What a treat to visit sweet Tennessee for an Alabama Commodity Conference! Eleven board members, young farmers, and their spouses traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 2019 Alabama Commodity Conference. The Conference included a full day of tours, breakout sessions, and a closing dinner with musical guests.
With plenty of choices for different types of tours, stops included a dairy farm, vineyard, hay farm, timber farm, cotton gin, hemp farm, apple orchard, genetics lab, as well as some historical places and markers. It was a full day spent learning and talking one-on-one with farmers. To top it off, you couldn't find a better Tennessee Valley panoramic. It was a beautiful day, perfect for touring.
After the excitement of tours, attendees returned to the Chattanooga Marriott for a special closing dinner with musical guests, The Heart Behind the Music . Before the conference wrapped up, attendees were also able to attend a few seminars focusing on the development and expansion of Alabama agriculture--one seminar being the new state branding program, Sweet Grown Alabama. Sweet Grown Alabama enhances marketing opportunities for Alabama farmers by connecting retailers and consumers to Alabama-grown foods and other agricultural products. The state-wide unveiling followed soon after the conference, but many received the initiative with optimism.
All in all, the Commodity Conference is always a special and significant trip for board members, able to come back to their own farm encouraged and inspired to keep doing what they're doing.
For more pictures of the conference, visit the ALFA facebook page and the JCFF facebook page.
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