If you’re a young farmer wanting to make a difference in the ag industry, the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) has the program to make that happen.

APAS is now accepting applications for its Young Leaders Program, formerly known as the Youth Leadership and Mentorship Program, until August 31st.

President of APAS Ian Boxall says the program is for people between 18 and 40-years-old who are interested to learn about farm policy, from the grassroots level at each district, to the APAS AGM in December, to the federal level at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture AGM in Ottawa.

“It’s important to show the young people that your voice is heard, and that if you develop good, productive, constructive, implementable ag policy, the policy makers will listen, and we do have an influence into ag policy that affects our farms everyday.” said Boxall.

Since 2014, 40 people have completed the program, and Boxall says the feedback has been good.

“We get an opportunity to show young people how to develop ag policy but also APAS gets a lot of valuable information from having those young people in the room; issues they face that maybe seasoned producers don’t face everyday.” Boxall added.

One of the 2022-23 mentees is Eric Martens who said in a news release “I wanted to take part in this program because I was looking for an avenue to lead me into the direction of governance, government, or policy without having to get a full-time job to find those avenues, and it
didn’t disappoint,”

Martens continued, “it’s shown me a lot of different aspects of the policy needed and the governance needed to help carry the voice of agriculture and impact the changes needed to keep policies in the forefront, but also including the producer’s voice in it.”

You can apply by going to the APAS website.

Hear the interview with APAS President Ian Boxall below.