Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo Recap!

I haven't been writing on my blog as much as I have wanted and I really want to apologize and say that, whew, it has been busy!  On top of being mommy, the dairy, kids sports, harvesting, marathon training, I flew out for Atlanta, GA last Saturday to attend FNCE (Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo) on behalf of Monsanto and Americas Farmers.  I flew in on Saturday and my brother, who lives not far from Atlanta, picked me up at the airport and off we went to advocate for agriculture!

We got settled into our hotel, then went down to the hotel lobby to catch-up with each other over nachos and a beverage.  The couple that was sitting next to us, struck up a conversation and pretty quickly I learned I was sitting next to a vegetarian that was not a fan of Monsanto or farmers in general.  Needless to say, it was very interesting.  But, I did get some points across, listened to her concerns, and did my best to explain and educate.  So when we met up with the Monsanto Crew, I was a little nervous about the conference because if this little slice of conversation was going to set the tone for the weekend, I was not super excited.  But we went out to a fabulous restaurant, FloatAway Café, met the great people of Monsanto, discussed the plan for next few days, and even got to see a few celebrities:

My brother with Kurtwood Smith from various movies and television like 'That 70's Show'.  He was so nice to take a quick picture with us.  There was another celebrity there, but she refused to take a picture...

The next two days from 9am-3pm we worked the Expo.  Let me just say that Expo really doesn't describe how huge it was!  It was at the Atlanta Conference Center, and it was packed with companies, businesses, and people all there to talk about Food and Nutrition (who doesn't want to walk around and eat food all day long?).  When we first got there, I was astounded at the phenomenal booth set-up by Monsanto with visibly appealing pictures, information, and displays.  There were 3 computers ready for people to take a short quiz so they could get registered to win a prize (Coach Purse, Mini IPAD, or a $350 LuLu Lemon Gift Certificate), there were 5 different packets of Garden Seeds to hand-out so people could start a garden, and then 'CropPops' which were popiscles that were made directly from fruit and vegetables (my favorite was the Caramel Corn made with real corn!)  So my brother and myself jumped right in handing out Garden Seed Packets and then engaged people in conversation about gardening, crops, food, our dairy farm, nutrition for my kids, marathon training, or wherever the conversation would lead!  It was amazing the broad range of questions we got.  The Monsanto Crew had a wide arrange of people on hand from people who did Marketing, Social Media, a Crop Quality Control Specialist, scientists, plant biologists, and more so that whenever I got a tough question, I could go over to the person who specialized in that field, grab them, and they could answer the question with their knowledge and education.

We also got to walk around the Expo and sample all the amazing food, the new products coming out, met new companies, and then some of the large companies like, Subway:

And there were celebrity Chefs there to demonstrate and also sign their books, meet Chef Fabio:

It was really amazing walking around the Expo and taking in the whole experience, but the thing I loved most was:

Working the Monsanto Booth

This is Gayla, Sherri, and I working at the Monsanto Booth.   They brought Sherri, a soybean and crop farmer, and myself, a dairy farmer, down so that real farmers were represented at the conference!  I really have to applaud Monsanto, which is a seed company, so much for taking the initative to do this!  Having Sherri and I there, people really got to talk to farmers that actually grow their food for them.  We definitely met some amazing people, and answered a lot of questions!  Consumers today are very aware of food and nutrition and they really want to know exactly where their food comes from and that it is safe.  We had a lot of questions about Genetically Modified Crops (which I would go grab someone from Monsanto to explain), and are they really safe, and why do we grow them on our farm, how does it effect our cows, are our cows taken care of, how fresh is our milk, do we grow our own crops, and various other questions.  I was very proud to represent not just dairy farmers, but farmers as a whole, and we were able to explain, educate, and also dispel many misconceptions that people have about our industry.  My motto that I have taken on myself and my farm is "If you don't tell your story, somebody else will" and in the farming world I don't want people who nothing about my cows, my family, or my farm spreading lies and misconception about my industry.  I was very honored to be there and I hope that I did a good job putting a face to farmers everywhere.  The world is constantly changing and we as farmers, are changing with it.  It was incredible to be able explain how and why!  Thank you Monsanto for being so accommodating on the trip, allowing me to represent you and agriculture, and to experience such an amazing opportunity that I am very grateful and humbled.