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Great Lakes Crop Summit set for January

Coordinators say the Great Lakes Crop Summit offers educational resources for all crop farms.

Natalie Rector spearheads the summit which is coordinated by the Michigan corn, soybean and wheat checkoffs. She says this year’s event will address the many different parts of a farm.

“Farmers have to cover an awful large gamut of topics to carry on their businesses, so we’ve done the same thing with our summit.”

Rector tells Brownfield estate planning, communication, agronomic practices, marketing, consumer trends and new technologies are just some of the topic areas highlighted during the two-day event, January 27-28.

She says living in a peninsula, farmers in Michigan don’t get the chance to learn from out of state presenters very often. Rector says the Great Lakes Crop Summit brings in fresh perspectives.  “We use this as an opportunity to bring in speakers, I think from five different states from across the Midwest, to bring in some new ideas we maybe haven’t heard.” She tells Brownfield, “We also have a trade show of over 60-70 exhibitors that will be there.”

Rector says what’s most beneficial for farmers is the chance to rub shoulders with friends and neighbors from all across the region.

AUDIO: Interview with Natalie Rector (3:37 mp3):