OFA: Young farmers share tips for attracting new volunteers and leaders

By Sara Wood,
Vice President,
Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Many organizations and businesses depend on volunteers to support different programs and initiatives. But it’s getting harder to find people willing to come forward to help, especially since the pandemic.

Recent Statistics Canada data shows most non-profit organizations, for example, are facing challenges attracting and keeping volunteers – and that volunteers themselves have less time to give and are dealing with more burnout.

Farm, agricultural and rural organizations are dealing with this issue too, although the shrinking number of farms combined with the increasing average age of farmers made it a problem for this sector long before the pandemic.

I farm with my family near Mitchell in southwestern Ontario, and I’m also a Vice President with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), as well as an executive member of the Agricultural Adaptation Council board of directors. Combined with a young child at home, I’m no stranger to juggling the many demands on my time.

Farm organizations like the OFA rely on volunteers to serve on their boards and become involved with local and regional associations, and we wanted to hear from some of our younger members about what we can do better to attract new people to our ranks.

That’s why we organized a panel discussion at our recent annual convention and invited newer and younger members from across Ontario to share their perspectives on what makes them decide to become involved – and stay – with a volunteer organization.

It was one of the liveliest and most engaged sessions at our two-day conference, which clearly demonstrates to me how important this topic is in the agriculture industry – and the learnings from that day can easily be applied to not-for-profit organizations from any sector.