We’re a little over 40 days (as I write this) from the start of the 2023 Annual Conference. Please get your registration and travel booked as soon as possible. Early registration ends October 15. We have an excellent agenda lined up for everyone. Go to www.agconsultants.org and check it all out. It’s gonna be a great time.
As we head into the home stretch before the annual meeting, I’ll highlight a couple of things we’ll be doing prior to the conference. Keeping momentum and getting the proverbial flywheel rolling faster and faster will be a challenge as we move into the new year.
We’ll continue to highlight and focus on membership growth and involvement in the governance and administration of the Society. This is a business that must be managed the same as our consulting practices and those of our clients.
We’ll have Notes from the Field published through October, Webinars are on the schedule (watch your e-mails) and the Blog Posts are being updated regularly.
We have two (2) new members to report:
Mike Downey – Next Generation Ag Advocates – Lisbon, Iowa. Mike has been involved in agriculture and working with farm families for many years, primarily in management succession and estate planning. He hosts a First Friday video conference on the Meetup platform where he discusses issues & strategies for family farm transitions & strategies for entering, expanding and exiting the business. He and his wife are also learning more about investing in alternative non-farm real estate investments and leading another Passive Investing conference on the Meetup platform. And they farm with his wife’s parents and raise children.
I’ve been getting to know Mike over the past year or so as I follow his work on the Meetup sites. He has given talks on farm family transition strategies at the Farm Futures Business Summit, as well as getting published in Farm Futures magazine. I’m excited to have Mike aboard ASAC. He is typical of the type of young member we wish to attract and have actively involved with growing and improving ASAC programs.
Alec Bean – Agricultural Soil Management, LLC – Champaign, Illinois. I look forward to getting to know Alec and learning about his business. His focus is on soil fertility and IRS Section 180 soil fertility depreciation issues. I expect his contributions to our collective conversations and networking opportunities across various disciplines will be beneficial.
Keep recruiting new members. Our membership growth is crucial (obviously) to our viability and continued existence. Attrition and retirements will take some member numbers off the roster over the next two years. We simply must have new memberships coming onboard on a regular basis.
Come to the conference with ideas and energy to get involved on the committees. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. If you want to be a member, then prioritize some of your time for ASAC business.
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Take a look at Wittman Consulting’s Family Farm Business Consultant Training Workshop which is being held in conjunction with the ASAC Conference. It will be held Saturday, November 4 beginning at 8:00 a.m. through Sunday, November 5, ending at 3:00 p.m., prior to the beginning of ASAC’s conference. Dick Wittman and his daughter, Cori Stitt, along with Lance Woodbury, of Pinion Global (formerly K-COE Isom), will present an engaging and educational workshop on developing an effective farm business consulting practice. I have attended it twice and always learn something new.
Hotel room rates are connected with ASAC’s room block. The Workshop’s registration is independent of ASAC’s Conference, though we are coordinating with them on the room block to benefit both organizations. A link to their program registration is included on the ASAC Conference website.
Dick will also be presenting at ASAC’s conference on Monday afternoon. You will not want to miss it.
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ASAC hosted an excellent webinar on September 14 with Eric Snodgrass, meteorologist with Nutrien Ag Solutions. Thanks to Russell Morgan for facilitating this webinar. Eric is much in demand for his straightforward, common-sense approach to discussing weather patterns and activities, providing forecasts extremely important to producers across the country.
Watch for more engaging and educational opportunities from our webinars, Shop Talk series, and blog posts.
We’ve had some excellent interactions with Farm Foundation (www.farmfoundation.org), based in Chicago. It is described as a combination “think tank” and “do tank.” Their mission and vision is to accelerate ideas bridging a variety of technologies to advance agriculture. We are also excited to be developing a relationship with AgLaunch, www.aglaunch.com, another accelerator of ideas, technology and innovation.
There are numerous organizations we should be seeking out to potentially develop strategic alliances. If you know or learn of organizations in your region or within your particular discipline, bring it to the Society for discussion.
Our programs...............
1. Shop Talk. Contact Jean Merry and Russell Morgan for information to help develop a program. Consider putting something together from your company or industry and hosting one.
2. Notes from the Field. Russell Morgan accumulates a variety of news articles and other items of interest from around the country (and the world, too) to post for members' reading. Watch for his postings. If you see something of interest from your area, let him know. He has a form he has made for us to send him links.
3. ASAC Blog Post. Write an article on something pertinent to our ag consulting profession and submit it to Don Tyler, Northern Region Director (don@dontyler.com). He’s taking the lead on getting content to the website. Keep an article to no more than 600 words.
4. ASAC’s Monthly Communique. If you have a brief item of interest that you’d like to have included in the monthly issue of the Communique, write it up and send it to Jean Merry. A Member Spotlight on you gives us all a brief introduction to you and to your work. Something of interest from your region will be appreciated.
Standing Committees:
Membership – Ron Rabou - raboufarms@gmail.com
Nominating – Kyle Walker - kyle.walker@peoplescompany.com
By-Laws – Dave Mielnicki - david.mielnicki@nmrk.com
Ethics and Grievance – Ethan Robertson - ethan.robertson@farmcrediteast.com
Continuing Education – Russell Morgan - education@agconsultants.org
Annual Meeting – Keith Dickinson - keith.dickinson@farmcrediteast.com
Finance – Keith Raynor - keith@trpsumner.com
Ad Hoc Committees
Marketing and Promotion – Paige Gilligan - collateralexec@gmail.com
Strategic Alliance – Norm Brown - norm@fbssystems.com
Remember...............
The Sky is NOT the Limit!
Pete Weisenberger
President
