Farmers Weekly Review

By Jackson Hogan

Although I’ve been in Will County for over two months, I have successfully avoided writing about myself until now. I am Jackson Hogan, the new Manager of the Will County Farm Bureau.

If you’ve been able to attend a Will County Farm Bureau event in the past month, you have probably heard me talk about where I went to school, so I will state it quickly. I grew up in Decatur, IL where I attended St. Teresa High School; after high school, I enrolled at Iowa State University and obtained my bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Studies.

Before my time with Illinois Farm Bureau, I had the opportunity to work some delightful and educational jobs. Outside of helping on the farm, I worked at Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch and Cracker Barrel during high school. During my first two summers at the “real” ISU, I worked for the Macon Mosquito Abatement District as a Field Technician. My final summer at school was spent at an internship under a joint grant for Iowa State and the USDA.

My professional career has been filled with many jobs where I would look forward to every shift, and I imagine my career with WCFB will follow suit. Throughout my life, it has felt as if whatever I said I would never do, I always end up doing. During grade school, my mother worked for Catholic Charities and delivered Meals on Wheels. As the rude child I was, I would tell her that she worked for a non-profit, and it’s in the name that there is no money there.

Another popular thing I pointed out as a child was that I would never live in a town with a lot of people. Anyways, here I am as your new non-profit organization manager in a county with 700,000 people. Since my adolescence, I have shed the mentality I once had, and I understand the importance of organizations that are not intended to only make a profit.

When I was in college, I began to want to work for the government in a position associated with agriculture or the environment. I applied to be an intern for the USDA on campus at Iowa State with a scientist working on research with runoff in local Iowa watersheds. After being interviewed by the scientist, I did not receive the internship but unbeknownst to me, he recommended me to another scientist in the building.

During the dead week, I was studying for my finals I had the next week when I received a phone call from the other scientist. Once he and I got along and he offered me the position, I thought it was fate that I would do research for the federal government in the future. Like many other statements in my life, I declared that I would work for the federal government; this statement was just as true as the others.

During the final year of my time in Ames, I reflected on why I wanted to be involved in the research of agriculture. I concluded that what motivates me is the desire to be involved with the evolution of the agricultural industry. One of the biggest issues facing Ag is the continual decrease in people involved in the industry. The USA is a country that was founded on the principles of an agrarian society, and over the past several decades, the amount of people in ag has decreased.

When I wanted to do research, I wanted to help usher in data that was digestible and easy to relate to for those who did not know anything about the industry. What I was missing in that reasoning was the exact issue, communication. At Will County Farm Bureau, we can be the communication between both worlds, and I want to help facilitate that in the best way possible.

All of you reading this newspaper have kept your interest in agriculture, and I would like to thank all of you for doing so. Hopefully, my story and motivations have prevented you from flipping to the next page.

Thank you for reading.

Jackson Hogan is Manager of the Will County Farm Bureau.