CAO connects college students from across the country who are interested in promoting agriculture. Individual division participants receive training from experts and engage with their peers on social media by posting information about current and emerging issues facing farmers and ranchers and telling personal stories. In the club competition, students are challenged to host events on their campus to talk about modern agriculture with their peers. Events include “Scary Food Myths” where students hand out candy with myths and facts about food and agriculture; “Undeniably Dairy” where students host a booth on their concourse about dairy farming; and “Newbies on the Farm” where students invite their peers who have never visited a farm to tour a local operation. Last year, students reached 2 million people on social media and more than 13,000 people at club events.

CAO is an opportunity for college students who are passionate about agriculture to learn how to communicate about the industry from some of the best agriculture advocates out there. This year we doubled the number of mentors available to the students and made sure to include farmers and ranchers who are active on social media.