Guest Blogger Emma Likens Attends the AFA Animal Institute in Kansas City

I grew up helping my dad on the farm and showing hogs at the county fair every summer. I was active

in FFA during high school, where I learned how to process a pork loin as part of an ag demonstration team. Did I mention I also love bacon? Hogs are my background, and my knowledge of other areas of the agricultural industry is rather limited. As an agricultural journalism major, it’s important for me to have a basic understanding of all areas. So when given the chance to attend the AFA Animal Institute in Kansas City, I looked forward to learning about other sectors of the livestock industry.

The Institute started with a welcome and overview of the animal health corridor from Kim Young, Vice President of Bioscience Development at the Kansas City Area Development Council. We also heard advice and insight from an executive panel, consisting of Albrecht Kissel, President and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., Daryl Pint, CEO of Ceva Biomune, Scott Bormann, Vice President US Commercial Operations of Merck Animal Health, and Kostas Kontopanos, US President of Hill’s Pet Nutrition. We wrapped up the night with the Animal Industry World Café, which was a series of roundtable discussions to help students get to know each other and better understand issues related to animal health.

The next morning we split up into groups to visit animal health related businesses within the Kansas City area. My group visited Fleishman-Hillard for a delicious bagel breakfast, U.S. Premium Beef, Dairy Farmers of America for lunch and finished our tours at Ceva. These tours were a great way to learn more about each of these supporters of the animal health industry and pick their brains about current and future issues within the industry. We also were able to learn about internship programs and job opportunities, which was my favorite part.

Industry tour highlights include:

• Fleishman-Hillard considers themselves “farm to fork specialists.” They work where the food and agriculture worlds overlap. This is where I want my future career to be as well.
• U.S. Premium Beef promotes all American beef products, including leather.
• Dairy Farmers of America owns several processing plants, but they don’t just make ice cream and milk. They make salsa too!
• Ceva is the third largest producer of poultry vaccinations. As their CEO, Daryl Pint, shared with us after our tour, “Horizons are limitless for those who fear less about the risk of failure than the opportunity of success.”

All the groups joined back together at the American Royal Complex for a reception and dinner. The keynote speaker was, Forrest Roberts, CEO of the National Cattelmen’s Beef Association, who spoke about building trust and growth. While his examples were specific to the beef industry, his words were something we could all learn from. He encouraged us to think about what we want our legacy and impact to be, and to “do everything you can with everything you have and learn from it.”

The final day of the Animal Institute featured speakers who helped us apply what we learned during our previous panels and industry tours. Kevin Murphy from Food Chain Communications spoke about the food morality movement, and how activist groups are using emotion to sway consumers. He encouraged us as students to become the moral defenders of agriculture on our campuses and in our communities. Agriculture has a great story to tell, based on morals and ethics, and it’s our job to share it.

We then heard from a panel of experts on niche marketing in agriculture, hosted by Julie Mettenburg, the Executive Director of the Kansas Rural Center. The panel consisted of Joe Bichelmeyer, owner of Bichelmeyer Meats, Melissa Reed, Marketing and Plant Manager at Hildebrand Farms Dairy, Dr. Kerby Weaver, DVM at Wilhite & Frees Equine Hospital, and Ken Williams, Director of Food Chain Coordination for the National Pork Board. Together, the panelists helped paint a picture of all the different ways agriculture can meet consumer demands through niche marketing.

The institute was a great way to learn about other areas of the livestock industry outside the classroom. It was also a good opportunity to expand both my professional and peer network, and meet other students just as passionate about agriculture as I am, many of which I’ll see again at AFA Leaders Conference in November.  

About the Author: Emma Likens is an AFA Campus Ambassador who is finishing her sophomore year at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln studying Agricultural Journalism.

About AFA

AFA’s mission is to create partnerships that identify, encourage and support outstanding college men and women who are preparing for careers in the agriculture and food industry. With student participation increasing 70 percent in the last five years, AFA leader development programs have impacted 9,000 college leaders and young professionals from more than 200 colleges and universities throughout 43 states since its inception in 1996. AFA has awarded more than $8 million in academic and leader development scholarships. For more information about AFA, visit www.agfuture.org or contact Megan Karlin at megan.karlin@agfuture.org.