Ag Industry Promotion Committee Meeting

April 6, 2008

Chamberlain, SD

Present: Brad Sanderson, Jeannie Votava, Julie Walker, Mike Jaspers, Jeremy Freking, Jesse Lewis, Lisa Dorschner.

The following items were discussed:

Ideas to Promote SDARL

• Brochure – electronic version, Google topics linked to it, easy to update, members-only password
• SDARL Forum – place to share ideas, information, feedback, etc.

Ag Promotional Dinner – out in the field, target audiences, regionally located, partner with local groups, i.e. chamber ag committees, etc. media coverage, money to charity or scholarships, possible venues: Sioux Empire Farm Show or Black Hills Stock Show.

Jeanie Votava suggested that we have an elegant SD style, educational dinners (across the state) in the field at a farm, ranch, or other agribusiness. The goal of the project would be to build new bridges and strengthen existing ones. The purpose of the dinners would be to teach leaders from rural and urban communities about agricultural issues and provide faces with names (from the SDARL directory) on particular issues of local interest, while having a fun time socializing in the country.  SDARL alumni would be the educators and there would need to be a great caterer to do the food part of the evening to minimize the work.  The educational topics could be pros and cons of particular controversial issues or whatever information alumni are passionate about sharing. Examples of a target audiences are county officials, state officials, members of other leadership type groups such as the growing medical community in Sioux Falls, teachers, etc.  These types of groups will share what they learn with a large number of other people. The dinner could be simple or extravagant, big or small. It would be up to the alumni in a particular area to organize the dinner and define the specific scope.

Many Chambers have ag appreciation day which might be a great time to have dinner in the country in many of our communities.

My reason for proposing this as an idea is to keep alumni engaged by sharing their wealth of knowledge about agribusiness topics with other leaders that may never get exposed to the topics otherwise. This could only benefit South Dakota and continue the mission of SDARL, which is to enhance the quality of life for all South Dakotans. Since we are all busy folks, I thought this idea would be very doable because it would involve a team effort.

There was some discussion during the committee meeting on having the dinner as a big event and maybe a fundraiser. However, her idea is to keep the dinners small-scale at first so there can be a very personal information exchange. It should also be doable on a local level.

If there is agreement, Jeanie Votava is willing to put together a draft event-planning kit with some very basic guidelines and ideas for review, that could be finalized and posted on the website so any alumni wanting to put together a dinner could go look at it to get started.

Provider Pals – Not only for classrooms, but community education. AITC grant for training and materials for alumni network to implement in state.

Ag United – ways to work together, promotion vs. endorsing, expertise to network with

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Dorschner