanges around the world.
JFAO members will be on exchanges to places including Tasmania and the United Kingdom this year.
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Smith says one of the key projects for the coming year is updating the organisation's strategic plan.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/JFAO-Smith-1.mp3"][/audio]
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Smith says they're hoping to build on their membership through a strong marketing campaign.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/JFAO-Smith-2.mp3"][/audio]
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According to Smith, members have the chance to learn leadership and organisational skills as well as having the chance to take part in exchanges around the world.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/JFAO-Smith-3.mp3"][/audio]
