For those involved in agriculture, the last couple of weeks have been a “win some, lose some” kind of time, as there have been important legal cases and new regulations making headlines.
I’ve learned in the news business there is always a story behind the story, and in legal cases, there is always more to legal rulings. Individuals who are anything like me don’t actually read the multi-page rulings, instead, we just look at the headlines and summaries. I leave it to the legal minds to sort out the rulings.
One avenue available to individuals to find out what is happening in the agriculture world is to attend an ag convention, and we are in luck. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association’s (WSGA) Summer Convention is taking place June 7-9 in Riverton.
This is the event to attend for people who want to find out what is going on. The annual WSGA Summer Convention will have speakers who are “in the know” on current issues affecting our industry today.
On June 7, there will be a Young Producers Assembly business meeting and a tour of the National Museum of Military Vehicles, followed by a reception southeast of Dubois. This is quite the museum to see.
On June 8 at 8 a.m., the general session will begin with Keynote Speaker Ashley Hlebinsky, president of The Gun Code, LLC and co-founder of the Firearms Research Center at the University of Wyoming.
Following the annual reports of the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust, Wyoming Beef Council and the Wyoming CattleWomen, Mark Roeber, president of the Public Lands Council and rancher from Paonia, Colo. will speak on public lands issues.
Following this, Andrew Archuleta, state director of Wyoming Bureau of Land Management, will speak.
Committee meetings will follow, and they are a great place to learn about current issues and give input.
The luncheon speaker will be First Lady Jennie Gordon, followed by annual reports by the Young Producers Assembly and WSGA.
More committee meetings will take place for the rest of the afternoon, followed by an evening banquet with speaker Gov. Mark Gordon.
June 9 will start off with a presentation by South Dakota Rancher, Feeder and President of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Todd Wilkinson on national issues affecting livestock producers.
Tanner Beymer, NCBA’s senior director of government affairs, will speak on the future role of traceability, followed by a traceability panel with speakers from WSGA, NCBA, the Wyoming Livestock Board and the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Dr. Aaron Scott.
The next speaker will be the Administrator of Farm Service Agency (FSA) Zach Ducheneaux, followed by a USDA agency panel with State Director of Rural Development Glenn Pauley, State Director of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Jackie Byam and FSA’s Zach Ducheneaux.
The last speaker will be Kathy Wells, academic vice-president of Central Wyoming College on the new Rustler Ag and Equine Complex, followed by an annual awards luncheon.
WSGA invites all interested livestock producers to the convention to visit with other member producers and speakers to learn about today’s issues.
Issues like the BLM proposed conservation rule, the rulings on corner crossings, grizzly bears and the Waters of the U.S. rule are huge issues facing producers and others today. It pays to be informed.
Dennis Sun is the publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, a weekly agriculture newspaper available online and in print. To subscribe, visit wylr.net or call 800-967-1647.
