Skip to content Skip to navigation

Agenda 2008 AgChairs

Final Agenda

Friday, January 18
11:00 am SARL Board Meeting
1:00 - 3:00 pm Optional Policy Sessions and Tour
  • State Dairy Policy Roundtable
  • Update on the Farm Bill 
  • Seed Breeding/Crop Analytics Laboratory Tour
3:30 - 5:30 pm Busch Brewery Tour
6:00 pm Opening Reception
Missouri Botanical Gardens
7:30 pm Dinner on your own (SARL has a table at the hotel)
10:00 pm Hospitality Suite
Saturday, January 19
7:00 – 8:00 am Breakfast 
8:00 – 8:45 am
 
Opening and welcome - Jack Schultz, author of Boomtown USA.
Provoking innovative thinking, encouraging leadership and fostering investment in rural America
8:45 – 9:15 am Rebuilding America's Productive Economy  
Milan Wall, Heartland Center for Economic Development
9:15 - 10:00 am Open Rural Development discussion
10:30 – 11:45 am First Round of Breakouts
  Can carbon trading improve the economic viability of farms and timberland?

David Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau
  State livestock regulations - Where are we headed?
Steve Kopperund, Policy Directions
  Specialty crops and identity preservation: profit opportunities?
Ray Massey, University of Missouri
Bill Couser, Ankeny, Iowa, producer
  Food safety: Will GAP and LGMA put integrated producers out of business?
Jeff LaFleur, Cape Cod Cranberry Association
Kira Pasco, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
  Rural renewal in action - Indiana and Wisconsin
Sam Cordes, RISE 2020, Indiana
Stan Gruszynski, Wisconsin Future of Farming Project
noon - 2:00 pm Lunch
  Federal Update: Clayton Yeutter
Former Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative
2:30 -4:00 pm Breakouts, Session II
  Infrastructure needs for changing commodity market
Craig O'Riley, Iowa Department of Transportation
Matt Fannin, Louisiana State University
  Keeping them down on the farm, how to reduce brain drain in our rural communities
Melissa Dearmont, Midwest Community Clinic
Michael Duffy, National Beginning Farmer Center
  State and Provincial role in COOL and label harmonization
Blair Coomber, Director General, Canada ITP
Bob Garfield, American Frozen Food Institute
  Increasing the bottom line, vineyards, tourism and more
Jon Held, Stone Hill Winery, Missouri
Craig Richoff, Massachusetts Farm Viability Program
  Rural development, building one community at a time
Mary Ellen McClanahan, Georgia's Entrepreneur and Small Business Office
Senator Michael Brubaker, Pennsylvania, Keystone Innovation Zones
4:30 – 5:30 pm SARL Connections
North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture Roger Johnson, NASDA President
6:30 pm Wine Across America Reception
Welcome by Jim Anderson, Missouri Wine and Grape
7:30 pm Dinner
Charlie Arnot, Center for Food Integrity
9:30- 11:00 pm Hospitality Suite
Sunday, January 20
7:30 - 10:00 am Breakfast  SARL Annual Meeting
2008 Election Results

2008 In Support of American Agriculture Resolution
2008 Rural Development Resolution
10:15 – 1:00 p.m. Energizing Rural America
Panel discussion of the role of traditional and alternative energy in economic development
Stan Riemann, Coffeyville Resources
Jim Sims, Western Business Rountable
Tony Ahern, Buckeye Power
David Dunn, Cow Power, Central Vermont Power
John Sheehan, Live Fuels, Inc.
Bill Schafer, Range Fuels