Of course, we had our good friends from AgriTalk, seen here interviewing NBB CEO Joe Jobe for Monday’s show. They did a show Tuesday also and then took off to head for Reno for the Cattlemen’s meeting.

Other farm broadcasters included Tom Steever from Brownfield Network and Dale Minyo with Ohio Ag Net.

On the print side, we had lots of hard working folks like Greg Lamp with Corn and Soybean Digest, seen here on a conference call with Diane Johnson planning the 2009 IFAJ meeting in Dallas. Yes, he is working harder than it might appear!

Others on hand were Mike Wilson with Farm Futures, our former intern Margy Fischer with Farm Journal, and an old friend of ours from the Florida days, Jerry Jackson with the Orlando Sentinel. It was great to see Jerry again. He has been covering the ag beat for the Sentinel for as long as I can remember.

Well she’s now a working professional for Farm Journal, seen here in the field. I hope she’ll put those blogging skills to work in the future!

Thanks to Mica DeLong at Monsanto for the picture.

Thank you all for being part of my professional development. I wish you all the best and hope we’ll be seeing each other soon.

Congratulations Margy. I hope we get to hear from you again soon.

The biggest appeal for me in Ag Journalism is the variety of issues impacting this industry.

Although I spent the last few days in Anaheim, California at the Commodity Classic with the focus of discussions on the corn, soybean and wheat industries, there are numerous topics impacted by these commodities. For example, the Secretary of Agriculture’s speech yesterday included comments about CAFTA, the Doha Round, river navigation, trade with China, the Farm Bill, soybean rust and biofuels.

Agriculture is united in the interest in technology, productivity, markets, and rural development. No matter where farmers are meeting, or where news is announced, the implications are global because of their breadth of influence.

Now who wouldn’t want to report on something like that?

It was an early morning due to the Monsanto press conference at 7:30. Not strategically, or comfortably thinking, I wore shoes with a heel. As the day went on, the amount of time spent on my feet started to accumulate just as fast as my feet started to swell.

Regardless of any inflation below the ankle, I was mentally charged by the energy of all the people in the general session this morning. John Phipps from Farm Journal Media was an entertaining and focused emcee introducing the dynamic set of speakers from Secretary Johanns to the governor of Minnesota and of course one of the favorite country artists from this conference, Michael Peterson.

The phrase “conference center” can be misleading, especially for anyone involved in the media at a meeting such as this. One would think the phrase would imply a central location for all activities, but me (in my poorly planned high heels) trekked from the second floor media room to the third floor general session and then across the street to one hotel and then back to the second floor media room and back across the street to another hotel. Again, I reiterate my poorly planned footwear complicated these travels.

All of these walks were before lunch and completely worth everything I learned.

After lunch I attended a learning session presented by Tom Dorr, Undersecretary of Rural Development for USDA. He is a self-professed optimist for rural America and presented his vision for prosperous rural economies across the country. Part of his plan enables Americans to have choices on where to live and how to where. One of the main tools for allowing these opportunities would of course be technology and connectivity.

Tonight I was able to meet with different ag media such as Successful Farming and Farm Journal. Companies and their publications such as these show a high level of interest for students to be developed agriculture journalists. They are looking for educated and experience writers who will embrace the opportunities technology allows for today and will present for us in the future.

I am fortunate to take part in a program that offers this level of professional development and networking opportunities. I think this is a testimonial for all of those that I’ve met, been sponsored by, or have spent time with this week toward their level of dedication for quality of coverage of this industry. I am sincerely grateful for the time and experience I’ve had here in Anaheim.

I have an early flight, but I will hopefully be able to post one more entry from the OC…

Phipps asked these men questions about the challenges and opportunities that have arisen in their industries in this last year. Bob Metz, president of ASA, noted the USDA went beyond expectations in regards to soybean rust. Gerald Tumbleson, NCGA president, said ethanol has been in the works for so many years that when consumption and consumer acceptance rose to such a high level as it is today, it was unexpected but fully welcomed.

They both commented on the immense opportunity growers have today. Renewable fuels gives future generations exciting and new ideas to bring to their farms. And both of their farm families take pride in their innovations. As Metz said, “The next generation will always do a better job than the previous.”

Okay, Agriculture Secretary Johanns just entered to a standing ovation, so I will take to switch back to taking notes…

At our first stop, we were pulled in by the energetic team at the Golden Harvest booth to take part in a remote control car race. Mary won the race. Mary won the race big time. I was completely unable to make the remote control car go forward much less make it go around a small track. Let’s just say I lacked the motor skills.

Next, we were the first to try out the Whac-A-Worm game sponsored by Yield Guard Plus at the Monsanto booth. Thank goodness that we tied. Otherwise, I would have been zero for two in our impromptu trade show game competition. Margy Plays Wack-a-worm (:21 wmv file) Mary Plays Wack-a-worm (:31 wmv file)

Then it was off to the race track again, except this time I climbed into the copy of the ethanol-powered Indy car and was more successful. Margy In the IndyCar Simulator (:22 wmv file) In fact, I got the high ranking of the day finishing fourth out of 26. As the driver, I played a video game that was connected to an X-box. I hit the wall almost every time around the turns, but my secret to success was flooring the gas pedal the entire time.

And our last stop before getting ready for dinner was at the John Deere booth, where Mary (who bleeds John Deere green), played Combine Combat. She harvested $59,000 worth of corn in the minute-long game. Test your harvesting skills at this direct link on Agriculture.com

Singer Gary Morris performed before the awards portion of the evening, and he did an amazing job. It was a night of an unexpected flashback as Morris played “Wind Beneath My Wings,” which was the song my sixth class sang at our graduation. Yes, I am young, but that was quite a few years ago.

Farmers yielding impressive amounts such as 306 bushels/acre as the Mez-Farm in Bagley, Wisconsin did were surrounded by cars worth up to one million dollars.

I’m not really touching this million-dollar 1999 Jaguar Roadster Concept car. It was at the Marconi on loan, and goodness, it was a great looking car.

It was a night of celebration, a night of pride in hard work, and a night focusing on the promise of the future of agriculture and what high yields can mean toward renewable energies and the commodity markets. The 31 states that represented the winners in this contest, indicate the strong national production that U.S. farmers can be very proud of.

Already we’ve seen many of the booths, and I am really impressed by the technology, business strategies and other aspects of this industry being presented.

I am especially looking forward to further investigating a special section about renewable fuels, which is new to the show this year.

Already, I’ve had a chance to sit in a copy of the ethanol powered Indy car.

But be assured that both Mary and I will have much more to report back on later.

Mary Irelan took the picture and Margy Fischer did the interview. Margy’s interview is with Michelle Spoelstra, a high school junior at Hanford High School, Hanford, CA. That interview is available here: Michelle Spoelstra Interview (2:12 MP3 File)