Polk County’s Abby Crawford and Samantha Nichols Are Part of the 2025-2027 Class
by TIM CRAIG
Two women from Polk County were among those selected to be a part of the prestigious 2025-2027 Florida Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership group.
Abby Crawford of Winter Haven and Samantha Nichols of Lakeland join 17 other Young Farmer & Rancher selectees representing 13 counties from around Florida.
Crawford first learned about the program after two of her peers went through the program.
“After hearing about their experiences, I knew it was something that would help me learn more about Florida agriculture and allow me to meet people in this industry,” she says. “I didn’t grow up in an agriculture family, so this is a way for me to build a greater community and to build my network.”
Crawford, who works as the Coordinator of Advancement and Ag Programming at Warner University in Lake Wales, says the contacts she will make will assist her in her current position as well as throughout her career.
“This program will help me become a more effective leader and an advocate for Florida agriculture and Imperial Polk County,” she says. “A lot of what I will experience during the next two years will go hand-in-hand with many of the things I do in my position at Warner.”
Craford says she is looking forward to the opportunity to meet key people from around the state.
“This is an opportunity to build a greater network and community,” she says. “This program will help me make connections with people all across the state, connections that I can then help my students make as they move through our program.”
For Nichols, the Leadership experience will provide a way to meet the farmers, ranchers, and growers of Florida.
A native of South Carolina and a Clemson graduate, Nichols moved to Lakeland two years ago as part of her job at Charter Next Generation, a national producer of specialty films and sustainable packaging for consumer goods.
Nichols grew up around agriculture and knew about the Leadership Program through the Farm Bureau in her home state. When she moved to Florida, she really wanted to apply to the program.
“Getting into the program will allow me to meet the farmers, growers and cattlemen and get to know them in a way that would make me better at my job,” she says.
Coming from South Carolina, where agriculture is the number 1 industry in the state, she was used to poultry and row crops, but when she came to Florida, she could easily spot the difference.
“Traveling to Florida showed me that the state has so much going on. It is so diverse when it comes to agriculture,” she says. “Being a part of this program will allow me to take advantage of learning from the farmers and ranchers and becoming a voice for agriculture in the state.”
Both Nichols and Crawford noted that the selection process for the program was fairly intense.
“The application was extensive, it took a while to go through,” says Nichols, “and then the interview was also intense, but after spending time with the other people selected, I think we have a great group of people.”
Crawford agrees. “The initial application and the interview with the president of the Farm Bureau were both pretty thorough, but then knowing the whole Farm Bureau board was going to read through your materials, it was a little tense.”
This year’s selectees are the 11th group to go through the program. The Florida Farm Bureau started the Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee in 1970. In the following decades, the committee evolved and eventually developed its current leadership format in 2004. To be eligible for the Farm Bureau Leadership Program, participants must be between 18 and 35 years of age and be a member of their local county Farm Bureau for at least one year.
“We are excited to start this class of the YF&R Leadership Program,” says Mitzi Lucas, the leadership program’s coordinator. “We have participation from every region in the state in a variety of agriculture commodities. We are looking forward to this two-year journey that will expose, engage and equip them to be future leaders in Farm Bureau and Florida agriculture.”
The Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership Program is a two-year program that gives participants an opportunity to develop their leadership skills by focusing on personal growth, public speaking, media training, legislative awareness, issue advocacy, business management and service leadership.
Lucas says she was impressed with this upcoming group throughout the application and selection process.
“This group is incredible, energetic, engaged and ready to learn about themselves and about the Farm Bureau, and they are ready to make an impact on the future of Florida agriculture,” she says.
This is also a first journey of sorts for Lucas, a California native who started working at the Farm Bureau in 2023. Though she worked for a bit with the previous group, this is the first time she will shepherd the Young Farmers and Ranchers through the whole two years of the program as the coordinator.
“My goal for this group is to really be the resource for them so that they can have the experiences and opportunities they need in order to become key leaders for Florida Agriculture,” she says.
Other members of the 2025-2027 Leadership Group include: Tyler and Kelsey Waters David, Alachua County; Murilo Morata, Escambia County; Emma Lee Janecek, Gilchrist County; Emily Quincey, Gilchrist County; Austin Lee, Hendry/Glades County; Laine Daum, Highlands County; Landon Smoak, Highlands County; Benjamin “Chad” Davis, Jackson County; Benjamin Hasty, Jackson County; Kylie Campbell, Madison County; Garrett Lundy, Manatee County; Hartley Spaulding, Okaloosa County; Jackson Tilton, Putnam County; Evan and Lainey Francisco, Saint Lucie County and Shelby and Wesley Thomas, Union County.