URBANDALE, Iowa - The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) has developed a leadership initiative that goes beyond the traditional classes typically offered by organizations to help members get involved in leadership development.

ISA’s Ag-Urban Leadership Initiative, begun in 2007, will launch its second group of collaborators on June 20. Twenty-four farmers and business leaders from across the state will convene in Ames for the first of five sessions that will challenge them to look at a longer-term vision for Iowa.  The agenda includes strategies for enhancing both Iowa agriculture and non-agriculture businesses as well as building a better quality of life for rural and urban residents.

According to ISA President Curt Sindergard, “The Ag-Urban Leadership Initiative offers a set of tools to experienced leaders, along with an opportunity to use those tools to build a more vital Iowa through collaboration and focus on specific improvements for Iowa’s communities.“

The goal of the program is to provide a platform for professional Iowans to bridge the gap between exclusively agricultural or urban-driven solutions. It urges leaders to cross interest-group lines to promote dialogue, common understanding, action and sustainable solutions.

In 2007, 20 participants met four times during the year to examine issues surrounding Iowa’s economic, agronomic and environmental challenges. Through on-site tours, discussions and networking, participants created a promising framework of recommendations to be shared with a variety of Iowa audiences. The 2008 program will build on that framework and extend it through a variety of challenge projects that will engage participants in discovering solutions for real-time issues facing Iowans.

Program sponsors include West Central Coop, Heartland Co-op, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Soybean checkoff. For more information about ISA’s Ag Urban Leadership Initiative, contact Carol Balvanz at 515-251-8640.