AgWired

The National FFA isn’t the only agricultural youth education organization involved with Ag Day. I visited with several more this week starting with Jessica England, President (left) and Lauren Greaves, First Vice President, Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. I learned that you pronounce it A-C-T to start off! This college level student organization promotes leadership with agricultural communications majors. They were attending Ag Day activities because they wanted to help make sure elected leaders in the Capitol were aware of how important the industry of agriculture is. We also talked about different activities conducted by ACT like their annual meeting that’s held in conjunction with the Ag Media Summit.

You can listen to my interview with Jessica and Lauren here: ACT Interview

Another organization represented at National Ag Day was 4-H. I spoke with Brad Copenhaver, Virginia Tech, who has been active in 4-H for many years. He says his Grandmother has been a 4-H volunteer for over 50 years! He started with 4-H when he was nine years old. He served on his state 4-H cabinet and is still involved. He was asked to be a 4-H representative at National Ag Day activities to help promote how important agricultural education is.

You can listen to my interview with Brad here: 4-H Interview

And I also spoke with Nancy Barcus, Agriculture Future of America. Nancy is the Director of Leader Development Programs. She says that AFA works with college men and women who are preparing for a career in agriculture with leadership programs that help them become more competitive. There were twenty five student members attending Ag Day activities. She says that their attendance helps them understand how policy affects agriculture.

You can listen to my interview with Nancy here: AFA Interview

2011 National Ag Day Photo Album

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One of the sponsors of Ag Day is Fastline, represented at National Ag Day activities by Matt Coniglio, pictured here with some of the attendees at Tuesday’s banquet. You might even be able to guess who they are!

This was the first year for Fastline to sponsor Ag Day. Matt says that they wanted to become more involved on a national level with the agriculture audience. I asked him what he would say to all those companies who are considering becoming sponsors (you are, aren’t you?). He says, “I would encourage anybody to become involved. This is our industry. It’s where we all have our livelihood. And it’s obviously a really important industry for our country.” He hopes that this celebration will help encourage a stronger, unified ag community.

You can listen to my interview with Matt here: Matt Coniglio Interview

2011 National Ag Day Photo Album

AgWired coverage of National Ag Day is sponsored by:
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The General Counsel for the Senate Ag Committee is Jonathan Coppess. He was one of the speakers at the National Ag Day lunch. Jonathan was introduced by FFA student, TJ Masker, Iowa State University. In his remarks Jonathan provided some background on the farm safety net and then talked about the current situation with the farm bill. As you would expect, budgets are an issue and another one is farm credit. One of his responsibilities is going to be helping write the new farm bill! He says they’re going to have less funding to work with.

You can listen to TJ introduced by Orion Samuelson, emcee, and then Jonathan’s remarks here: Jonathan Coppess Presentation

2011 National Ag Day Photo Album

AgWired coverage of National Ag Day is sponsored by:
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