St. Louis hosts conference and trade show will feature experts in grain industry.

November 21, 2018

2 Min Read
NGFA's Country Elevator Conference planned for Dec. 2-4

The National Grain & Feed Assn.'s 2018 Country Elevator Conference & Trade Show will be conducted Dec. 2-4 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Mo. It will feature experts in the global agricultural economy, pioneers of new business models within the grain industry framework, as well as an exclusive roundtable of NGFA member company leaders.

"During the 2018 Country Elevator Conference, sessions will be focused on helping country elevator managers and their companies adapt to a rapidly changing business environment," said Brian Gordon, chief executive officer of Ritzville Warehouse in Ritzville, Wash., who chairs NGFA's Country Elevator Committee. "One of the highlights will include NGFA industry officers taking the stage to discuss the trends influencing markets and their companies in an interactive roundtable format. In addition to the latest merchandising and grain market information, breakout meetings will feature a question-and-answer session with hiring and recruiting experts, managing merchandising risks in an uncertain market environment and blockchain and other digital information technology and how it may affect supply chains."

The trade situation between the U.S. and China and a burgeoning 2018 harvest are having a profound impact on grain basis, carries, trade flows and transportation. Will Secor, an economist in CoBank's Knowledge Exchange Research Division in Denver, Colo., will share how a grain system designed to export more than 1 billion bu. of soybeans per year to China is recalibrating to new trade flows and what that means for grain elevators in 2019.

Current NGFA industry officers will discuss their thoughts on the direction of the U.S. grain, feed, processing and export industry. Roundtable topics will include: perspectives on the most significant changes each has seen in the last five years and what they anticipate for the next five, the role they see the country elevator sector playing in the future and the most important keys for building and maintaining a successful agribusiness in today's market.

Keynote speaker Mitzi Perdue -- an accomplished businesswoman, daughter of the Sheraton Hotels co-founder and widow of Perdue Farms founder Frank Perdue -- will share specific techniques Frank Perdue used to build a powerful and effective company culture, which enabled him to grow his company from a father-son operation to one that now employs 22,000 people, as well as actionable and innovative ideas for inspiring career-long loyalty from employees.

The conference will close with an informative address on a case study of a company that used seemingly insurmountable adversity as a catalyst for new thinking and capturing new opportunities on its way to success.

In addition, the trade show will include more than 100 exhibitors showcasing the latest products and services for the grain, feed and processing sectors.

Learn more about the agenda and register here.

Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Feedstuffs is the news source for animal agriculture

You May Also Like