By Jenny Mills, NEAFA President
If you haven’t had a chance to make your reservations for the NEAFA Annual meeting, we encourage you to do so! The link for reservations is here: https://www.memberplanet.com/s/neafa/23sum-amreg_1
As we navigate a new legislative session in Albany, Tuesday February 6 will kick off with our annual Lobby Day at the Legislative office building at 9:00am to advocate for funding various ag programs. Hinman Straub has secured us some great meetings with key legislators!
Our annual meeting kickoff will start at the Marriott on Wolf Rd immediately following Lobby Day. We are thrilled to have Tonya Van Slyke, Executive Director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association moderate a panel discussion to follow up from our transportation summit last year. Panelists include Joe Painting from Vermont Rail System; Keith Kimball, dairy producer who transports milk (Keith is also Chairman of the NEDPA board); Kendra Hems from NYS Trucking Association and representatives from NY Ag and Markets. We will discuss progress and opportunities moving forward in the transportation sector.
We are also excited to have Nichole Price from the Bigelow Institute give an update on navigating algae as livestock feed from a coast, cow and consumer perspective.
Tuesday evening will feature our reception. Join us for drinks and appetizers as we network with fellow members, speakers and guests from LEAD NY. Dinner will be on your own, we can help make recommendations!
Wednesday February 7 our annual meeting continues. After a continental breakfast, our business meeting will take place. We are excited to welcome back the NY FFA Leadership team to open our meeting ceremony. Trent Loos will be our emcee as well as our keynote speaker at lunch. An amazing speaker bridging the gap between rural and urban America, get a sneak peek of Trent at his website: www.loostales.com
In addition to the business meeting, don’t miss out on the following topics on Wednesday morning:
Discussing dairy markets will be Mike North from Ever.Ag
Dr. Kristan Reed and Dr. Joe McFadden will provide research updates from their programs at Cornell. Both Kristan and Joe are Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance Faculty Fellows.
Legislative updates from Hinman Straub (NY) and Vermont Dairy Producers (VT)
Constance Cullman will provide an update from AFIA - there are many policy and regulation happenings with our feed industry at the federal and regional levels.
The final part of our Annual Meeting is the Awards Luncheon. In addition to Trent Loos giving the keynote talk, we take this time to honor those who have served NEAFA with the Distinguished Service Award and recognize retiring board members.
On behalf of NEAFA, I hope we see you at our Annual Meeting February 6 and 7 in Albany!!!