Working for the Future of the Beef Community

Adam McClung is being honored as a Future of American Agriculture Champion of Change.

It is an honor to be selected as a Champion of Change for the Future of American Agriculture. Agriculture has always been a part of my life and has impacted me down to my very core.  It is inspiring to know that we live in a country that still values agriculture and the people engaged in it at the highest levels.

My family has been actively involved in agriculture - specifically beef production - for generations.  But the farther down my own road I have traveled, the wider I have wanted my path to be. That is to say, the more involved I have wanted to become.  So, while keeping my feet firmly planted in agriculture, I started branching out to work advocating for and representing the agricultural community at the policy table and in the news. With so many people now generations removed from the farm, it is important for those of us who are farmers and ranchers to be a voice for our industry and neighbors – for the hard work, dedication, and passion we all share.  I wanted to be a voice for these salt of the earth folks that feed a world. It is now a growing, deep passion I have to make sure that beef producers and the agricultural community’s ideas, farms, ranches, education, production, and markets remain viable.

I have spent the past decade involved in and leading an organization the represents the beef community – the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association. I cannot begin to explain the satisfaction that comes from touching the lives of so many involved in agriculture. I get to do this by representing producers’ ideas and experience, working to enhance their business climate, building trust with their consumers, providing education so as to allow them to make better decisions within their operations, and making stronger leaders and building new ones.  All this work not only paves the way for safer agricultural products for a growing population, but also assures sustainability for the ever-changing agricultural community.     

I also wanted to instill this passion in young producers and their families who are getting started or becoming a part of agriculture. So within the Arkansas Cattlemen, we created a young producer program that spends the course of a year exposing new and beginning farmers and ranchers to the tools they need to be leaders - not just for our organization, but leaders for agriculture as a whole. When they finish the program we hope that they know and understand the need for agricultural leaders not only on a national level, but in their local communities as well.

Adam McClung is the Executive Vice President for the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, a non-profit organization. The Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association has been working for the cattlemen of Arkansas since 1959 and is devoted to improving the cattle industry through producer education and representation on legislative and regulatory issues.