The past two years have been an amazing welcome to Big Sky Country. I would like to thank all of the ranchers and families across the state who have made me feel very welcomed as part of the Stockgrowers organization. Moving to Montana has long been a personal goal to work with and learn from some of the best leaders and most innovative ranchers that our industry has to offer.
As they say, all good things come to a close, and time has come for the next chapter in my career. Once we wrap up activities with Annual Convention in December, I will serve my final days as Manager of Communications for the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA). Fortunately, I will not be leaving Helena. I look forward to an exciting opportunity as the next step in my career involves marketing cattle for ranchers in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon with AgriClear.
Montana Stockgrowers’ ranchers are among the best in the nation. This has been an exciting opportunity to lead our organization in the way of better communication efforts, online presence, national marketing and outreach to local beef consumers. Learning more about the policy and legislative processes that govern our ability to conduct business and influence our industry is an invaluable experience. Errol Rice is a strategic leader with insight as to how powerful proactive relationship building can be in this industry, on the global marketplace and in the Helena Capitol. It has been a pleasure to learn and work under his leadership.
As I complete my chapter as a MSGA staff member, I encourage our ranchers to continue branching out of your comfort zones to embrace online communication as an impactful and efficient method of reaching our beef consumers across the globe. While social media and online commentaries may not be all our strong suit, they are the future of reaching our audiences, just as television and radio were once innovative technologies. Even in rural Montana, we have neighbors with questions about our work.
Agriculture may be the largest industry in Montana and strong across the United States, but we are still a minority of the population. Our opponents are ever vocal, have more time and resources at their disposal, and are making waves in the world of food dialogues and policy. We need every one of us to contribute to the efforts of advocacy and addressing misconceptions about this industry, our passion.
You can still find me in Helena and writing here at Agriculture Proud. If you are not already, follow me on Facebook, Twitter (@AgProudRyan) and Instagram for more conversations and to share in my travels in this new career chapter. I am excited for the things to come with this transition!
And if you’re looking for new opportunities, there’s a job opening in town.
