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Young Farmer Leaders' Conference 2010
Get ready for another exciting Leaders' Conference! This year the Conference will be held on February 26-28, 2010 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI.
The conference offers participants the opportunity to learn more about current agricultural practices, management techniques, and their organization.
This year we are happy to announce Trent Loos as our Keynote Speaker!
Connecting rural and urban America by sharing the positive story of production agriculture has been the mission of Trent Loos since he walked into a radio station in Spearfish, SD in 2000 and asked to do his own program. That dream of this sixth generation United States farmer, often touted as an agricultural activist, came true on January 8, 2001 when "Loos Tales" aired on radio station KMZU in Missouri. Today, 3 million listeners on nearly 100 radio stations in 19 states hear the show every day, along with many who listen online worldwide. In addition to "Loos Tales", Trent now hosts and produces a daily, one-hour radio program entitled "Rural Route," a 1-minute "Illinois Truth Be Told" program, as well as "Loos Trails and Tales", "Dakota Trails and Tales" and "Colorado Trails and Tales," which are available at www.FacesofAg.com. Trent ventured into television and "Loos Tales" can now be seen on Dish Network channel 9411. A blog of his daily adventures can be found on a link from the Faces of Ag website.
Trent travels the country to unearth stories about the people involved in the many different facets of production agriculture and to spread the good word about food producers in the United States. In 2007, Trent traveled to 34 different states to share his passion for an industry he truly believes in and encourage producers to stand up and proudly tell consumers about life on their operations. He utilizes modern technologies like wireless internet on his laptop computer to share his experiences abroad and to "spread the good word" about this age-old industry to his radio and web audience. In 2008, Trent was recognized by West Quest as the "Voice of Rural America."
Trent's most recent endeavor is a joint venture with Feedstuffs magazine called Feedstuffs Foodlink. Foodlink is a video repository of information about issues related to food production. Written Loos Tales columns are printed weekly in Feedstuffs and the High Plains Journal, and reprinted in countless other publications.
Trent was raised on a diversified farm near Quincy, IL and got his start in swine production with a runt pig at the age of five. He expanded his operation, alongside his father, to a purebred seedstock company that supplied boars and gilts to producers across the country. Along the way, he earned an American Farmer Degree in FFA and won numerous awards at state and national swine shows. In 1990, Trent expanded his operation to include purebred Limousin, Simmental and Angus cattle. Horses were added to the mix in the late '90's and now meat goats are a part of the ranching equation.
Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization, was founded in 2003 by Trent, Kelli and a small group of livestock producers who were motivated to convince consumers that the abundant supply of safe, healthy food eaten in this country is produced by real people on farms, not created in "factories". Trent and his wife Kelli enjoy living on the ranch in central Nebraska with their daughters, Libbi, Lindsi and Landri. Their adventures as a family include traveling, training and riding horses, youth sports, 4-H and archery.
