The future of the agriculture industry is bright. I can say this with more confidence now after participating in AgriFuture 2011 in Laramie, Wyoming. As many of you know, AgriFuture started as a dream of mine after years of discussions with young people, agriculture industry folks and others throughout the world and I couldn’t be happier with how this idea has materialized over the last two years. Like the first conference in Evanston, the main goal of AgriFuture 2011 was to bring people together. This year, attendance was up and we brought numerous young people, producers, industry members, and decision makers together to discuss and map the future of our industry. This group brought remarkable ideas and insight on how we can collectively get through some of the challenges we all face today in order to reach the immense potential of agriculture. Through incredible speakers, productive brainstorming sessions, a beautiful setting in Laramie, and meaningful conversations, we took a positive and important step toward the future and health of our industry.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those involved with putting this conference together. Their hard work made AgriFuture an event to remember and provided an great stepping stone to the possibilities we all know are out there. I would also like to thank the speakers for taking the time to come and present during the conference. They offered all in attendance some new ways to look at the industry challenges and provided innovative ideas that could be taken home, implemented and built on. And finally, I would like to thank those who attended AgriFuture . Like last year, the interaction between heads of agencies, industry and students was something I was very excited to see. Along with this, the breakout sessions provided a forum for equal footing and valuable input from everyone participating. This type of dialog doesn’t happen on often and it helped move the discussions forward in a constructive and impactful way through unique perspectives.

All in all, I am proud to say that AgriFuture 2011 was a success. I think it is safe to say that all who attended benefited from the conference in one way or another. Hopefully we can all take the valuable information gathered from the conference and start moving agriculture toward the bright future ahead.

Sincerely,
Jason Fearneyhough
Director, Wyoming Department of Agriculture

Visit the AgriFuture Facebook page to see some of the exciting things that happened in Evanston and Laramie as well as information on AgriFuture 2012!

AgriFuture Summary Book (Big File)

If you would like to download individual sections of the summary as separate files, they are available below.

Agrifuture Cover and Contents

AgriFuture Intro and Agenda

AgriFuture Speaker Bios

AgriFuture Presentations

AgriFuture Breakout Groups

AgriFuture Participants and End