National Ag Day Dinner

About 170 people attended the Celebration of Agriculture Dinner at the USDA Whitten Building Patio on March 19, 2013.

Attendees were welcomed to the dinner by Orion Samuelson, WGN Radio. The dinner began with a reception for all attendees followed by remarks from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. After his remarks, guests dined on a pork dinner courtesy of the National Pork Producers Council and created by Mark Salter, Chef at the Robert Morris Inn.

Also in attendance and recognized at the dinner were the 2012 Outstanding Young Farmer honorees which included: Brian & Renee Schaal from Wisconsin; Paul & Joy Tallamy from New Jersey; Andrew & Karlie Bowman from Illinois; and Troy & Bobbie Jo Uglem from North Dakota.

Also speaking at the dinner was 2011 Miss America, Teresa Scanlan. Scanlan recently partnered with The Great American Wheat Harvest film documentary project.

Honored at the dinner were the Ag Day Essay Contest video and written essay winners. The theme of this year's essay contest was "American Agriculture: Nourishing Opportunities." The video essay was written and produced by Lebo Molife, a sophomore from Naperville, Illinois.Following the video essay, Whitney Bowman, a senior from Mount Jackson, Virginia, read her essay.

The essay contest is sponsored by: CHS with support from The Council for Agricultural Science & Technology, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, the National Agri-Marketing Assn., McCormick Company, and Farm Progress.

To view the Ag Day Essay contest winners visit, http://www.agday.org/media/pr11.php.