National Ag Day activities are conducted by the Agriculture Council of America. This year’s Chair is Colin Woodall, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. In this week’s program I talked with Colin about the work of the ACA and this year’s activities. I also spoke with Amy Bradford, GROWMARK, an Ag Day sponsor and sponsor of my coverage of Ag Day activities …
Yeutter Kicks Off UNL Trade Center Fundraiser
Former agriculture secretary and trade ambassador Clayton Yeutter was honored at the Agri-Pulse Ag Day event last week in Washington DC, the day after he made a $2.5 million dollar commitment to establish an international trade and finance institute at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). “We want to endow some chairs in agriculture, business and law,” said …
Food Tank at Bayer Ag Issues Forum
Food and social justice go hand-in-hand, and producers need to find more ways to bring balance to what is produced and how people on the producing side and the consumption side are treated. Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, an organization founded two years ago to highlight the role of food in social justice, spoke with Chuck at the Bayer …
Reaching Out to Millennials Starts Locally
Millennials have a lot of questions and concerns about agriculture, and it’s up to their age counterparts to help explain what modern farming is all about. One of the great “ag-vocates” for today’s farmers has been the Peterson brothers, whose YouTube video parodies of pop songs have reached millions in a fun way. Greg Peterson, who sat on the Millennial …
Undersecretary Michael Scuse Addresses Ag Day
The annual Celebration of Agriculture dinner at the USDA was an opportunity for many agricultural leaders and students to gather and hear about the work being done by the agency. Our keynote speaker, Michael Scuse, Undersecretary for Farm & Foreign Ag Services used the opportunity to highlight many of the accomplishments and programs of USDA The program also featured some …
Listen to Ag Day Essay Contest Winner
The winner of the 2015 Ag Day Essay Contest is Theresa Seibel. During last night’s Celebration of Agriculture Dinner we heard her read that essay which focused on this year’s theme, Agriculture: Sustaining Future Generations. Theresa is pictured with Annette Degnan, marketing communications director, CHS Inc., one of this year’s essay contest sponsors. The theme presented an opportunity for students …
Farmers Unite to Fight Organic Attack Video
Both conventional and organic farmers joined together last week on social media to criticize a video that uses cute kids to attack modern farming practices. The YouTube video was produced by a group called Only Organic and features children acting out a school play singing “Old McDonald had a Farm” with lyrics about pesticides and GMOs and hormones and antibiotics. …
American Agri-Women Veritas Award
During the National Ag Day Celebration of Agriculture Dinner Orion Samuelson received another award. This time Sue McCrum, President of the American Agri-Women presented him with their Veritas Award. The award is given annually to a person who has given public witness to “the pursuit of truth” in accordance with the principles enunciated in the AAW Statement of Philosophy, The …
House Ag Committee Chair at Ag Day Luncheon
National Agriculture Week was a busy one in Washington DC and with the House Agriculture Committee. Chairman Mike Conaway of Texas spoke at the National Ag Day luncheon on Wednesday. “Production agriculture has a wonderful story to tell,” said Conaway. “Problem is you just have to keep telling it over and over and over.” Conaway stressed the need for agriculture …
Wheat Bagel Breakfast with Side of Politics
The National Wheat Foundation and National Association of Wheat Growers hosted a bagel breakfast for Ag Day in DC on Wednesday featuring a panel discussion highlighting topics such as biotechnology, sustainability, Big Data and research. One of the panel participants was Matt Erickson, chief economist for the Senate Agriculture Committee, who talked about Big Data and agriculture. “When you talk …