“It’s our mission – and our duty – to represent and protect those who produce food, feed, fiber and fuel for the world,” says Karen Yost of Billings, Montana, AAW president. “Our meetings are also an important way we educate legislators and policy-makers.”

Members also heard from ag experts at the midyear meeting, which was held in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

  • Senator Mike Johanns from Nebraska, former secretary of agriculture, addressed the 2012 Farm Bill.
  • Gary Sides, cattle nutritionist, Pfizer Animal Health, addressed misconceptions regarding beef nutrition and production.
  • Damien Schiff, senior staff attorney from the National Litigation Center, spoke as lead attorney in Sackett v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, which concerns whether Clean Water Act compliance orders can ever be judicially reviewable.
  • A panel of animal ag experts answered questions regarding threats to livestock owners and producers. The panel included Mindy Patterson from the Cavalry Group; Andrea Hutchinson, Chain Land and Cattle Co., Canton, Oklahoma; Sarah Hubbart, Animal Agriculture Alliance; and Sue Wallis, Wallis Ranch, Recluse, Wyoming.
  • Rick Sheehy, Lt. Governor of Nebraska, shared the gravity of the lean finely textured beef misconceptions sweeping the media, and the results of the recent news conference held in conjunction with the governors of Kansas, Iowa and Texas, and the lieutenant governor of South Dakota.
  • Melissa Keyes, UN-Lincoln student and member of the Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute spoke on ag advocacy and the use of social media.
  • Joe Gerstandt, diversity consultant, offered perspectives on how to bring authenticity and energy to organizational missions.

For more information on the AAW Fly-In to Washington, D.C., to be held in June, email Karen Yost or call (406) 794-0888.  end_mark

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—From American Agri-Women news release