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.

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.

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.

Glad to see them here. Most were at the National FFA Convention.

I’m mostly live tweeting today using the #FarmCityWeek hashtag so feel free to lurk or chime in.

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

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 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.

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.

“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:

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

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.

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:

I’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.

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.