BEMIDJI 鈥� As a recent addition to 鈥淭he Herd鈥� program, Lily Krona is using her social media platform to give the public an authentic perspective on the world of agriculture.
鈥淢y goal is to tour farms around Minnesota and highlight those on my social media pages,鈥� shared Krona, a Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 graduate. 鈥淚 want to give people the real picture of what a farm is like.鈥�
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In its second year, the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation鈥檚 selects young adults from 18 to 23 to educate the public about agriculture through the use of social media.
Krona鈥檚 heavy involvement in agricultural clubs, leadership and curriculum writing has prepared her for The Herd program. She is looking forward to using her platform to give an authentic perspective about the world of agriculture.
鈥淭he Minnesota Farm Bureau has started this program for college-age students to help them showcase agriculture in a positive light using social media,鈥� Krona said. 鈥淪ometimes agriculture can kind of get a bad light from people, and once that starts it's hard to break that, but we're trying to just spread more positivity on agriculture and show the real picture of it.鈥�
The Minnesota Farm Bureau is a state-wide organization with representatives from each county and several chapters. When Krona heard that the Bureau was interested in opening a collegiate program, she was eager to be a part of it.
鈥淚 jumped right on that opportunity and I started the first collegiate program in Crookston, the state of Minnesota,鈥� Krona shared. 鈥淚'm excited to see how our program grows. And hopefully, it spreads to other universities and colleges around the state.鈥�
Krona was one of four selected, along with Aly Dieball, Katelyn Kobbermann and Mary Lanoue. They meet on Zoom monthly to talk about their posts and what they have been working on.
鈥淲e get together to talk about what we have learned,鈥� Krona said. 鈥淲e will get to meet with other agricultural representatives that work on social media from around the country. Hopefully, throughout the year we鈥檒l get to meet with them and get advice on how to grow our pages.鈥�
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Members of The Herd are able to use their platform to showcase their love of agriculture. It is an opportunity for educational experiences, networking, learning from professionals and communication-building. One goal of Krona鈥檚 is to educate people on a better understanding of what agriculture is.
鈥淎griculture entails so much, it's crazy,鈥� Krona explained. 鈥淲hen I first started, I thought of animals and maybe a couple of fields, but now I realize it is way beyond that. So much is encompassed in the world of agriculture, like all of the clothes you wear, the food you eat, everything in your life is based around agriculture.鈥�
Student leadership
Krona is a senior at and serves in multiple leadership positions for clubs on campus.
鈥淚'm president of two clubs this year and I've been on the board of, like, six or seven clubs the last two years,鈥� Krona shared. 鈥淚 am the president of the and I鈥檓 one of the co-presidents of
In her various roles, she helps organize events for public outreach, hosts meetings and creates new ideas to get students involved.
There are many paths within agriculture that Krona feels can pursue as she gains more experience in the field. Currently, she would like to be a high school agriculture teacher but is also interested in being an extension educator in a 4-H program or working for the Farm Bureau one day.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to make sure that the public is more informed, which is kind of why I chose agriculture education as a career,鈥� Krona explained. 鈥淭hat's why I'm excited about The Herd, so I can showcase my love of agriculture.鈥�
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Until Krona settles on a specific career path after she graduates, she will continue to share her passion for agriculture including correcting misconceptions about agriculture.
鈥淭here's a lot of the misconception that farmers don't treat their animals right,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut in reality, if the farmers don't treat their animals right, they're not going to perform or produce anything. So it's just kind of like informing the public that these dairy cows are treated like queens. They are milked for 14 minutes a day total. And then the rest of the time is spent eating and laying down and resting 鈥� it's fun to inform people about that.鈥�
Team Future Generation
In 2018 and 2019, Krona participated in the 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge with her Team Future Generation partners Theresa Gustafson and Haley Mouser. They won first place at state both years.
鈥淥ur first time competing we realized that there was no curriculum for third through fifth grade students on GMOs, so we wanted to battle that head-on,鈥� Krona explained. 鈥淲e put together some curriculum and videos and we taught that around the area.鈥�
Their success gave them the opportunity to travel and contribute to multiple agricultural groups.
鈥淲e went to a couple of agro-women conferences, and our own Beltrami County Fair Board,鈥� Krona said. 鈥淲e also went to Washington, D.C., for the 4-H Agri-Science Summit and we were able to work with Minnesota 4-H to talk about the science of the agriculture challenge.鈥�
The following year they worked on a project with gene editing for the same age group of students.
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鈥淚 think overall with our project we reached over 800 students,鈥� Krona recalled. 鈥淚t was a really cool opportunity to share our experience.鈥�
Krona added that she was heavily influenced by Ann Marie Ward, who was the Extension Educator in Beltrami County for most of her 4-H career.
鈥淪he inspired me to do so many things,鈥� Krona said. 鈥淎nd still now, she pushes me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things. My freshman year of college she texted me, 鈥楬ey I think you should join this program and I paid for your first membership fee.鈥欌��
She credits Ward for influencing her career path and having the confidence to try new things.
鈥淚鈥檝e been inspired to keep going and she has pushed me out of my comfort zone to try new things,鈥� Krona left off. 鈥淭he Herd program is something that she told me I should try doing and now that I鈥檓 doing it I鈥檓 really enjoying it. I honestly owe everything to her.鈥�
Follow Lily's journey on Instagram
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