Mark your calendars for the 2027 National IFYE conference

Dates: June 23-26, 2027

Location: Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls. You will absolutely love the location overlooking the Cuyahoga River and within walking distance of a quaint shopping district.

Judiann McNulty and Traci Sherlock will be joining Lee Hood Capps, Pat Donahue, Marty Orris, and Cora Loera as new members on the IFYE Association Board.

Check out this great article about four IFYE experiences in the latest fall issue of American Soybean magazine, a publication of the American Soybean Association.

Melissa Haberstroh, IFYE National Program Director traveled to Zambia and Tanzania in August to officially kick-off the new IFYE programs in those countries. Aside from the opportunity to meet the country coordinators, discuss program details, and visit the families that our IFYEs would later become a part of, it was an opportunity to officially sign the memorandums of agreement for each country.

Despite having programs in many African countries over the years, Tanzania has only hosted one IFYE Representative, Larry Fritzler, in 2012. Between 1970 and 1984 the United States sent seven IFYE Representatives to Zambia and between 1967 and 1978 seventeen IFYEs to Kenya.

This year, five IFYEs are being hosted in Africa: Tori Rasmussen (SD) and Kyle Newland (OH) in Tanzania; Abby Schmidt (MO) and Meghan O’Reilly (OH) in Zambia, as well as Nora Larson (ND) in Kenya. IFYEs arrived in their African host countries on September 17, 2023 and will return to the U.S. in mid-December for debriefing.

IFYE’s efforts to renew the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding with the USDA has proved successful as we have received the document with Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack’s signature. IFYE President Jan Wood and Interim Executive Director Carolyn Hansen began the effort to gain a renewed agreement in December 2022. The agreement is for a term of five years. We appreciate the efforts of USDA staff to assist with this process.

The goal of the MOU is to "promote the common goals of advancing the public interest through developing a highly prepared workforce for unique careers within the industry of international agriculture through rural-based international exchanges."