January 7, 2008
AMES, Iowa — The third annual Beginning Farmers Conference will be held Jan. 26 at the Gateway Hotel and Conference Center in Ames, hosted by the Beginning Farmers Network (BFN) at Iowa State University.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey will discuss critical issues facing beginning farmers and agriculture in general as the event's keynote speaker. He also will address his goals and vision for Iowa.
Registration is $30 before Jan. 16 and $40 after that date. On-line registration is available at: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/beginningfarmer/home.html. The conference agenda is on the web at: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/beginningfarmer/schedule.html.
The conference will feature breakout sessions on a variety of topics, including machinery sharing, intergenerational farming and farm management for beginning farmers. Sessions will be useful and informative for all types of producers. One session for beginning and experienced producers is called, "The Dating Game — Acquiring Land to Rent," presented by Kelvin Leibold, Iowa State Extension farm management field specialist.
Lunch will feature a panel discussion including a student going home to farm, a graduate of Iowa State who has been farming for three years and a retiring farmer. They will share their experiences, challenges and pitfalls. The panel will open the discussion with attendees offering an opportunity for producers to network. There will be plenty of time between sessions for attendees to network with fellow beginning farmers.
The BFN is a student-run organization at Iowa State designed to help students plan a career in production agriculture by networking with other beginning farmers and experts.