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Big Ag, Small Ag: Tale of Two Conferences

By caheidelberger on 2011.06.23

I see two major rural development workshops here in South Dakota on the summer calendar. The first, the Governor's Ag Development Summit, takes place in Sioux Falls next week, July 28 and 29. The second, the MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success Conference, takes place in Huron July 26 and 27. Both events promise to be useful, but in very different ways and to very different constituencies.

Governor Dennis Daugaard has spoken of his desire to create "small-town specialists" to promote rural economic development. But his Department of Agriculture's agenda for his Ag Development Summit furthers my dread that the Governor suffers a disconnect between that noble concept and a prevailing Butzian "get big or get out" philosophy on agriculture.

Almost all of the speakers at GADS appear to have bought their way onto panels with corporate sponsorships. Bank executives and speakers from Monsanto, Bayer, and Pioneer will ensure a full day of corporate backslapping and Big Ag messaging. South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Walt Bones says the point of the event is to amplify "agriculture's unified message"—unified, apparently, behind big money. The only "family farmer" on the agenda is Congresswoman Kristi Noem, who will surely elaborate on her votes to protect farm subsidies for rich ag-industrialists like herself.

If Governor Daugaard has any small-town specialists in training, the only thing they'll learn at next week's GADS is what they're up against.

Small-town specialists will profit much more from MarketPlace, brought to us by the South Dakota Farmers Union and the Center for Rural Affairs, whose involvement gives instant credibility to organizers' statement that the event will focus on "energizing small businesses and rural communities."

The Huron event is not about top-down industry messaging: it's about grassroots education. The MarketPlace agenda offers a wide range of practical workshops for farmers and other rural entrepreneurs:

  • Discover Your Entrepreneurial Style
  • Marketing Across the Digital Divide
  • Sales for Everyone
  • Telecommuting: The 21st Century Office
  • Rural Development in the 2012 Farm Bill
  • Direct Marketing to Schools and Cafeterias
  • Community-Based Local Food Systems
  • Community-Driven Business Development Strategies

Marketplace ($59 early registration, $99 after July 19) actually costs more than the GADS (summit free, banquet $25). But you get what you pay for... or in the case of GADS, the state and corporate spin-sters get what they pay for.

Published in South Dakota

caheidelberger

9 Comments

  1. Steve Sibson 2011.06.23

    Cory,

    Both events are about promoting "Big Ag". Your analysis of "Big Ag" is correct. You just need to apply it to Obamacare and "Big Insurance". In case you don't know, the SDGOP is also quietly and deceptively implementing Obamacare. [SB38 & SB43]

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.06.23

    Steve, show me the evidence that the Huron event is promoting Big Ag. Show me the sponsors and speakers from the ag-industrial complex.

  3. Steve Sibson 2011.06.23

    Cory, The Farmers Union is a collectivist organization. This is another example of why it is so important to understand that both parties are for "Big Government".

  4. Steve Sibson 2011.06.23

    Here is their ideology Cory:

    Last night Melanie Squires, National Farmers’ Union South West regional director, said she welcomed calls for greater clarity and possible strategies on a worldwide scale.

    She said farmers would need to produce considerably more food to meet demand from a growing population and the region’s farmers wanted to play their part in achieving that goal.

    Mrs Squires said: “The Government’s Foresight report, which set out the challenges for global food production, was a wake-up call and pointed to the need to take urgent and co-ordinated action.

  5. larry kurtz 2011.06.23

    So, give us a solution, Steve.

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.06.23

    Ms. Squires is not on the agenda for MarketPlace. And the focus of the program appears to be all about local business and production. I suppose John and Scott Meyer may say something about reaching customers worldwide via the Internet; that hardly makes them Big Ag globalists. I still await evidence that the SDFU conference is equivalently inimical to small farmers as the governor's ag-industrial conference.

  8. Steve Sibson 2011.06.24

    Larry, the solution is less government, the source of big business.

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