Owyhee Avalanche Feature

Marsing farmers grow with leadership course
From the March 18, 2009 Agriculture special issue of The Owyhee Avalanche

It has been said that farmers can solve the world’s problems seated atop a tractor.
Marsing-area farming brothers Brad and Ben McIntyre, however, climbed down to find answers during a recent four-month Leadership Idaho Agriculture class.
“It kind of opened your eyes to what’s available in the state and that there is more beyond just sitting on a tractor,” Brad said. “That there’s other people working for your best interest, and we just need to do our part to be involved with that.”
Marsing resident Brad, 26, and 29-year-old Ben from Caldwell operate McIntyre Farms on ground in Canyon County just over the river from Marsing. They primarily deal in custom haying and do a lot of business with DeRuyter Dairy in Marsing, where their father, Loren, is a manager. Loren also is part of the McIntyre Farms business.
The brothers said it was rare for two members from the same family to attend the same LIA session.
Brad said the LIA training will help him become a better businessman.
“A lot of it is just managing my time in our business and being more effective and being a better example fro the people that we hire and making sure they work effectively, too,” Brad said.
The McIntyre brothers were part of a contingent of producers at the recent LIA workshops, which had 29 class members hailing from different aspects of agribusiness, including federal ag agencies.
“One of the biggest things I took away was the networking with the people in the class and people who come to talk to you and (that) you get to meet,” Brad said.
He said that completing LIA opened his eyes to other people that had finished the course, providing more support for McIntyre Farms.
“It’s a tight community within that LIA,” he said. “It’s just funny that once you meet people you’ve always known that you know they’ve went through it and they open up to you.”
According to Kay Johnson, LIA assistant, Brad was one of the youngest participants in the class that met monthly in different locations throughout the state between December and February. Ben, who is a board member for the Idaho Hay and Forage Association, also came in well below the course’s median age of 38.4 years.
“It mostly centered on leadership development,” Johnson said of the classes. “(Organizers) want them to prepare to be leaders in their community.”
The leadership training appealed to Brad, whose wife Jill is expecting the couple’s first child in May.
“I would like to get involved with community affairs,” Brad said. “On what level, I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to process that.
“I definitely want to be more involved with the local community and the church.”
Ben and his wife, Maria, have two sons.
“(LIA) showed us how to be more efficient with our time and even with our family life and where our priorities need to be,” Ben said.
“They talked about better decision-making and how to effectively write our congressmen and representatives and get results.”
Brad said there’s a common denominator related to LIA — becoming a better individual, both in his community, in his church and in his field.
“The leadership skills that I will be able to bring as a manager to the farm and to my community will be huge, and just in personal life, too,” he said. “They do teach you how to be more organized and versatile and more of a (public relations) person.”
There were four stops on the road to LIA graduation. The classes kicked off in Moscow in November with orientation and also a rundown of how the ag community operates in that part of the state.
“I had no idea they raised all the crops they did,” Brad said of the Moscow-area farmers. “I just thought it was dry-land wheat. I had no clue how ag impacted in other parts of the state. I was living in my own little climate.”
Getting a glimpse of ag operations and philosophy throughout the state was a highlight of the four-month odyssey, Brad said. Many University of Idaho instructors provided lessons at all four stops — Moscow, Pocatello, Twin Falls and Boise.
December’s class took place in Pocatello, but Brad had a good idea of what to expect from the ag end of things there because he spent time in Rexburg while earning an Agriculture Business Management degree at then-Ricks College (now BYU Idaho).
In January, students traveled to Twin Falls and learned dining etiquette and also how to deal with the media. Homedale High School graduate Dale Dixon, who is a media trainer and interview coach, provided the media day training and students actually were interviewed on camera as part of the lesson plan.
The instruction wrapped up in Boise in February at the Idaho Ag Summit, which was attended by current and former legislators on the state and federal level and gave the LIA students a chance to build influence.
“There were legislative people around all the time,” Brad said. “We were able to deal with a bunch of people and mingle with them.”
The lessons learned also could help preserve the way of life the McIntyre boys have chosen.
“Each session there were parts ... on why each area was important to Idaho agriculture,” Ben said. “We learned about each area and why we need it to keep our area going and the state going.”

-JPB