National Ag Day - whoo hoo! Across the U.S., thousands of farmers, ranchers, agriculture students and leaders are celebrating the rich heritage that is American Agriculture. Whether it be wearing a green farming t-shirt, handing out beef samples at the local grocery store or promoting agriculture via social media outlets, everyone in ag is doing their part today.
Which leads me to explaining how I'll be spending part of my National Ag Day. I'm very honored to have been invited to sit on a panel of producers, professionals and leaders for a Dialogue on Kansas Agriculture at the State Capitol in Topeka today - and boy am I nervous!
The other panelists:
Dr. Mike Apley, Kansas State University
Doug Hofbauer, President and CEO of Frontier Farm Credit
Bob Petersen, Executive Director of Kansas Agribusiness Council
Jay Garretson, Farmer
Diana Floyd, RD, LD, Kansas Department of Education Child Nutrition Consultant
I'm overwhelmed at the years of knowledge and industry experience that I will be surrounded by but it will very exciting to share ideas and thoughts with the other panelists as well as the audience.
We'll be answering questions regarding animal welfare (I hope I get one of those - that's my thing), food safety, education and technology, environmental stewardship and many other various ag topics.
You can get involved too! Greg Akagi, farm broadcaster for WIBW, will be the moderator and was fielding questions via Twitter yesterday to ask the panelists. It's probably not too late to get your question in - Greg's handle on Twitter is @GregAkagi.
I hope you'll listen/view the panel - it might hit some nerves, it might stir up emotion but it will definitely be promoting agriculture and be informative for all involved! The event will be live streamed on the Kansas Department of Agriculture website -- agriculture.ks.gov/ksagday
Today and everyday, I extremely thankful that I live in a country with an abundant, affordable and safe food supply produced by the best people I know - America's farmers and ranchers. Thank you!
How are you representing agriculture today? Share below! You can follow along in today's agriculture discussions by following #agday13 and #ksagday!
Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~Labels: agriculture, animal care, education, environment, family farm, farmers, farming, food, food production, Kansas, National Ag Day, nutrition, ranchers, ranching, technology
