Attending the AgChat Conference: An #Agnerd's Paradise

Last week I had the honor of attending the AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 Conference in Kansas City, MO. I started participating in the #agchat community, a weekly Twitter chat for those involved in or interested in agriculture, over 1 1/2 years ago and this conference gave me the opportunity to finally meet many of the people who I have talked to frequently through this community. I had wanted to attend the conference last year so you can imagine how excited I was to go this year.

The blue dots represent locations that conference participants are from. 

The first event was a tweep-up for both AgChat conference and NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) Bootcamp, which were both being held in Kansas City at similar times. According to Kelly Rivard, who organized it, we had over 100 people total attend. Several people at the tweet-up asked me if I knew anyone else there and my response was "Someone from my high school is coming and I've met a few others once or twice but that's it." The few I had met before were from the Midwest and this conference gave me the opportunity to meet people from all over, as well as others close to home. That first night I met Brandi Buzzard, who did a blog giveaway for Shyanne boots that I won. Brooke Clay ended up wearing those same Shyanne boots that I won the next week, as did I. 

My brand new Shyanne Daisy Mae boots. They need to be broken in yet, but I love them!

Brooke Clay and I both wearing our Shyanne Daisy Mae boots to see a Craig
Morgan concert  in the Power  & Light District of Kansas City.

I got so much from the conference that it's hard to put into one post. I keep thinking back on it and how much I got from it. There was meeting all these awesome people who are so incredibly passionate about agriculture, feeling excited about the future of agriculture, learning new social media tools, enjoying nights out on the town with new friends and gaining new perspectives by learning from each other.

The swap meet, while not an official event, was a great way to learn about other areas of agriculture as people traded items that are representative of agriculture in their home state. I brought New Glarus Spotted Cow and Capital Brewery Supper Club beer from Wisconsin, as I've now lived in cheeseland for over a year. I got some unique items from various states and learned some interesting things, such as how growing popcorn differs from growing your typical field corn. Before the swap meet, our dinner table had a great discussion about the differences between organic and conventional dairy. I sat next to a calf raiser on a conventional dairy who asked the Zwebers and I questions about our organic dairies. There's so much to learn from others in agriculture as it's such an incredibly diverse industry.

The Peterson Brothers performed their "I'm Farming and I Grow It" first  thing in the morning

Of all of the things that I learned at the AgChat conference, what has stuck out most to me is the people and the power of connections. The people at the conference were all simply great people. I got to catch up with someone who went to the same high school, celebrate the birthday of someone who's blog I've read for a while, watch new friends ride a mechanical bull and overall have meaningful but exciting conversations about agriculture. I enjoyed meeting with everyone and it really drilled home the importance of making connections with those not directly involved with agriculture and this is further emphasized every time I talk about my background with someone I meet in Milwaukee.

This is Country Music

As I started this, I was sitting in the student center listening to Joshua Stevens, a country artist out of Nashville.  He's a songwriter and I was really enjoying his music, especially his song about a town where "nothing happens" because well, nothing happens much happens in Crookston or my hometown of Brandon.

I've been busy lately, as always, but listening to country music always seems to help me relieve stress and is a great pick me up during the day or at night after I'm finally done with classes and work.  I like listening to many genres of music, with my second favorite probably being Christian rock, but country is what I grew up listening to and what I have always loved.  My dad always had country music on in the barn and even my mom, who went to Bruce Springsteen and Neil Diamond concerts when she was younger, loved to listen to and sing Shania Twain.  Speaking of Shania Twain, one of her CDs was the first CD I ever bought and I've had this song of hers in my head today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=681Y-UQ0LWI

County music is great for many reasons, but I think one reason I like it so much is that it seems to be the only, or one of the few, genres that really relate to farmers and what we do.  When I lived in Kansas City last summer during my internship the song that I think I listened to the most that summer was "Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean.  That song reminded me so much of being back home and working on the farm, which up until last summer was what I did every summer.  Since I was working for an agricultural nonprofit, it also reminded me of my job and why I am so passionate about agriculture.  The video for "Amarillo Sky" is very powerful, especially the introduction.  While pop songs are often about "the club", county songs are often about more serious matters, but there are still those country songs that show we county folk know how to have some fun too.

What's your favorite music and if you like country, how has it affected you?