Category Archives: Farm-City

Vegh Presented With Charles Eastin Award

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Ferenc X. Vegh, Jr., Shelby County, Ky., has been awarded the first annual Charles Eastin Outstanding Service Award from the National Farm-City® Council. The award is presented to an outstanding individual who has contributed to Farm-City activities as an advocate for accurate communications between rural and urban audiences.

The award is in honor of Charles “Charlie” Eastin, DVM, who passed away earlier this year and played a fundamental role in Farm-City activities. A National Farm-City Council board member for many years, Charlie was especially active in planning and initiating Farm-City events in the Lexington, Ky., region.

Vegh, a Shelby County businessman, farmer and Kiwanis club member, was recognized for reviving the Shelby County Farm-City Banquet, one of the oldest such gatherings in the nation, and making it a major event that brings together urban/suburban and rural communities. Several years ago, the event was dying due to lack of leadership and interest. Vegh helped revive the banquet, and it now attracts 200 to 250 people each year to promote recognition of farming efforts among urban audiences.

Those interested in nominating candidates for the 2012 Charles Eastin Outstanding Service Award can do so by going to the National Farm-City Council for nomination rules and the application form.

National Farm-City Week Symposium Topic Announced

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“Childhood Obesity: The School Lunchroom Debate,” will be the 2011 topic of the annual National Farm-City Week Symposium held at the Griffin Gate Marriott, Lexington, Ken., on Thursday, Nov. 17. The public is invited to attend.

The purpose of this symposium will be to explore the issues around childhood obesity in the United States and how it can be managed through healthy choices made available in the school lunchroom.

The Symposium begins at 10:30 a.m. EST and will continue until 2 p.m. Discussions from 11 a.m. until noon will be broadcast live by the nationally syndicated AgriTalk radio show, hosted by nationally noted broadcaster, Mike Adams. It will include a lunch from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. with a topic-related speaker.

Symposium participants and the lunch speaker will be announced later.

For more information on the National Farm-City Council Symposium on “Childhood Obesity: The School Lunchroom Debate,” contact Holly Fritz at 610.621.2253 or holly.fritz@hbfritz.com.

The event kicks off National Farm-City Week from Nov. 18-25, ending on Thanksgiving, and celebrates the important partnership between farm and urban residents in providing the nation with a bounty of food, fiber, fuel and a growing list of other products.

Live Broadcast From National Farm-City Week Symposium

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AgriTalk is streaming live from the National Farm-City Week Symposium. Tune us in.

Post Update: Our session is over but will be archived on AgriTalk.com as soon as they can get it edited. I’ll post a link to it when I get it. Thank to AgriTalk producer, John Herath, for the Twitpic photo.

We had a great panel discussion on how and why we should “AgVocate” using social media channels. Lots of talk about the need to be proactive, truthful, honest and transparent and not be afraid to speak up in the face of our critics. When it comes to social media, farmers should consider getting started with an option like Facebook or Twitter and look to their farm groups and neighbors (family too) to help them get started.

Watch live streaming video from agritalk at livestream.com

Communicating Between Farm and City

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We’re about to kick off National Farm-City Week in Lancaster, PA. The event is an annual symposium that includes a luncheon. “The purpose of this Symposium is to explore friendly methods that can help assist the urban media when preparing news or feature stories that could significantly and negatively impact farmers, ranchers and the many agribusiness industries. “

Of course I’ll be mentioning efforts like AgChat and the AgChat Foundation. It should be interesting to hear the perspective from other panelists. We’ll be live on AgriTalk this morning at 10:06am, central time. So tune us in!

I spoke with the National Farm-City Council Chairman, Al Pell, this morning. He explains the purpose of the organization and how important it is to foster better communications between rural and urban consumers. You can listen to my interview with Al here: Interview with Al Pell

From Farm To City

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I only get to do this once a year and when I get lucky with a nice buck I’ve got to share. I enjoyed a great post-NAFB convention deer hunt once again. In fact, next year will be my 20th anniversary of fall Missouri deer hunting. Kind of hard to believe. My brother Paul and his sons joined me and Gary Cooper, Southeast AgNet, again this year for a fun and safe time in the woods.

It’s back on the agriblogging trail now for the kickoff of National Farm-City Week. I’ll be one of the panelists during tomorrow’s National Farm-City Week Symposium. It will take place prior to and including lunch with a live broadcast on AgriTalk. Took me a while to be a guest but my time has come.

Let’s use #FarmCityWeek as the hashtag for any of you who will be attending or following.

Michael Peterson Performs For Farm-City Week

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Michael PetersonThanks once again to Gene Hemphill and New Holland for making it possible for me to cover the National Farm-City Week Luncheon and get to see one of my favorite performers, Michael Peterson.

Michael has a great message for anyone in our country and especially our young people. If you’ve never heard Michael then you can watch a short part of his keynote presentation. First you’ll have to put up with Mike Adams introduction (just joking Mike).

I think we’ll be hearing and seeing a lot more of Michael in the coming year as he kicks off a new venture in cities across the country. You can look forward to more about that as soon as the details are released.

Farm City Week Kickoff Luncheon Photo Album

National Farm-City Council Awards

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FFA kids with Michael PetersonThe Farm-City Council is all about our youth and many of them were represented here at the National Farm-City Week Kickoff Luncheon. These FFA’ers are posing with Michael Peterson our keynote speaker. I’ve got some video of Michael I hope to post later when I get a chance to edit it. Besides hearing from Michael who spoke eloquently about the value of agriculture and those involved in it, a number of awards were presented:

“Our Farm-City Council partners at the state level play a critical role in helping non-farming consumers understand the vital importance of U.S. agriculture to our economy,” said National Farm-City Council Chair Al Pell. “We’re pleased to honor several state organizations today for their outstanding work in accomplishing the Farm-City mission.”

Pell presented the following organizations with national awards for outstanding accomplishment: Frederick County Farm Bureau Women, Maryland; Coffee County Farm-City Committee, Alabama; Chambers County Farm-City Committee, Alabama; Long Island Farm Bureau, New York; and Chautauqua County Farm Bureau, New York.

State awards for outstanding accomplishment were presented to Reno County Farm Bureau in Kansas and the following organizations in South Carolina: Greenville County Farm-City Committee, Lexington County Farm-City Week Committee, Richland County Farm-City Week Committee, Beaufort County Farm-City Week Committee, Saluda County Farm-City Week Committee and Darlington County Farm-City Week Committee.

Farm City Week Kickoff Luncheon Photo Album

Rock and Rolling Tree Farmer Gets Award

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Chuck Leavell receives awardAt today’s National Farm-City Week Kickoff Luncheon Rolling Stones keyboardist, Chuck Leavell (left) received the first ever American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, “Book of the Year” award. He received it for his book “The Tree Farmer.” Terry Gilbert, a Kentucky farmer and Foundation board member, presented the book award to Leavell.

“The Tree Farmer is a rare treasure among children’s books on agriculture,” Gilbert said. “It tells a story from a farmer’s perspective about his love of the land and his appreciation of the beauty of trees. The farmer’s love of the products trees provide and how they touch the souls of the people whose lives they grace shines through on every page,” she said.

The Tree Farmer was written for 6- to 14-year-olds and is one of 160 “Accurate Ag Books” recommended for children and adults by the Foundation.

“In our efforts to correct misconceptions about agriculture, we need to be careful not to just use facts and figures,” Gilbert said. “We need to refocus our efforts and start reaching people’s hearts as well as their minds when telling agriculture’s story. The Tree Farmer does just that.”

Prior to receiving the award I interviewed Chuck. In our interview he talks about his career in rock and roll and how he got started tree farming. That farming experience has lead him to a passion for conservation and helping the public understand the truth about forestry as a business that impacts every aspect of our lives.

You can listen to my interview with Chuck here:

Listen to

You can get a copy of The Tree Farmer on Amazon.

Farm City Week Kickoff Luncheon Photo Album

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Watching AgriTalk at Farm-City Week Luncheon

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Chuck Leavell and Mike AdamsHere’s your on the road AgriTalk photo. This is Mike interviewing Rolling Stones keyboardist (formerly with the Allman Brothers), Chuck Leavell. We’re eating lunch at the National Farm-City Week Luncheon while we listen to Mike’s show.

Chuck is here to receive an award for a book that he wrote for kids about tree farming, something he does on his farm in Georgia. I interviewed Chuck myself and will be posting that here after lunch.

Farm City Week Kickoff Luncheon Photo Album

National Farm-City Council Chairman

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Al Pell and Michael PetersonThe Chairman of the National Farm-City Council this year is Al Pell, AgDay TV. He’s on the scene here in Washington, DC for the National Farm-City Week Luncheon and I caught up to him while our entertainer, Michael Peterson, was warming up. Al’s on the left by the way.

Al says the purpose of the luncheon is to draw attention in advance to National Farm-City Week which officially kicks off the Friday before Thanksgiving. Having this event in Washington, DC really helps create awareness. You can listen to Al explain this in an excerpt from an interview I did with him just a few minutes ago:

Listen to

Michael PetersonI’ll post my full interview with Al in next week’s ZimmCast.

Al says that Michael Peterson will have a very inspirational message for us today and I’ll be recording it to post for you this afternoon. I know we’re going to hear some of Michael’s famous songs. At least that’s what he was doing during his sound check.

We’re also going to hear from AgriTalk’s Mike Adams today. In fact, the show will be live and we’re going to start the luncheon at halftime with Mike being our emcee.

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Farm-City Get Together

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Fun Facts BookmarksNational Farm-City Week doesn’t officially start until November 16 but we’re going to kick things off tomorrow in Washington, DC at the National Farm-City Week Luncheon. So that’s where I’m headed today.

In case you didn’t know it, the National Farm-City Council has materials available for schools to help educate children about agriculture. These Fun Facts bookmarks are an example. You can order them online.

If you want to plan a last minute farm-city event in your area then use some of the resources they have available.

Farm-City Week Luncheon

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Farm CityPretty soon it will be National Farm-City Week. It’s held the week before Thanksgiving. To kick it off I’ll be attending the National Farm-City Week Kickoff Luncheon in Washington, DC next week.

The luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m., and the keynote speaker/entertainer is motivational speaker and country music artist Michael Peterson. The award-winning country music artist not only sings, but also speaks eloquently about the value of agriculture and those involved in it.

We all know Michael will do a great job since we’ve seen him perform before. I’m really looking forward to it. I also want to thank New Holland for sponsoring my coverage of this year’s event.