AG CONNECT Expo is officially underway. The opening ceremonies featured the winners of the Agvocating for Agriculture awards seen on stage with the committee members who put the show together.
To lead the crowd out to the opening reception, Gary MacDonald, MacDon Industries, played the bagpipes. Enjoy him on YouTube:
Thank you to everyone who watched the live stream of the opening ceremonies from the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. My iPhone streamed live for about an hour and a half. Feel free to post any comments/feedback if you watched.
I had to use the convention center wireless and let’s just say it was not fast. That’s a key to a good live stream.
Photos have been updated from the opening ceremonies.
Chad Yagow, John Deere, (r) already has his picture on AgWired but he gets another one. At the AETC luncheon today he was presented with the AETC MVP award. Yes, that’s a baseball bat. I guess that’s so he can keep conference attendees in line.
More photos have been uploaded to the photo album so please keep checking it as the show gets underway officially this afternoon.
Despite weather challenges in 2009, American farmers produced record corn and soybean crops.
According to USDA’s crop report out this morning, U.S. corn for grain production is estimated at a record 13.2 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the November 1 forecast, and 1 percent above the previous record of 13.0 billion bushels set in 2007. U.S. grain yield is also estimated at a record level for 2009, at 165.2 bushels per acre. This is up 2.3 bushels from the November forecast and 4.9 bushels above the previous record of 160.3 bushels per acre set in 2004.
Soybean production in 2009 totaled 3.36 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the November 1 forecast and up 13 percent from 2008. U.S. production is the largest on record. The average yield per acre is estimated at a record high 44.0 bushels, 0.7 bushel above the November 1 forecast and 4.3 bushels above last year’s yield. Harvested area is up 2 percent from 2008 to a record 76.4 million acres.
American Farm Bureau Federation 91st Annual Meeting Photo Album
A dairy farmer who is a YouTube hit with his original “Water ‘n Poo” song is the new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.
Will Gilmer of Alabama was elected as by the committee as chairperson for 2010 and will take over those duties in February to serve for one year.
Gilmer owns and operates Gilmer Dairy Farm, which includes a herd of 450 Holstein cows, heifers and calves, as well as more than 500 acres of pasture and forage crop production.
In addition to his daily farming duties, Gilmer maintains a Web site, www.gilmerdairy.com, along with The Dairyman’s Blog, in an effort to reach out to the public about modern farming practices. Gilmer also is active on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter under @gilmerdairy.
Farm broadcaster Meghan Grebner with WIRL in Peoria interviewed Will for her noon show yesterday and you can listen to that interview below the video.
And if you have never heard or seen Will’s funny YouTube hit about nutrient management – viewed over 9,000 times – here it is. Heck, even if you have seen it – worth watching again so you can be singing “Water ‘n Poo” all day long!
One of the events taking place in conjunction with AG CONNECT Expo is the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference (AETC) conducted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). The conference chairman is Chad Yagow, John Deere.
I spoke to Chad about the conference while a range of educational sessions are taking place this morning. I’ll be attending their luncheon later. Chad says the AETC brings together people in the ASABE membership involved with the power machinery industry. They have lots of professional development classes that range from hydraulic systems to moving biomass logistics. He says that ASABE and AEM have always worked together through their standards programs and that’s why they viewed the opportunity to locate their conference here as a way to grow closer organizationally. They plan to co-locate with AG CONNECT next year in Atlanta too.
You can listen to or download my interview with Chad below:
The longest serving agriculture commissioner in the nation was honored by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) at the annual meeting in Seattle on Monday.
AFBF president Bob Stallman presented the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award to Tommy Irvin who has served as Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture since 1969. Irvin has 51 years in public service. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years as a member of the Agriculture, Education and Appropriations Committees and has served as Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture for 41 years, the longest consecutive years of service by any State agriculture commissioner in the United States.
American Farm Bureau Federation 91st Annual Meeting Photo Album
Listen to Irvin’s remarks receiving the award here:
It’s Preview Day at AG CONNECT Expo and the final shine is being put on the equipment. I shot a short video clip to show you what to expect. Preview time is at 11am for media and invited guests. The opening ceremony will take place at 4pm this afternoon. The shuttle buses are running and the sun is shining. I think it’s going to be a great day and a great first time event.
Football great Terry Bradshaw encouraged thousands of farmers and ranchers to keep smiling during an address at the 91st American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting on Monday.
Bradshaw talked about his horses and owning 58 head of Angus cattle that he bought in Kansas. “I had 60 but cougars got two of them,” he said. Then he talked about his “Pigs for Jesus” foundation that has fed some 10,000 people – even though he doesn’t know what a female pig is called.
Bradshaw also praised the work farmers and ranchers do. “There is no greater drug, no greater addiction, than being in the farming business,” he declared.
Listen to the first 15 minutes of his talk here – pretty funny stuff! And check out the photos in the American Farm Bureau Federation 91st Annual Meeting Photo Album.
It’s almost time for the official start of the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. It’s historic and it’s going to be fun.
The big banners are now hanging outside the Orange County Convention Center welcoming attendees who will be coming from all over the world. The ceremonies will kick off tomorrow afternoon and I’ll be on the scene live bringing it all too you. So don’t go away.
