As a member of MidAmerica CropLife Association (MACA) and a member of the Industry Communications Committee through MACA, he was encouraged to participate in the CAN program. Mr. Quade enjoys the opportunities he has while being an Ambassador. He has a long term interest in public affairs and agriculture.

During his presentations, he hopes that young students understand that agriculture is important to them because it is where food comes from and an industry they may someday be working in.

Mr. Quade feels that others should consider becoming an ambassador with CropLife Ambassador Network because it has a good story of modern agriculture and it needs to be told. The positive story of agriculture needs to be told to kids. His advice to an agriculturalist that is considering becoming an ambassador is to “jump in the pool, the water is fine!”

Become an Ambassador today!

Mr. Mertens is influenced to be an Ambassador because he says that “so many people don’t understand agriculture and this is an opportunity to share agriculture.” He loves what he gets to do everyday and he loves agriculture. During his presentations, he wants kids to understand that agriculture is important to them.

Mr. Mertens is an employee with Monsanto and states that they are very supportive of his involvement with CAN. They promote the business they are involved in. He feels that others should become an Ambassador because it is important to share with those that are not involved in agriculture. He states that “we have to tell our story, everyone in agriculture should become a spokesperson.”

Being an Ambassador is “a lot of fun,” said Mr. Mertens. “It is fun to work with kids and see the light-bulb go off.” In closing, Mr. Mertens said that being an Ambassador with CropLife Ambassador Network is “one of the coolest things I get to do.”

Each year, he does about 4 to 5 Ambassador visits per year. His next Ambassador visit is set for November 18 with 5th graders presenting “Farming & the Water Cycle” in Troy, Missouri at Main Street Elementary School.

Many years ago, he was attending a Quarterly Meeting for Mid America CropLife Association and found out about the CAN and decided to get involved. His influence to be an ambassador is that he would have liked to be a grade school teacher.

In presenting to students, Mr. Strohmaier said that kids need to know where their food comes from and people need a better appreciation for how big the United States is in Agriculture because almost everything they eat or wear comes from agriculture and they may at some point in the future be working in agriculture.

He feels that other agriculturalists should become an ambassador to help give balance to young kids about food production and its safety because of modern agriculture. His advice to anyone considering becoming an ambassador is the reward is ten times greater than the effort put into it and it is personally rewarding.

• Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
• Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
• Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
• Worldwide, bats are vital natural enemies of night-flying insects.
• Around 1.1 Billion pounds of Pumpkins were produced in the United States in 2009.
• More than 93% of children, under the age of 12, will go out trick-or-treating
• 86% of Americans decorate their house for Halloween
• 90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids’ Halloween trick-or-treat bags
• Pumpkins are a fruit that originated in Central America.
• 90% of the pumpkin is made up of water.
• The yellow-orange flowers that bloom from a pumpkin vine are edible.
• Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state in the country. It harvests nearly 12,300 acres of fruit.
• Halloween also is recognized as the 3rd biggest party day after New Year’s and Super Bowl Sunday.

Mr. Rutherford discovered CAN through friends and members of Mid America CropLife Association (MACA). MACA made a presentation about CAN and becoming an ambassador and Tom decided to get involved as he had many friends that were already involved. After getting involved, he decided he enjoys it, likes working with kids and finds being an ambassador very rewarding.

One reason he likes being an ambassador is because he gets to help influence kids that live in the city that may one day be working in agriculture. Last year, he did 10 ambassador visits throughout the year. Fellow company employees are also ambassadors for CAN.

As an ambassador, Tom feels that others should become ambassadors because being in the agriculture industry, “we don’t ever want ag to become it’s own island.” His advice to agriculturalists that are considering to become an ambassador is to do a visit or call an ambassador. Mr. Rutherford plans to continue being an ambassador for CAN every year.

Mr. Sullivan discovered CAN from a fellow co-worker several years ago. The co-worker, Doug Mertens who is still currently an Ambassador was active with CAN while working with Mr. Sullivan. Naturally, Ray decided to see what CAN and being an Ambassador was all about. After retiring, he decided to get involved as an Ambassador. Before retiring, he spent 40 plus years in research and product development with a seed company.

On average, he presents to 10 or more schools in a year. His influence to be an Ambassador is simple, kids need to know what is going on with farming and agriculture. He feels that students need to understand that farming is more than just planting and harvesting. He admits, that he “enjoys it” as he “likes to see kids faces light up when they had no idea about something” while presenting at Ambassador Visits.

His reason that others should become an ambassador is because the “ones that are in agriculture have real life experience and if they don’t (then) there’s no one out there that does to help do away with misunderstandings and misconceptions.” For those that are considering becoming an Ambassador should call and talk with the CAN program coordinator, Janet Braun, visit the CAN website or talk with other Ambassadors and find out what CropLife Ambassador Network is really about.

Mr. Case became aware of CAN while attending a National Sales meeting for his job where the National Vice President of Sales challenged all employees to get involved with Mid America CropLife Association (MACA). Following the sales meeting, Dave decided to look into the speaking opportunities that MACA and CAN had available. With nothing to loose, he decided to get started.

His first CAN presentation as he states “was a lot of fun” in the Columbus area many years ago. He admitts, “making sure you are prepared before your visits can sometimes be challenging” but he enjoys it. During his presentations, he hopes that young students will understand the challenges faced by the agriculture world and that they don’t take the food supply for granted. He also presents to them that here in America, we do have a safe food supply and farmers work hard to uphold that.

While presenting, he tries to make sure kids are aware of how easy it is for them to get involved and help with conservation by not polluting our environment and to recycle and not to waste. He also informs them of various types of careers in agriculture and that you do not have to grow up in agriculture to some day have a career in ag.

Mr. Case is the Key Accounts Manager for Seed Treatments with Bayer Crop Science. Bayer Crop Science is a big supporter of CAN and is how he became aware of CAN. Dave encourages fellow co-workers to get involved in CAN to help educate kids about agriculture and to inform them of things they don’t know about. The kids ask a lot of questions during the Ambassador Visits and Dave states that he loves the questions.

Mr. Case has a big appreciation for teachers as he has a strong educational family background and he enjoys speaking to different groups. He currently does Ambassador Visits to about six schools per year in Ohio and Michigan.

Tom Rutherford was the featured guest ambassador. Tom was the 2010 CAN Ambassador of the Year. He has an agricultural background consisting of Botany and Turfgrass Science. Tom works with Oil-Dri Corporation and lives in Chicago, Illinois. During the conference, he shared his ambassador experiences and things that have worked well in the past.

CAN Program Coordinator, Janet Braun led the conference. Janet showed those tuned in the CAN presentations that are available online and used for the classroom presentations. Two of the presentations, “Agriculture’s Abundance” and “Feeding Planet Earth” were updated in August and are available online.

Advice and experiences from previous ambassador visits were shared during the conference.

• Carrots were purple before the 17th century
• Rice Krispies Snap, Crackle and Pop as cold milk is added, the temperature change causes air pockets to fracture
• The color of the twist tie on bread packaging means the day of week the bread was made
• The color orange was named after the fruit around the 16th century
• Refried beans are actually only fried once
• Popsicles were invented by an 11 year old
• Snickers candy bar was named after a horse
• Popcorn pops because of water that is stored in small circle of soft starch in each kernel
• It takes 250 cherries to make a cherry pie
• Americans eat almost 30 pounds of lettuce a year
• Blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and fiber
• Bananas are about 99.5% fat free
• Apples are high in fiber

Thus, some reasoning for creating the CropLife Ambassador Network VIDEO CONTEST with the topic of “Modern Agriculture is…” With limited guidelines for creating these short videos, this is a way that YOU can share your thoughts, views and opinions on modern agriculture while at the same time, helping to educate the general public about agriculture.

The deadline for Video Contest submissions is November 1, 2011. Video may be up to 5 minutes in length and may be used by CropLife Ambassador Network for educational purposes. Winners to be announced by November 30, 2011. The top 3 winners will receive cash awards. 1st place – $500, 2nd place – $300, 3rd place – $200.

A video may be submitted in one or more of these categories:
Modern Agriculture is…
1. Important to Everyone. Depict how modern agriculture affects our daily lives.
2. Cutting Edge.  Highlight agricultural technology used on your farm.
3. Sustainable.  Highlight actual modern practices used on your farm to ensure sustainability.
4.  A Way of Life.  Show off your way of life! What is your farm’s history, how has farming changed over the generations of your family, what crops you grow, how much land you farm, yields, daily activities, etc.  Be creative!

For more Video Contest information and guidelines, please go to http://bit.ly/pDq2aP.