MFU Hosts FUEL in Whitefish

Last month, Montana Farmers Union hosted participants in the 2024 Farmers Union Enterprise Leadership cohort for their summer leadership training focused on advocacy and leadership.  

The 19 participants and five supporting staff hail from the five Farmers Union Enterprise states of Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Montana and met in Whitefish. The FUEL program workshops at the summer stop focused on learning how to develop and tell your story with the intent of developing a clear pitch for advocacy and future leadership opportunities.  

Cohort members worked in teams to build lobbying skills and legislative storytelling with on-the-spot remarks and mock lobbying opportunities, led by NDFU Member Relations Specialist Mary Mertens and MFU Membership Services and Government Affairs Director Rachel Prevost. The group also had a review presentation and mock meeting opportunity to practice parliamentary procedure with Kalispell FFA Advisor, Justin Heupel and two FFA students. Tracy McIntyre, Executive Director with Montana Cooperative Development Center, presented an informational session on “Cooperatives 101 and Cooperatives Leadership” to help educate about developing cooperatives and stepping into leadership roles in local co-ops. Kriss Marion with Wisconsin Farmers Union Wisconsin Women in Conservation and Danielle Endvick from WFU facilitated a storytelling workshop for cohort members.  

The group also heard from the five FUE presidents about their leadership journeys, as well as heard an update about the history of Farmers Union Enterprises and Farmers Union Industries the role they play in supporting the five Farmers Union Enterprises states. The group also experienced a glimpse of agriculture in the Flathead Valley with a tour of Glacier Processing Cooperative, a newly formed member-owned meat processing cooperative in Columbia Falls, and a dinner of pizza at Purple Frog Gardens, owned by MFU members Pam Gerwe and Mike Jopek, in Whitefish. The group meets next at the National Farmers Union D.C. Fly-in, where they will further their legislative priority knowledge, public speaking, and lobbying skills.