Tue, 04 Oct 2022 08:58:36 CDT
Farm Director, KC Sheperd, got the chance to visit with the President of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants, Kyle Walker, and the Chair of Marketing and Promotions, Paige Gilligan talking about the ASAC annual conference which will be held in Oklahoma City on October 23-26.
“We are pretty excited,” Walker said. “We are hosting our 59th annual ASAC National Conference this year. It will be held at the Skirvin Hilton in downtown Oklahoma City. Pretty excited about Oklahoma City and being able to finally get to Oklahoma. I don’t believe we have ever had a national conference in Oklahoma, so we are pretty excited.”
The conference will also consist of a tour, Walker said, which involves going to the Oklahoma National Stockyards and National Grazinglands Research Laboratory.
“We have industry professionals coming in from all over the country that will be discussing numerous topics and key ideas that our membership likes to hear,” Walker said.
The American Society of Agricultural Consultants, Walker said, is a very diverse group. The ASAC has approximately 70 members across the country and specializes in agriculture as its main focus.
“We have a lot of people that are in the ag finance world, or in crop consulting,” Walker said. “I am a farm manager by trade. We have guys in organics and people that handle farm software.”
Gilligan said she believes the biggest benefit of the conference is being able to network with people from across the United States. This year, she added, attendees will get the chance to get to know more about Oklahoma and the agriculture that occurs within the state.
“I personally am from California, so Oklahoma ag is a lot different from California ag and we also have a lot of members that are from the east coast, so it just gives you the opportunity to network and learn from people that you normally wouldn’t see in your day-to-day lives,” Gilligan said.
There will be sessions at the conference that focus on ethics, diversity inclusion, and more, Gilligan said. This year’s keynote speaker, she added, will be a young farmer and rancher.
Walker said the conference is best suited for anyone in the agriculture profession who is interested in learning more about agriculture and meeting industry professionals.
“As far as being open to the public, anyone can come and we welcome anyone that would be interested,” Walker said. “Registration is open at our website agconsultants.org and you can go to that or just google American society of Ag Consultants and there is a tab that will take you to the Oklahoma City conference.”
Current registration is $595, Gilligan said, which includes the three-day event, meals, and the tour.
The theme of this year’s conference is Agriculture- Imagine the Possibilities: The Sooner the Better. The goal of the conference is to target all aspects of agriculture.
“We just want to help people realize that ag is more than just planting a seed in the ground and watering it and watching it grow,” Gilligan said. “There is so much to agriculture and imagine what we could do if we all worked together.”
Walker and Gilligan also talked more about the diversity of the ASAC and past conferences.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear KC’s full conversation with Walker and Gilligan talking about the upcoming ASAC Annual Conference.
