Article

Ryanna Tietje is a powerhouse with a warm smile.

The young Henry County Farm Bureau member has packed more into the last four years than most, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness and applied economics and minoring in consumer and family financial services from The Ohio State University in May. She also earned a 2024 Distinguished Senior in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences in the process.

Tietje received Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation and county scholarships as she embarked on her Ohio State journey, and those funds were key to her college experience.

“I personally paid for college, so I am so appreciative of the generous support of the foundation,” she said. Tietje now serves on the foundation’s scholarship committee and encourages students to apply.

“Just do it,” she said. “The scholarships helped me focus specifically on my education, honors research, leadership development and not come out of school with a lot of debt.”

Those scholarships were only the tip of the iceberg. These experiences inspired her to make her first gift to the foundation while she was still a student. She further jumped into the world of Farm Bureau opportunities with her whole self as she navigated academics, internships and made scores of connections that are helping mark a path for her future.

Her older brothers, Rex and Ryan, have come back to the family farm, as she did after she earned her degree. She watched them take advantage of opportunities to grow in ag as college students and young professionals. She wanted to follow in their footsteps, but not directly.

She found what she was looking for at Farm Bureau.

While her parents Randy and Becky, were Farm Bureau members, Tietje didn’t become fully engaged until joining the OSU Collegiate Farm Bureau as a member when her roommate invited her to a meeting.

Before she even graduated from college, Tietje had attended Ag Day at the Capital twice, served as a mentor for the Ohio Youth Capital Challenge, attended the Washington, D.C. Leadership Experience, participated in the YAP Winter Leadership Conference three times, and most recently served as Ohio’s winning collegiate discussion meet representative at the national competition in Omaha in February.

As a fourth-generation farmer, Tietje is putting her degree to good use and learning the family business. On a random October day, she can be found in a tillage tractor or running grain cart while also helping with record keeping and financial analysis.

But one of her main passions lies in farm succession planning. Everyone has a unique story of transitioning from one generation to the next, and to her parents, it was thrust upon them at a young age after her father’s parents passed away which changed the trajectory of her family forever.

Tietje is passionate about planning for the future and it was the focus of her collegiate academic research, which was featured in the July/August issue of Our Ohio magazine in CFAES Impact.

She said the connections and opportunities she’s had being an active member of Farm Bureau have been important to marking the path forward in her life.

“To grow a network and gain perspective and knowledge in the industry through personal and professional development has been invaluable,” she said. “Every day I learn and grow.”

To support students on their pathway to a future career in agriculture, make your gift today.