Last weekend, the Oklahoma Pork Council participated in two special days focused on developing young leaders hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF). As part of Secretary Blayne Arthur's authentic commitment to fostering a passionate and engaged next generation, her team held the sixth annual AgHERculture conference for high school and college young women.

The Oklahoma Pork Council was honored to again be tapped to help lead various portions of the AgHERculture programming. What an incredible asset to our next generation of producers that we have a regulatory agency that devotes time and resources toward such an impactful mission. We applaud Secretary Arthur and the ODAFF crew for the generational difference their leadership is making!

On Friday, our team enjoyed serving as mentors during ODAFF's collegiate night of the conference. Held at the Oklahoma Governor's Mansion Pavillion, Kylee Deniz and Ashton Mese Johnston got to interact with dozens of collegians from various schools each with a passion for agriculture. Kylee and Ashton both took full advantage of opportunities to promote careers in pork production, involvement with Oklahoma Pork's leadership programming, and share advice from their personal experiences.

Then on Saturday, two of our most devoted collegiate leaders Molly Buckmaster-Hoffman and Laela Begley joined Kylee to run a pork careers workshop during the high school AgHERculture programming held at the Meridian Technology Center in Guthrie. To wrap up two packed days of learning, Kylee also continued her conference-favorite role as the event's closing speaker where she proudly shared her pork story and led participants through a meaningful "letter to your future self" experience.

Oklahoma Pork's board and staff take our investment in the next generation very seriously. We love opportunities to develop pork's talent pipeline and expose impressive young people to all our industry can offer.