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| NACAA - 252 N. Park Street - Decatur, IL 62523 (217) 424-5144 | |
| nacaaemail@aol.com | www.nacaa.com |
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| NACAA - 252 N. Park Street - Decatur, IL 62523 (217) 424-5144 | |
| nacaaemail@aol.com | www.nacaa.com |
The April edition of "The County Agent" magazine which features valuable information about the upcoming 2008 Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference was mailed 3/27/08. Please keep in mind it takes several days for everyone to receive the magazineâ... but your copy will soon be arriving. In the meantime, if you'd like to register for the meeting, on-line registration is available by connecting to the North Carolina 2008 website - http://www.ncacaa.org/2008ampic/ or by going to http://www.nacaa.com .
On-site registration will be available, but you are highly encouraged to register no later than May 15, 2008 in order to avoid a late registration fee.
April 15th is not only tax day, it is a special day when the Galaxy III registration goes on line. Be one of the first to send in your registration for an educational week experience in Indianapolis, September 15th through the 19th. Be sure to have your housing reservation number before trying to register for Galaxy III at www.ces.purdue.edu/galaxy. Note this is the early bird registration until June 15th.
NACAA Annual Meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, July 13-17, 2008 and
Galaxy III Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, September 15-19, 2008.
Submitted by: Chris Bruynis, NACAA Scholarship Chair & Galaxy Scholarship Committee member.
Whether you are planning on attending one or both conferences, you can donate to the scholarship auction and you will be supporting professional development opportunities, provided by our professional associations for you and your Extension Colleagues. Organizations that will benefit from the auction proceeds at the Galaxy III Conference include: Epsilon Sigma Phi, National Association of County Agricultural Agents, National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, National Association of Extension 4-H Agents, National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals, and Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals.
The Silent and Live Auction at NACAA will take place on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 and the Galaxy auction will be held on Wednesday September 17, 2008 and proceeds from both will benefit our association.
Donation of Items for Auction
Items are suggested to be "something unique" that represents your culture, community or geographic area, hobby or special interest. Donations are encouraged from individuals and state organizations. The higher valued items will be placed in the "live auction", as determined by the auction committee members
Auction Items Registration
Registration of auction items will be held in the same location as conference registration, during designated time periods posted. Registration of auction items will occur on the two days preceding the auction.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the NACAA Scholarship Committee or the Galaxy III Auction facilitator, Jim Hovland, at 262-626-1996. Your individual contribution along with those from your State Associations/Chapters will ensure a successful fundraising effort.
A vital role to the success of NACAA, is having individuals take a leadership role as a Committee Chair or Vice Chair. As we plan to start a new professional development year within the association, several positions within the NACAA committee structure are available for your consideration. At the Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference this July, the voting delegates will approve the slate of chairs/vice-chairs and your name could be on that list... but you need to apply! This is a great opportunity for you to give your time and expertise to YOUR professional improvement association. As a committee chair/vice-chair, you can help NACAA improve our overall communication efforts with the NACAA membership, by helping to promote and execute the professional improvement opportunities. For more information on the current positions available... please contact Professional Improvement Council Chair Tom Benton at t-benton@tamu.edu, Extension Development Council Chair Micheal Heimer at m-heimer@tamu.edu, or Program Recognition Council Chair Mike Hogan at hogan.1@cfaes.osu.edu. The applications for submitting your name for consideration can be found at: http://nacaa.com/committees/.
Dear NACAA members from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the Delmarva Peninsula,
For the 2nd year in a row, NACAA has partnered with Qualisoy to assist in an overall educational program for the promotion of enhanced quality soybeans. We encourage you to take a look at the letter provided by Qualisoy which outlines the 2008 program. Bottom line.....counties selected that hold a field day or agronomy day can receive a $500 sponsorship to be used to help offset the costs of your event - in return, you allow Qualisoy to speak for 5-10 minutes at your event. It's as simple as that. Last year, we had 17 locations that applied - and all 17 were selected. Realizing that the low-linolenic soybeans are fairly new, and may not necessarily be in your upcoming test plots, Qualisoy is still looking for locations that would have future potential for production....so don't let the fact that you haven't planted any your area to date....hold you back from applying. NACAA is receiving funds from Qualisoy to fund the Search For Excellence in Crop Production by assisting in the application process. It's a win..win..for all of us - sponsorship at the national level and local funding for you. Deadline to apply - April 30, 2008.
Please consider the opportunity below.
Greetings!
I'd like to take a minute of your time to discuss QUALISOY and an opportunity that exists for partnership between extension offices, county ag agents and our organization.
QUALISOY is an industry coalition working with all sectors of the soybean value chain to help market and promote enhanced-quality soybeans. Last year QUALISOY successfully introduced a program to sponsor field days and agronomy days with extension agents to discuss enhanced-quality soybean opportunities. That program was a huge success and we are looking to continue and build on that momentum.
The first trait in the QUALISOY pipeline to hit the market was the low-linolenic soybean. Low-linolenic soybeans reduce linolenic acid content and require no hydrogenation, the process that creates trans fats, to provide a highly functional oil. With the development of low-linolenic soybeans, the soybean industry has made a commitment to hear consumer demands and is willing to meet them. Low-linolenic soybeans also represent the first attempt to truly segment the soybean and make it less of a commodity crop. Because low-linolenic soybeans are so new, the industry has made increasing the acreage its most important priority. Since they were first introduced, low-linolenic soybean acres have nearly tripled, with 1.9 million acres contracted in 2007. Large companies like Kellogg's, KFC and others have announced that they will use low-linolenic soybean oil in their products, if the supply is available.
In the next few years, many new traits will be entering the market and this is where you come in. QUALISOY is again offering to partner in a Field Day/Agronomy Day program with the National Association of County Ag Agents. The partnership would be with extension officers and county ag agents in areas where low-linolenic soybeans are available for planting and in counties where new traits such as mid- and high-oleic soybeans are being tested. Ideally, we'd like to partner with agents that already have low-linolenic or increased-oleic soybeans in their test plots or that have test plots within a 25 mile radius of elevators and processors that are handling low-linolenic and other enhanced-quality soybeans. Our goal is to encourage more farmers to consider growing new soybean varieties.
QUALISOY will donate $500 toward the cost of the field day/agronomy day and, in return, would request that a QUALISOY representative be allowed to attend the field day to distribute literature, host a raffle for participants and have a 5 to 10 minute speaking opportunity to talk about enhanced-quality traits. Twenty sites will be selected for the program based on applications. Agents who participated last year may apply again, but preference will be given to new sites/locations.
If this is an opportunity you would like to pursue, please fill out the attached form for consideration. If you have questions about the program, or QUALISOY in general, please give me a call at 314-746-1907 or email me at hethm@osborn-barr.com. Applications are due by April 30, 2008.
Thank you!
Mandy Heth
QUALISOY Staff
www.qualisoy.com
Copy and paste the following into a Word Document
Extension Office Name:
Contact:
Location:
Address for sponsorship check:
Distance from a low-linolenic processing or elevator location:
Do you currently have low-linolenic or increased-oleic soybeans in your test plot?
Are you willing to allow a QUALISOY representative speaking time? If so, how much?
When will your field day/agronomy day take place?
What is the average attendance to your field day events?
Please describe your typical field day event:
Will QUALISOY be able to hold a drawing for a high-quality prize such as a digital camera at your event?
Is a booth appropriate for your event?
Please provide any other pertinent information pertaining to your event below:
*Please return all completed applications to either Scott Hawbaker at FX: (217) 424-5115 or nacaaemail@aol.com or to Mandy Heth at FX: (314) 726-6350 or hethm@osborn-barr.com by April 30th.