Student represents UWRF on 'National Ag Day'

UW-River Falls sophomore Bryce Krull participated in "National Ag Day" at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. over spring break, where he joined 99 other student representatives in the activities.

Krull was elected by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA) along with 99 other student representatives from across the country to participate in activities in Washington D.C. on March 18.

Krull and the other student representatives shared their personal stories and discussed the importance of agriculture in today’s society. The student representatives met with many congressman and women during National Ag Day to discuss agriculture and to sway them into supporting bills that would help the agriculture industry.

Krull was one of 13,000 applicants who applied for the ACA. He had to go through rigorous interviewing and testing as well as submit writing examples in order to be selected.

“It’s an extreme honor to be able to go,” Krull said.

Krull never thought at his age he would be able to represent the ACA.

“The week started out with some training and awareness events on bills that are pending moving to committee, as well as bills on both floors for House and Senate,” Krull said. “We also discussed what has passed or been vetoed such as Keystone Pipeline Legislation.”

Krull explained that many of the bills that were discussed during the week could have a big impact on the U.S. economy depending on if they pass or not.

Krull was raised on his family's registered dairy farm where he gained his passion for agriculture. Dairy farming has been in Krull’s family for generations. Krull first got involved with agriculture organizations with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and continued to get involved with other agriculture organizations like Agriculture Future of America (AFA), 4-H, Wisconsin Holstein Association and many others until he was selected to the ACA.

Krull had a busy week as he met with news outlets like CNN and the New York Post as well as local representatives. He personally met with Wisconsin Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, which Krull said were well informed and aware of what the ACA were most concerned about.

Krull briefly met with Wisconsin District Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and spoke with his staff. He also met with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Deputy U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, along with many other leaders and businessman while in Washington D.C.

“My favorite part is simply meeting these amazing and important people in the world around us and having direct access to these people,” Krull said.

For ACA, National Ag Day is one of its key initiatives every year. This was the 42nd anniversary of National Ag Day which is celebrated throughout the country. National Ag Day is dedicated to increasing public awareness of agriculture’s vital role in today’s society. Both the ACA and National Ag Day program were started in 1973.

For Krull, the trip to Washington D.C. was “amazing” and one of the most productive trips to Washington D.C he has had.