This week, I will be attending the annual Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) meeting in West Des Moines, IA. For one of the smaller trade associations in on the national stage, MACA does a wonderful job of keeping its members up-to-speed on the latest industry issues.
The organization also packs its yearly gathering with information on topics near-and-dear to the hearts of the agricultural community. Two years ago at the 2008 meeting, the major discussion centered on state legislative issues. In 2009, the speakers at the meeting looked at national legislative issues and the then-stagnant credit market to give attendees some perspective on what both would/could mean for our marketplace. In both these cases, the conversations mostly dealt with topics that had already occurred, focusing on the potential fallout along the way. Given the state of the world’s (and agriculture’s) economy at the time, looking back on how the industry found itself to this place in time made perfect sense.
For its 2010 meeting, I’m happy to report that MACA is shifting gears somewhat, moving from the past to the future. This is reflected in the chosen theme for the gathering, “All Roads Lead to the Future.” Instead of focusing on financial markets or clogged input pipelines, this year’s speakers will look forward. Topics include an in-depth discussion on working with, recruiting and retaining workers identified at members of Generation Y and some perspective on what’s going on with agriculture in China – and what this could mean for U.S. agriculture down the line.
If you are interested in finding out more about MACA or its 2010 meeting, I would encourage you to visit www.maca.org. Also, you can look for some meeting wrap-ups from me in upcoming enewsletters and CropLife magazine.
With all the negative talk about what’s happened to the world these past two years, it will be very nice indeed to hear an entire meeting devoted to our industry’s future. I can only hope this becomes more of the norm in the months ahead as well.
