PAL Profile: Chris Chinn, Bridging the Gap Between Farmers and Consumers

By Cyndie Shearing

Graduates of the American Farm Bureau’s Partners in Advocacy Leadership program serve agriculture in a variety of elected and appointed leadership positions. PAL grad Chris Chinn is a fifth-generation farmer and currently serves as director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. She credits her Farm Bureau involvement at the local, state and national level with sharpening her leadership and communication skills, including her continuing outreach efforts to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers.

“Farm Bureau helped me develop my ability to share my farm story beyond my local community,” Chinn said. “Farm Bureau helped give me the tools I needed to be successful in learning how to engage with different audiences.” Further, Farm Bureau “opened my eyes to the value of working with people outside of agriculture to achieve shared goals,” she added.

Cyndie Shearing is director of communications at the American Farm Bureau Federation.