PRINCETON, Ky. — Catlin Young of Caldwell County has been selected as Kentucky’s American Soybean Association (ASA) Corteva Agriscience Young Leader. This national program allows young soybean farmers from around the country to gather for a challenging leadership experience. The Young Leaders program offers the opportunity for participants to enhance their leadership skills as well as meet and learn from other young leaders.
The Young Leaders program is unique among the leadership opportunities that exist for soybean growers, as it is designed to include partners in the role of “significant other” in the training. The couples will attend sessions together so that both parties understand the importance of helping to shape national policy and advocate for agriculture, and both have the tools to do so. This program trains leaders with the hope that they will, at some point, serve in a leadership capacity in the soybean organization.
Catlin raised soybeans on her own farm this year, in addition to helping out on her grandfather’s Lively H Farms. Her partner, Aaron Vinson, works at Lively H full time, while Catlin works at the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton. She is a graduate of Murray State University’s Hutson School of Agriculture with a degree in Agri-Science/Agribusiness.
In addition to soybeans, Catlin has a flock of sheep. She has owned her farm for just over a year and says that she has already enrolled in her county’s EQUIP and utilizes several best management practices, including cover crops, no-till, pasture management, a livestock pipeline for watering, and planting pollinator habitat.
Catlin is an active advocate for agriculture and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok as A Grower’s Granddaughter, where she shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of life on her farm.
As part of her status as Kentucky’s ASA Corteva Agriscience Young Leader, Catlin will serve as an ex-officio member on the board of the Kentucky Soybean Association. Young Leader duties begin at the end of November when the couple will travel to Corteva corporate headquarters in Johnston, Iowa, for part one of a two-part training session. Part two will take place in March during Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida. Classic is the national annual meeting of the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Sorghum Producers.
— Kentucky Soybean Association