AgWired

One of the thousands who attended the non-partisan AgNite event held in the Twin Cities on the second night of the Republican National Convention was former agriculture secretary John Block, who is currently serving as co-chairman of John McCain’s Farm and Ranch committee.

Block was impressed and proud at the turnout at the event. “To me that suggests that agriculture really is important, although I think that people sometimes take us for granted,” Block said. “It’s exciting to see agriculture in the spotlight today, not just here at the convention, but in terms of whether farmers can produce enough food to feed the world and the fact is we’ve exported a record amount of food this year. We’re doing a terrific job in agriculture.”

The AgNite event was sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council and featured the support of agribusiness organizations and industries nationwide.

Listen to my interview with John Block here:
agnite-08-block.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

There is no question that AgNite is THE “go-to” event in the Twin Cities this second evening of the Republican National Convention. Organizers were expecting 3-4,000 and that expectation has been surpassed. As someone said, “What if you threw a party and everyone showed up?” It sure seems like that has happened here.

One of the people responsible for making this event possible is Paul DeBriyn, President and CEO of AgStar Financial Services, one of AgNite’s major sponsors. Paul was chairman of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council when the idea for AgNite was born. “The last convention we had here was 1892,” Paul said. “So this is a very unique event for us and it was a very quick decision for AgStar to make the decision to help sponsor this celebration of Minnesota’s food, fiber and biofuels industry.”

The event is being held in the historic downtown Minneapolis Depot, which is packed with people. “My biggest fear was that there wouldn’t be anybody here,” Paul said. “That didn’t happen.”

He is shown here being interviewed by Don Wick of Red River Farm Network. You can listen to my interview with Paul here: agnite-08-debriyn.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album to get a real idea of just how many people are here at this event. It’s amazing!

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council is the organization hosting AgNite in Minneapolis. Their President is Daryn McBeth, seen here being interviewed by Cindy. This was at the Feeding America food packing event held at their local network affiliate, Second Harvest Heartland.

Second Harvest Heartland is also a member of the Council and Daryn says the unique partnerships between the food bank and other council members, such as Hormel Foods, helps them to be very active in hunger relief efforts throughout the state.

With Hurricane Gustav impacting the start of the Republican National Convention here in the Twin Cities, the focus of AgNite has taken a turn towards relief efforts along the Gulf Coast as well, according to Daryn. “The food and agriculture industries always step up to help after natural disasters,” he said. “We will have the ability for individuals and corporations to make donations to help out with relief efforts.”

Daryn says there has been a great deal of interest among those in town for the convention in attending AgNite and they are expecting to have upwards of 4,000 attend the event.

You can listen to Cindy’s interview with Daryn here: agnite-08-mcbeth.mp3

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Second Harvest Heartland of Minnesota pulled in volunteers from the Republican National Convention Tuesday to help pack close to a million pounds of potatoes at their headquarters warehouse in St. Paul.

Executive Director Rob Zeaske says the potatoes are supplied by a generous donor from St. Cloud who prefers to remain anonymous. “Last year they gave us 750,000 pounds of potatoes and are trying to get to a million this year and based on our summer and the economic state, we sure need it,” he said.

Second Harvest Heartland is one of the largest members of America’s Second Harvest national food bank network. They are also a member of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, which is sponsoring tonight’s RNC AgNite event – the reason we are here in the Twin Cities this week.

You can listen to my interview with Rob here: agnite-08-zeske.mp3

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and