AFA conference provides student with insights into sustainability and conservation

Written By: Nicolas Kiep

After attending the AFA Policy Institute in September, Abby Meier (Agri marketing; Elizabethtown, IN) decided to attend AFA's Sustainability Institute in Orlando, Florida held at the Hilton Disney Spring on February 13-15. This institute, in Abby’s eyes, was very important because she wants to work on sustainable policies that simultaneously help farmers and the environment.

During the conference, Abby learned how various industry leaders are tackling climate change - from understanding the different actions and measures each leader is taking on climate change to improving industry sustainability with the latest opportunities and challenges.

One of her favorite events was the Future Executive Panel where the students were able to learn and ask questions about the future of the executives’ companies relating to sustainability, conservation and natural resource management. There were also career roundtables focused on sustainability and conservation where Abby was able to learn more about careers in this industry and speak with professionals about their career journey. 

Abby was also able to learn a lot about the history of sustainability and was shocked to learn how much the soil health across the country can impact climate change. This has inspired her to take an agronomy class next semester to learn more about soil health and use that knowledge to understand even more about sustainability.

Overall Abby left the conference inspired and is looking forward to putting those lessons into practice, now and into the future.