Greetings all. I’m not going to beat around here today. I just wanted to give a quick run down of my time at Commodity Classic last week.
For those who may not be familiar with this event, Commodity Classic is the annual convention and trade show of the wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum industries, and a place for much of the agriculture community to gather and discuss everything from the latest equipment and technology to pressing policy issues.
From what you read here, I am not involved in any of those sectors of the ag industry. This was an event solely for those who are involved in row cropping. Regardless, I was asked by a friend of mine to share my story on Farm Transition and Succession Planning on a panel with several other producers.
I arrived in San Antonio at midnight, Friday February 28. I woke up early for a breakfast with the other panelists and the team from SipCam Agro, the company who sponsored the panel. We talk amongst one another regarding our operations, the current ag trade market, consumer/producer relations, and other common themes in the agriculture sector today. We then moved on to focus on our own stories of succession and let me tell you, these are some wonderful and strong folks who I had the pleasure of dining with that morning. I can see so many parallels in my own story to theirs. It is amazing that no matter the sector, we all have so much common ground in the ag industry.
After breakfast, I spent the majority of the day walking around the trade show. I saw tractors that were bigger than my house, a sprayer that was longer than our hay barn, and countless other amazing innovations in the ag industry. I also got to meet some amazing people that I had previously only interacted with online. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. I love meeting and interacting with folks face to face. I’m at my best when surrounded by great people!!
Our session began at 330 local time. I don’t want to take too much from the session (I’ll link video below). However, I took so much away from this from all of the other panelist’s stories. I left there with so many ideas of how to continue our own business into the next generations and generations beyond.
So to wrap up my thoughts about classic in a paragraph:
This was the first step in the direction I want to take with the podcast. Two of my favorite things in the world are meeting new people and traveling. This checked these boxes nicely and knowing that my podcast and me putting myself out there a bit was to thank for that made me feel a great sense of self justification. Like I said earlier, I had no reason to attend this event as a part of my business. Being from the Missouri Ozarks, only things we grow well are grass and hooves. However, I loved to be able to see all the new equipment and meet so many great people. I am so thankful that my friend Janice Person recommended that I be a part of this panel and that the folks at SipCam Agro for allowing me to share my story. I’m also thankful to Brownfield Ag for producing this panel and making it available for folks to watch online.
The link to our panel is here. A fair warning to anyone watching, the panel is over an hour long. However, if you want a grasp of what farm/ranch succession planning is like from a number of different perspectives, then I can’t encourage that you sit down and watch this enough! What you cannot see is the crowd reactions that I was able to witness. Let me tell you, the emotion in that room was palpable.
Thanks for taking the time to read today. I wanted to get this out there while it was still fresh. If there is anyone who would like to dive deeper into the topic of succession planning, please reach out to me here.
Go check out this week’s episode of the podcast featuring my friend and neighbor Carey Portell. We dive into Carey’s experience navigating here new found passion for public speaking. We also talk in depth about opioid addiction and how serious of a concern it is for rural communites.
Check out Carey’s latest blog post on Injury, Pain and Addiction.
