Saco's Joy DePuydt participates in advocacy training

When Joy DePuydt was elected to the Montana Farm Bureau Board of Directors in November, she decided she needed to learn more about ag advocacy. "I realized if I was going to be a good board member, I needed some education," said DePuydt. Although she and her husband own a ranch in Saco, DePuydt's primary career was nursing until she recently retired. "I saw applying for ACE as a way I could learn to talk about Farm Bureau, farming and ranching. Since I was a nurse for 30 years, my ability to be a good spokesperson for agriculture was not in my wheelhouse."

The ACE program is designed to e...