It’s a familiar sight at a lot of conferences. The silent auction. This one is for the Animal Agriculture Alliance and took place at the Stakeholders Summit About $4,000 were raised this year. There were some great agnerd items like an iPad mini, Mophie phone charger and more. The funds are used to support the AAA summer intern program and …
AAA College Aggies
The Animal Agriculture Alliance presented scholarships to several of the members of the current College Aggies Online group. Last November the Alliance announced the winners of the fall competition. Members of the University of Wisconsin, Madison Association of Women in Agriculture formed the top-scoring club with 229,820 total points, earning $5,000.00. Louisiana State University Les Voyageurs came in second place …
Grow it, Kill it, Melt it with Conserv FS
The GROWMARK FS System is well known in the Midwest agricultural world for grain, energy and agronomy services, but maybe not so well known is its turf products and services. “If you want to grow it, kill it, or melt it, the turf division would be who you would talk to,” says Jim Coens, Turf Department Manager for Conserv FS …
Millennial Staffers on the Hill
The first panel discussion of the 2014 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit focused on millennial staffers on the hill. Moderating the discussion was Chandler Keys, The Keys Group. The panelists each spoke first with ideas for approaching elected officials effectively, especially since the first step is often with a millennial generation staffer like themselves. I selected a quote from each …
Farmland: The Student Perspective
On May 8, the documentary Farmland was shown in Ames, Iowa and many Iowa State students were able to attend the showing. I was able to catch up with Brady Zuck, a senior in animal science, afterwards and ask him what his thoughts were on the film. In the interview, that you can listen to fully below, Brady talks about …
ZimmCast with Paulsen’s Sara Steever
We are so pleased to offer our sincere congratulations to a good friend and professional colleague Sara Steever, who was just named president of Paulsen Marketing! Sara is only the fourth president in the 63-year history of the Sioux Falls-based agency that specializes in ag and rural lifestyle clients. She succeeds Greg Guse, who has been Paulsen’s president for the …
Cooking for Millennials
At the 2014 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit we’ve heard a lot about food and what millennials like and what triggers their choices. However, I liked a comment by Jason Clay, World Wildlife Fund, who said we’ve got 7 billion food experts in the world. So really, regardless of what generation you’re in we all have opinions about food. An …
College Cafeteria Confidential
It might sound like something secret but a panel of college “Millennials” talked about “College Cafeteria Confidential: Millennials in the Lunch Line.” Our moderator was Rob Morasco, Sodexo USA. During his session I heard some terms like sustainability and food justice from the George Washington University students participating. I got some contrasting views from two of our panelists. First up …
EPA Chief Discusses Climate Change Report
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency discussed the new White House climate change report out yesterday with members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting in Washington DC this week. “It’s a really good document in terms of focusing on the United States,” she said. “In particular, it looks at the agriculture sector. It talks about the droughts …
Vilsack and Farm Workers Want Immigration Reform
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez and Nisei Farmers League President Manuel Cunha on a conference call Monday to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform for California’s agriculture economy and rural communities. “There’s no more important state to agriculture than the state of California,” said Vilsack. “It is a farm economy that is very …