The 2015 NAMA Boot Camp is a great way to cap off your summer. Boot Camp will take place on August 18-20; mark your calendars now so you don’t miss it!

The Hotel:

The Sheraton Crown Center in Kansas City, MO. The room rate is $137.00 and the cut-off date is August 3, 2015. Call the hotel to make a reservation, (816) 841-1000. The online reservation website is now available, click here to reserve your room today!

2015 Boot Camp Rates:  REGISTER NOW!

Schedule-At-A-Glance:

Iowa NAMA went behind the scenes at the John Deere Des Moines Works plant to see how Deere’s biggest machines, specifically the different types of cotton pickers, are brought to life in some of the most modern and efficient factories in the world.  All of the guests went on a riding tour to see the many buildings and watch the big machines come to life, from the cutting of the metal parts and frames, to painting the parts with the famous green that we see out in the fields. It was amazing to see the huge machines come to life – seeing the parts go on and the engine start up then drive off.  It was also interesting to learn the history of how John Deere started making these machines and other ones in the Des Moines Works plant.

Following that, attendees heard about the history of the area where the plant grounds are, which are where World War II era bombs were made for the war. They had 30 guests, including some from the Minnesota NAMA chapter, that joined in the fun.

On May 14, more than a dozen Mid-America members from Indiana and Kentucky stepped up to the plate and engaged in productive dialogue about how to reinvigorate the chapter!  Programming was outlined into the beginning of 2016, with volunteers chosen to execute the planning for each.  In addition, leader positions were filled by those in attendance.  Plans were also made to offer more support to the student chapters.  Unfortunately, some members had already left before a photo was taken to commemorate the afternoon.

Midsouth’s May meeting backdrop was the world-famous World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, a part of the Memphis in May International Festival. Their very own Kelli Polatty, a member of the legacy Swine & Dine Cooking Team, hosted the MidSouth NAMA group on Thursday, May 14th. Kelli has been a member of this team for 17 years, and was nice enough to step away from her team duties to entertain our NAMA friends.

Everyone on the team has a job to do, the most important one being the pit master.  Carl Pfeifer has been one of the team’s BBQ pit masters for over 30 years.  Carl took the group behind the scenes to show off the team’s brand new custom cooker, and walk through the whole cooking process.  Without giving away too many trade secrets, the Swine & Dine’s winning pork shoulder is based on cooking temperature, seasonings, and timing of when things are seasoned during the 17 hour cooking process.

Along with their new $12,000 custom cooker, Carl was also boasting about the new technology that the team was using this year.  A new “Guru” website application allows him to monitor the temperature of the meat from his hotel room.  If the temperature rises too high, he can turn on a fan with a click of a button.  “It’s a new level of cooking” Carl said.  He added, “It’s all about consistency. Consistency of meat, preparation and temperature yield a consistent product”.  This concept was immediately familiar to the fellow agri-marketers, not so different from Precision Ag!

It was a good end to the Midsouth NAMA year.  Twenty-four members and guests were in attendance.  And the pulled pork was to die for!

The Agri-Business Educational Foundation would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the 2015 ABEF Sponsors. ABEF had much success at the 2015 Agri-Marketing Conference with the help of these sponsors. Check out the list of all 2015 ABEF Contributors below.

FOUR STAR
John Deere
Monsanto

THREE STAR
GROWMARK, Inc.
Land O’Lakes
Meredith Agrimedia
CHS
FMC

TWO STAR
Bader Rutter

ONE STAR
Agri Marketing Magazine
Bayer CropScience
BCS Communications
Beck Ag
Bock & Associates, Inc.
broadhead.
Center for Food Integrity
Charleston|Orwig, Inc.
DTN/The Progressive Farmer
Farm Journal Media
Hay & Forage Grower
Hoard’s Dairyman
J.L. Farmakis
Martin | Williams
MorganMyers
Novus International
Osborn Barr
Paulsen
Readex, Inc.
RFD-TV
Rhea + Kaiser
Rural Radio
Vance Publishing

ABEF would also like to thank all those who signed up to be a part of the 2015 Century Club and those who donated items to this year’s Silent Auction.

New Member List:
Welcome our new members for March and April 2015:

AT LARGE
Andrea Schafer
Dan Kuchma
Jack Meli
James  Robson
Usman Khalid

BADGER
Claire Haupt
Dean Potratz
Janay Wittek
Mark Halton
Melanie Fitzpatrick
Mike Frederick
Patrick Smith
Ryan  Blasiak

CAROLINAS/VIRGINIA
Ashley Collins
Ashley Holland
Brady Spangenberg
Deborah Hamlin
Hector Badillo
Kim Tart
Kristin Hessler
Lenise Phillips
Sabina Christensen

CHESAPEAKE
Jasmine Shanti
Richard Rateau

CHICAGO
Daniel Frohnen
Erin Skly
Grant Cassiday
Hyaat Chaudhary
James Arnold
Sara Fritz
Scott Lemke

CORNHUSKER
Bridget Bear
Erika Hill
Greg Chapek
Philip Hohman
Reed Nelsen
Shala Graeve

EASTERN
John Ecke
Kelly Hoogeveen
Kristie Schmitt
Kristin Davie

FLORIDA
Bob Guerriere
Donna Watson
Sabrina Hill

GATEWAY
Brian Deverman
Jennifer Brickler
Kielly Jewell
Laura Rustmann

GREAT PLAINS
Jackie Weldon
Tom Brush

HEARTLAND
Hailey Fishel
Laurie Underwood
Michelle Peuster
Stacey Cole

IOWA
Abby Bottenfield
Caitlin Beedle
Joe Boswell
Katie Lovan
Lindsay Black
Matt Snyder
Sarah Hemann
Traci Rodemeyer
Zach Quick

MID-AMERICA
Alanna Bouhl
Anjuli Doyle
Darren Foster
Janet DeLaney
Lauri Rush
Mark Drexelius
Nancy Stephen
Sarah Aubrey
Susan Ellis
Timothy Kerstein
Whitney Vredenburgh
Will Cauthen

MIDSOUTH
Andy Bolton
Caroline Huffines
Dian McGuire
Stephanie Bowen

MISSOURI-KANSAS
Adrienne  Todd
Andrew Posch
Brandi Hamilton
Brooke Kisker
Cheryl Cook
Jena Mealy
Jenna Butler
Lara Sheeley
Raven Hubbard
Sean  O’Hare

NORTH CENTRAL
Adriane Marten
Amanda Renneke
Anthony  Robinson
Ashley Cooper
Brian Nosan
Heather Johnson
Jake Gibbs
Jenny Kay
Josh Nelson
Karen Brown
Kendra Joseph
Mike Dobies
Randy Gunderson

NORTHERN PRAIRIE
Kari Spaan
Mindy Johnson
Shawna Aakre

OHIO
Alison Rauchwarter
Bill Beaver
Morgan Niedermier
Sal Settecase
Stuart Yensel

ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Brittany Schaneman

SOUTHEASTERN
Kelley Mundrick
Mitzi McCormack

SOUTHWEST
Jason Franken
Kelli  Fulkerson

WESTERN PACIFIC
Bill Hume
Bruce Freeby
Dan Speakman
David Baker
Jonathan Koenig
Ray Speakman