COLUMBUS – Ohio Farm Bureau’s 2018 Young Ag Professionals Leadership Experience is open to young agriculturalists interested in building leadership skills, networking with agricultural leaders and making a difference in their communities.

The conference will be held Feb. 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus. Attendees must be Farm Bureau members and programming is geared for young adults age 18-35.

The event will feature 20 educational learning sessions that include small business planning, canning and preserving, emerging ag careers, farm transition planning, farm labor laws, managing conflict, creating farm videos and starting your own business. The keynote speaker will be leadership coach Kelly Barnes, and entertainment will be The Big Bang Dueling Pianos.

Also during the conference will be the finals of Farm Bureau’s Discussion Meet, which tests participants’ subject knowledge, problem solving abilities and personal and small group communications skills. The winner will compete at the national level during the American Farm Bureau convention.

Cost for the leadership conference is $100 a person with no hotel room, $180 a person with hotel room and $225 for two people sharing a hotel room. Note that many county Farm Bureaus offer full or partial scholarships for the conference. Nationwide is Heritage sponsor of the conference and Farm Credit Mid-America and Heartland Bank and gold level sponsors.

Dec. 15 is the deadline to register, which can be done at experienceYAP.com.