Don't I Know You?

I find it absolutely incredible on how you can travel nearly 350 miles to find your neighbor. I’m sure you’re wondering what I mean by this, and I will explain. Yesterday as I walked through the career show, which contains hundreds of booths, I kept running into people from my home state that I knew.

Two of the individuals I ran into were fellow University of Illinois students who recently graduated and took on job within the agriculture industry. Those individuals were Katie Knapp and Jarred Brown. In fact, I lived with Katie for a year at 4-H House, and had no clue that she would be here. Jarred is currently employed with Monsanto and serves as a sales representative. Once again, I wasn’t even aware of the fact that he worked for Monsanto.

In addition, to running into these two individuals I also met the individuals working the AgriSolutions booth. AgriSolutions is an agricultural company that helps those involved within the industry to have better financial management skills. Now, what’s the link with this company to me? Their headquarters are only five minutes from my house. It’s always great to see companies from your area thriving in an industry, and it’s even greater to seem them thriving in the agricultural industry.

Stay tuned as day two of my CLASSIC ADVENTURE gets under way.

Standing Amongst the Legends

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the DeKalb and Asgrow National Corn Growers Association Yield contest winners banquet. It was held in downtown Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium, which use to be home to the Grand Old Opry.

It was truly and extraordinary event. The farmers on hand were some of the best of the best, producing yields any where from 180 to 315 bushels per acre. Not only was it amazing to see the farmers and their families celebrating this great accomplishment together, but it was truly incredible to see how proud these farmers were of their crops.

One person in particular captured my attention. His name was William Travis Duncan from Salisbury, Missouri. William has been farming for 12 years and this was his first time being a yield contest winner, which added to his enthusiasm. As the time neared for him to be recognized you could tell how anxious he was, and that he was full of anticipation. Once, his name was called he proudly walked to the legendary stage to receive his plaque and be honored.

However, what captured my attention is when he returned to his seat. He was so excited to show his award to his friends, and even took time to pose for a few photos. This just goes to show that farming is similar to an artist’s painting or a teacher’s prize pupil. It’s something they take great pride in, enjoy being associated with, but always remain humbled.

This is just one of the many outstanding people I have met at the Commodity Classic. I hope you will continue logging on as my CLASSIC ADVENTURE continues.

What's Next?

My first day at the Commodity Classic in Nashville was absolutely amazing. I met so many incredible people and learned a great deal. My only hope is that tomorrow will be just as adventurous and exciting.

Two stories that you can expect to be posted tomorrow are: the story behind Monsanto’s Mobile Technology Unit and the people that travel with it, as well as, a story on Heath Conklin who is serving as a yield ambassador for Monsanto. Stay tuned to see how day two of my CLASSIC ADVENTURE unfolds.

Say Cheese.....

The vine lady that entertains guest as they enter the hotel.

A group of growers listening to a presentation in the Monsanto booth.













Monsanto's Mobile Technology Unit.














Me with the #24 race car.












The couple who worked for Agri-SC.

Cowboy Boots, Crop Yields, and Trucks

I am proud to have been raised in a farm family, and one thing that I have learned about farm men is there are three things they take great pride in, their cowboy boots, crop yields, and their truck. Today Monsanto’s Better Beans for Better Business campaign presented one farmer with the opportunity to take even greater pride in his truck. They gave away a brand new Chevy Duramax truck, and this wasn’t your typical truck. This truck was one of great beauty and expense. It came fully loaded with a blackberry to check the latest commodity markets, a laptop computer, and a truck bed full of seed. The lucky winner was Paul Brown of Iowa.

Smarter What? John Who?

I have only been in Nashville for five hours and the amount of knowledge I have gained is immense. In particularly I have learned a lot about agricultural companies that I didn’t even know existed. I would like to focus on two in particular. They are MachineryLink and DICKEY-john.

MachineryLink is a company headquartered out of Kansas City, Missouri. The goal for this company is to provide combines to farmers in an affordable manner, and the way that they do this is instead of selling the farmers the combines they lease them. The company has over 250 combines running in over 30 states and Western Canada, which makes them the largest combine leasing company in North America.

DICKEY-john is a company that specializes in agricultural electronics, and the interesting thing about this company is that its headquarters are in Auburn, Illinois, which is only 30 minutes from my hometown. This includes planter monitors, control valves, and flow meters. However the one piece of technology that I was most interested in was the Mini Gac. The thing I found so intriguing was that it is the world’s most accurate handheld moisture analyzer. In fact, a man from North Carolina came up to the booth while I was there just to comment on how much he liked this product.

My adventure has just begun, but I hope you will keep reading as I become familiar with even more agriculture companies as my CLASSIC ADVENTURE continues.

The Young, The Old, and The Friendly

I AM FINALLY HERE!!!!!!! I arrived at the Commodity Classic and what a whirl-wind it has been. While I have anticipated how exciting and educational my trip would be, what I thought before doesn’t even come close to comparing to what I have experienced thus far. I am having an incredible time and learning so much.

However, one thing that never stops amazing me is that even though the agriculture industry is the number one industry in the United States it’s still like a tight knit community. What I mean is it seems as if everyone knows everyone. Not to mention everyone is extremely friendly and kind just like a good neighbor. For example, today I had the opportunity to attend a luncheon sponsored by Monsanto; I realized that even though all the employees there didn’t know each other they still joked around with each other. Also, the person standing in line at registration had a brother that live in a town ten minutes from my home. That is why I absolutely love this industry. You can’t ask to work with a better set up people then with those working in agriculture.

Not only does this industry have some of the nicest people, but it has people of all different ages. I have met everyone from couples in retirement to 4 year old boys and even seen infants being pushed around in strollers. I guess it’s never too early to get started. The people are not just from different age categories there, also, from all across the U.S.

I had an intriguing conversation with a woman from Nebraska, had ice cream with a family from Iowa, and rested my feet awhile with a couple from Florida.

I hope you will stay tuned as my CLASSIC ADVENTURE continues.

Too Excited To Sleep

I’m not sure how much of an avid television watcher the rest of you are, but I would say I’m a slight addict. One of my favorite commercials is the one were the family is getting ready to leave for Disney World, and it’s the night before they leave and the little boy is “too excited to sleep.” For those of you that haven’t seen the commercial it is a similar experience to a farmer the night before he begins his planting season or the night before an athlete’s championship game. For me I experienced a similar situation last night as I was “too excited to sleep.” I’m so ready to begin my ADVENTURE in Nashville at the Commodity Classic.

I look forward to meeting and intermingling with some of the top officials within the agriculture industry, having time to speak with nationwide yield winners, and simply having the opportunity to talk with people and hear their story. I hope you will join me as my CLASSIC ADVENTURE continues and really gets started today.

Typical Farm Girl??

Growing up in south central Illinois on a beef cattle operation it is not hard for one to believe that my passion for the agriculture industry began at a very young age. I remember as a toddler I would prance around the house in my dad’s cowboy boots and continuously question my parents on when would I be big enough to show cattle like my older brothers did. Finally, at the age of eight I was allowed to join our local 4-H club and began showing cattle with my four older brothers. While I didn’t always have the grand champion heifer or steer I did learn a great deal from every fair I showed in. I learned the importance of hard work, that with success comes failure, and that family time is something of extreme value.




My farm family up-bringing is what pushed me to join the National FFA Organization in high school, which allowed for me to really grasp what the agriculture industry was and how it included so much more then just cows, sows, and plows.

Upon graduating high school I was honored to be selected to serve the Illinois Association FFA as the State Treasurer. This position allowed for me to postpone my college education to travel the state of Illinois communicating with high school students the importance of the agriculture industry and what they can do to become apart of it.




After completing my year of service to the Illinois FFA I knew that my love for talking and agriculture was something that needed to be apart of my life forever. That is why I chose the University of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Environmental, and Consumer Sciences as a place where I would receive my education in Agricultural Communications.




The University of Illinois has allowed for me to broaden my agricultural knowledge in so many ways. For example the university gave me the opportunity to go to and study the agriculture industry in Jamaica and Brazil. These two trips allowed for me to see first hand how dynamic the agriculture industry is world wide.




Now, after completing almost two years at the University of Illinois I realize what a perfect fit, not only this university is for me, but my major. The field of agricultural communications allows for me to have the chance to educate others on the industry that I love.


Now, thanks to Monsanto, I will have the opportunity to travel to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the Commodity Classic. At this event I will intermingle with employees from all the major agriculture companies, and see what’s the newest technology and plans are for these companies. I hope you will join me on my CLASSIC ADVENTURE.