 Hello, my name is Marie Wittsten, I'm the Rural Leadership Specialist and Rural Leadership North Dakota RLND Program Director with NDSU Extension. My office is on the NDSU campus in Fargo. The RLND program is a statewide 18 month leadership program for adults who want to learn more about themselves, North Dakota, our country and world. RLND's mission is to prepare and develop leaders to strengthen North Dakota. We have a focus on agriculture and communities. It's been said that we get things done through people and that's exactly what RLND participants have been doing through their RLND projects, taking action on issues they are passionate about. Several projects have helped explain how crops from North Dakota fields become food on North Dakota kitchen tables. One such project is a city to farm tour where RLND alumnus brought community members to tour their farm to see and learn how crops are planted, harvested, and processed to make products we eat in our meals. Another project was to raise awareness of local food availability by organizing a group of concerned customers and producers that brought awareness to legislators of how goods are produced and how regulations help or hinder getting that food to the table. A third project was a beef, bacon, and bread discussion with elementary students to help them learn, touch, and taste products from the three areas of agriculture. For example, students were able to touch different grains, compare what the grains were used for such as bread or pasta, and finally taste the final product completing the field-to-fork story. RLND alumni are the community and agriculture leaders that create opportunities for North Dakota citizens to see and learn about North Dakota growing products and how these products become food for North Dakota citizens. My name is Lindsay Leeker. I'm a 4-H youth development specialist in STEM at North Dakota State University. So how does 4-H influence your meal? In 4-H we have a very important focus on experiential learning. The majority of our science curriculum involves STEM related to agriculture and how STEM relates to careers in agriculture specific to North Dakota. In addition, 4-H teaches lifelong learning skills which will help youth excel in any career that they choose. 4-H has also had the privilege of working with at-risk and underprivileged communities across the state. So how about that plate of food? Youth from around the state are involved in STEM programming related to drone technology, escape rooms related to field-to-fork, and general science inquiry. During COVID, we were able to continue all of these programs in a virtual environment. Our youth programming is always related to agriculture careers in STEM specific to our great state. For example, livestock, crop science, agriculture technology, and coding engineering relayed the energy sector. The pictures show youth at livestock camp and youth engagement technology and engineering related to agriculture. 4-H youth learn important leadership skills along the way and become teachers themselves for younger 4-H youth. Our older 4-H leaders have had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., Washington State, and Utah to meet industry stakeholders and learn about agriculture in other states. In addition, our 4-H teen leaders have engaged with tribal youth, new Americans, and military base youth. The pictures show 4-H teen leaders engaged in STEM programming across the state and our top teen leaders meeting with industry executives in Washington, D.C. What does this mean for the food on your plate? It means that 4-H is influencing youth from around the state to get involved in agriculture and livestock and be a part of agriculture, engineering, and technology. 4-H teaches youth about how the food gets from field to plate and the science involved in the whole process. Thank you.