Keeping it Real: Highlighting Agriculture Advocacy

Member Engagement

Hear two successful stories on engaging and advocating for agriculture through unique media opportunities. Will Sutton, competitor on NBC’s Titan Games, and Melissa Burns, cast member on CBS’s Tough as Nails, discuss how they were able to represent the agricultural community through their experiences with reality TV.

Speakers:

Crop CPMHGYLY Presenter Sutton W
Will Sutton, NBC Titan Games Runner Up

Will Sutton

Coming from a rural, farm town called Trenton, located in Eastern North Carolina, Will Sutton competed on the hit reality NBC TV show, The Titan Games, hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Will, affectionately known by viewers and fans as “Country Strong”, was the Eastern Region Champion on the show, and he was Runner Up to Matt Chan in the 2020 summer hit series finale. Will graduated from high school as Valedictorian, received his Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina State University, and completed his Master’s Degree from North Carolina A & T University. He is currently employed as an agriculture teacher, FFA Advisor, and Varsity Basketball Head Coach at Croatan High School in Cape Carteret, North Carolina. Will worked in the swine industry for 6 years, and worked at the FFA Center in North Carolina for 3 years as a Summer Camp Counselor for agriculture students across the state of North Carolina. He raised show lambs, show pigs, and show cattle until he graduated from high school. He is in his 5th year as a high school teacher. When he is not at school working, his hobbies include hunting, lifting weights, and slow pitch softball. Will is passionate about the future of agriculture, and hopes he can share to the future generations the truth about what agriculture brings to our communities, our country, and to our world.

Crop CPMHGYLY Presenter Burns M
Melissa Burns, Tough as Nails Cast Member, CBS

Melissa Burns

Melissa Burns is from the small town of Milford Center, Ohio. She was honored to be a cast member on season one of Tough as Nails, a reality competition series that airs on CBS. On this show she represented the agriculture industry. Melissa along with her husband Ron, and their month-old son Grayson, live on a small grain farm and raise corn, wheat, soybeans, and hay. Along with crop farming they also raise a few acres of produce and have a small herd of beef cattle they feed out. They attend their local farmers market from the Spring through the Fall seasons to sell their meats and produce to their community. They enjoy using that time to educating those in their community about agriculture. When Melissa is not busy with her babies, bovines, and markets she spends her extra time as an online personal trainer.

Melissa and her husband Ron are actively involved in the Ohio Farm Bureau and 4-H. For the past nine years she has been currently serving as a 4-H advisor. She is currently sitting as the Vice President of the Ohio Ayrshire Association. For the last 23 years, Melissa has shown dairy cattle and attended dairy shows. Her personal favorite is the Ayrshire breed she has shown those at National, State, and County levels. She owns a small herd of register Ayrshires with her sister and brother-in-law in Iowa. Growing up and being raised in agriculture is one of her biggest blessings, and to carry on that experience with her son is what excites her most.

Moderator:

Greg Corcoran
Greg Corcoran, Vice Chair, AFBF YF&R Committee

Greg Corcoran

Vice Chair
AFBF YF&R Committee

Greg Corcoran is a 5th generation farmer from Southern Ohio. He farms alongside his father & 3 uncles. Together they farm 6000 acres of corn, soybeans, popcorn, & potatoes. Corcoran Farms also has a 250 head cow/calf operation and a feedlot that serves custom freezer beef directly to the consumer.

Greg and his wife Theresa currently serve on the AFBF YF&R committee and he was recently elected Vice Chair. Prior to that they served as Chair on Ohio’s Young Ag Professional State Committee. Locally he has served as a Trustee on the Ross county board, including 3 years as President. Greg is blessed to be the father of four beautiful girls; Julia, Ellie, Lucia, and Maria.