Confirmed: Gov. Palin to speak at SD farm event next week

Sarah Palin will be the featured speaker at the Ag PhD Field Day Thursday, July 25, a source inside the Palin camp confirmed Friday morning. The venue for the day long event is the Hefty family farm near Baltic, SD.

What is an Ag field day? It’s like a convention for farmers, except it is not held at a posh hotel in a large city. Instead, Ag field days take place on actual working farms. In this case the farm is the 2500 acre operation owned by Brian and Darren Hefty of South Dakota, where farmers will congregate to learn more about how to raise better crops, hear from a host of expert guest speakers, see new technologies in the field, participate in hands-on demonstrations, and visit with their counterparts from around the country.

The Hefty Brothers, both graduates of South Dakota State University, are among the new breed of smart farmers whom other farmers listen to when they speak. As hosts of the Ag PhD show, which is viewed across the nation on RFD TV, and Ag PhD Radio, which is heard on 41 stations in four Midwestern states, they have an audience of thousands of their fellow farmers. The brothers also own the Hefty Seed Company, which has stores in eight states and sells Hefty’s own brand of soybean seed hybrids and crop protection products.

The brothers’ annual Ag Field Day is a pretty big deal in the Midwestern agricultural community. Last year’s event drew farmers from 24 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces. Farmers work long days and take few vacations, so events like this afford them a rare oppoprtunity to meet face to face and compare notes on how to get the best yield from their crops. In the 21st century, information is the most valuable commodity for modern farmers. Brian and Darren Hefty figured this out years ago, and their combined knowledge has made them successful in the world of agribusiness. The Ag PhD slogan, “Information for Agriculture,” sums it all up. And, speaking of information, more details about this event can be found on the AG PhD website.

Cross-posted at The SPJ and SarahNET

- JP