2009 National Agriculture Awareness Conference (NAAC)New Images of Agriculture

Objectives

Enhance the awareness of agriculture nationally and provincially
Provide a forum for sharing of best practices among federal, provincial and local agriculture awareness program leaders
Develop and strengthen links with industry representatives which will lead to a more coordinated approach regarding agriculture awareness
Become a pivotal event for the sharing of ideas and resources to ensure consistency of agriculture awareness messages across the country
Showcase regional achievements
To determine what is the new image of agriculture

The program was built around perceptions of agriculture with key note speaker Stephen Lewis with a global message
Panels consisting of business, education and media from eastern/western perceptions inside and outside the agriculture world debated their perceptions
Delegates from all nine previous NAAC conferences were invited to attend
Partnership funding of just under $70,000 was recruited from government agencies, corporations and producers
Agriculture in the Classroom held their national meeting in conjunction with the conference to assist with participation

Over 130 attended the Stephen Lewis keynote breakfast presentation
Excellent media draw and attention all three days
Attendance was down from the anticipated numbers of 150 to 80 - based on government freezes on travel (past conference showed 80% of the attendees were from this sector) and H1N1
Conference attendees were impressed with the conference and lineup of speakers
The conference showcased Saskatchewan as a leader in the agriculture industry
Illustrated that Saskatoon can hold national events effortlessly