Is Being a GENEX Delegate for You?

If you have been following along on our social media channels this week, you know it was GENEX Annual Meeting time. Perhaps you read some of the posts and wondered who our delegates were. If you are a GENEX member, they are just like you - farm men and women from across the U.S. who are willing to give a few days of their year to the governance of their cooperative. Want to know a little more about the process? Read on.

First we will start with the commitment. 
Delegates are elected yearly and attend a regional fall delegate meeting, where new cooperative information is shared and various topics are presented for input. GENEX is fortunate to be able to utilize the expertise of our delegates and have incorporated many suggestions and ideas into our plan of work.

In addition to the fall delegate meetings, delegates also participate in the annual meeting. This two-day event includes the business meeting, as well as a variety of educational breakout sessions. Take a look at our Facebook or Twitter accounts for more on what took place this year.

A speaker from DMI talks with delegates on protecting their farm from activists.

So who are our delegates?

I have been able to write about several of our delegates over the past couple of years. You may be interested to learn more about Ron Koetsier from California, Scott Erthum from Nebraska, or Alexa Kayhart from Vermont. I also recently interviewed Rachel Freund from Connecticut. You can find that article in the January Horizons, Dairy Edition on pages 20 and 21.

While our delegate are from across the country and appear to be very diverse, they are all very similar in their desire to help the cooperative they are a part of. All of the ones I have interviewed will also tell you they feel they get a tremendous return on their investment as well. Being able to grow their network and learning more about the cooperative are probably two of the biggest rewards these men and women receive.

Is it your time?

Now that you know more about how the governance of your cooperative functions, are you ready to help as well? Contact Terri Dallas, VP of Communications at tdallas@crinet.com.