Agriculture Future of America (AFA) is excited to announce that the 2010 AFA Leaders Conference will be held November 4- 7, 2010 in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s conference theme, selected by our student leadership, Our Voice. Our Vision. is a reflection of the need for collegiate partners and universities to develop and convey both individual and unified voices for the future of agriculture.

The future demands that our agricultural workforce be talented men and women with strong credentials in education, leadership and work experience.  AFA is committed to being a value-added partner in the talent development process of your students. Helping individuals who are passionate about agriculture (or just finding their interest in agriculture), to nurture their talent and build the career skills necessary to complete in a global market place is AFA’s mission.

As AFA prepares to host over 500 students from around the country, we invite your university to take advantage of the opportunity and have students from your university participate. The AFA Leader Development model is intended to compliment a student’s formal academic experience. The conference agenda helps attendees build skills in the areas of personal assessment, career preparation, communication, managing change, and preparing to live and work in a global marketplace. Additionally, students will have the ability to interact with industry leaders on a 3-to-1 ratio, while building a lifelong network with other young people preparing for careers in agriculture.

AFA’s vision is to be a catalyst in the preparation of a new generation of leaders. We ask for your partnership in this endeavor.

In 2010, all AFA student participants, regardless of their funding into the program, will be eligible for pairing with an AFA industry partner. The pairing program allows for organizations to make direct connections with students interested in learning more about their respective organizations.

To learn more about AFA and its mission, please feel free to contact us at (816) 472-4232. We would encourage you to also visit www.agfuture.org to view our annual report and past conference programs. Updates will be made regularly on the 2010 agenda and schedule. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing your students in November at AFA Leaders Conference.

The National ACT Critique and Contest is your opportunity to showcase your creative works and to get feedback from professionals. Entry forms are available by clicking on Critique & Contest link on the home page of this Web site. Entries must be sent to National ACT Vice President Jessica England and must be postmarked by April 2. Contact Jessica for more information: jre26c@mail.missouri.edu or (309) 371-7725.

Please visit the Web site for this year’s National ACT Professional Development Conference, February 25-28 at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas: http://www.tarleton.edu/ACT/act2010conf.html

The Tarleton State University Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow members are pleased to present the 2010 National ACT Professional Development Conference, “ACT…Follow Our Lead!”

http://www.tarleton.edu/ACT/act2010conf.html

Please note that the registration cost remains the same as 2009 ($50), but includes meals for Thursday evening (heavy appetizers), three meals Friday and Saturday (hotel hosted breakfast both mornings), and Sunday morning continental breakfast for Vespers. The host hotels (La Quinta and Holiday Inn Express and Suites) each have all of the double-double rooms blocked for our event and they are $79 per night (about $85 with city tax; please bring your own tax exempt forms).

The Animal Ag Alliance is launching a program called “College Aggies Online” and is a contest for college students involved in ag clubs across the country. Students create personal accounts on our Web site and upload ag-related photos, blogs, videos, etc to share their story of agriculture. We are very excited about the opportunity to help young people speak out about ag online and think this would be a great experience for future ag communicators such as yourself and your members!  There are sponsorship opportunities, too, if you think that would be something you would be interested in!

Here’s a link to program materials: http://animalagalliance.org/current/home.cfm?Category=College_Aggies&Section=Main

A past newsletter about the program: http://eepurl.com/dNiT

This is the log-in to the CAO network, where students create their account: http://aggiesonline.ning.com