As a young farm girl from Kentucky and the first in my family to go to college, my FFA mentors led me to where I am today in my role as the first woman Top Producer Account Manager at Bayer Crop Science. Small efforts and suggestions, such as “I’ll write you a letter of recommendation” or “Have you considered running for State FFA office?”, pointed me in a good direction.
There was no large or profound moment, but just the compounding interest of those FFA mentors contributing to my development.
Kirby Green
Every year Bayer Crop Science welcomes National FFA Officers to visit its St. Louis, Mo. headquarters. In 2022, one of the visiting officers, Mallory White (eastern region vice president), was a high-achieving young lady who happens to live in a community near me in Kentucky and whom I had offered to mentor along her FFA journey.
Mentoring with Mallory has been simple things. We met for breakfast one morning at a Cracker Barrel. We shoot texts back and forth or have quick phone calls to catch up. There probably has not been one conversation or one major mind-blowing piece of advice. It is just little deposits of over and over, learning from each other.
During her visit to St. Louis, Mallory told several leaders about my mentorship of her: “It’s so inspiring to me to see Kirby doing what she is at Bayer and balancing her home and work lives so well — something I admire and hope to do one day. As a female, I’ve experienced my fair share of doubts entering the ag industry but seeing how successful Kirby has been in her corporate career allows me to know that I won’t let anything stand in the way of my passion to feed people. Whenever we meet or have a quick text or call, I always come away feeling more prepared to tackle whatever task I have at hand that we discussed.”
Mallory White
While I appreciated Mallory’s kind words, I told her that she mentors me as well. Mallory is so good at advocating for farmers and for agriculture. I love her #agvocate4ag posts — and cool hats and T-shirts too! But it’s also who she is. Mallory’s incredibly high character has taught me so much.
We need to plug into networks — in FFA chapters, high school or college — and search for young women and diverse talent, such as Mallory, with whom we can initiate those connections and conversations. Small mentoring moments can mean so much when it comes to attracting the best and the brightest to careers in agriculture.
