Corey Ramsden In Sweet 16 at American Farm Bureau Federation Discussion Meet

Last November, Corey Ramsden won the Minnesota Farm Bureau Discussion Meet earning the right to represent Minnesota at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention. After two rounds Saturday, we received word that Corey had made the Sweet 16 and will be competing again this afternoon. The discussion meet is part of the Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Program. Corey is a business manager for Land O' Lakes Inc., Winfield and Purina. Corey attended college at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, receiving degrees in ag economics, ag business and equine science.

In the picture, Corey is on the far right. She was competing with all other state winners from across the United States. Contestants are given a topic and then they discuss it as if it were at some type of committee meeting. The topics pertain to agriculture and are a bit controversial. The topic in this round: Big data, who owns it and who has the right to profit from it? As a farmer, do I own my data, or does some other type of business have the right to my data, even if they collected it?

This round was quite interesting because one of the contestants was a farmer and he felt strongly that the data was his as a farmer. Corey works for a large ag business, Land O' Lakes, that works with data. Corey had a great example of how data can be used collectively to benefit all farmers. Corey said maybe you could look at all the acres and farmers a business works with, then pull out the acres that had conservation practices implemented on them. Wouldn't that be a way of showing consumers and regulators farmers are doing a good job protecting the environment? What an answer to add to the discussion. Talk about quick thinking under pressure!