By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

One of the best things about traveling abroad is returning home to the greatest country on earth.

Only Americans can say that. There are 312 million of us, which leaves about 6.6 billion others who can only dream about it. Be it ever so humble, right?

I trust all of you made it home safely and got a chance to catch up on some well- deserved rest. Nothing like sleeping in one’s own bed to really give the body a chance to recover.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

When Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin invented PowerPoint in 1984 they hoped it would replace its dull predecessors, the overhead projector and transparencies. PowerPoint, with its interactive capabilities incorporating graphics, sound and motion, was supposed to captivate audiences, enabling them to better retain the information they were seeing and hearing.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations

Let’s begin with women in agriculture. Over the last 24 years more than three dozen women have been a part of the LSU AgLeadership Development Program. Over the years these women have been an active, effective voice for the state’s farmers and ranchers. Some are full time production farmers, others work in ag support industries, but all have made a commitment to furthering the success of Louisiana agriculture.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

When the LSU AgLeadership Development Program was conceived 24 years ago its mission was as complex as it was simple: develop farm leaders. Those three words over the last two-and-a-half decades have come to define the program and its success. But what makes Class XII different is that it’s what I call something of a legacy class.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

One of the downsides to many of these AgLeadership tours is the time it takes to get from one farm visit to the next. The upside is that the hours spent on the tour bus, or waiting for the next flight, gives me an opportunity to visit with some of the class members to find out more about them, their families and their farming operations.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

What if you had the capacity to produce high-yielding cattle, wheat, corn and soybeans, but had to wait for the government to give you permission to sell your crops? That’s kind of the predicament Alejandro Calderon finds himself in. It seems Argentina, in an effort to keep food prices low to its citizens, mandates that corn and wheat farmers only market their crop as part of the domestic food supply.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

Buenos Aires is one of the largest cities in South America. And as the largest city in Argentina, you’d expect it to have a McDonald’s. But would you expect it to have an English-speaking customer’s only line?

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

If four hours in an airport was the same as four hours in a dentist’s chair, no one would every worry about missing a flight.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

One of the things I enjoy most about my job is being able to give back to the farmers and ranchers who’ve given so much to me over my 26 years with the Farm Bureau.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

There’s a prevailing thought among some U.S. farmers that American agriculture isn’t competitive when it comes to labor. China has tens of millions of $2 a day farm laborers to work its crops. In Thailand, India, Vietnam and similar countries it’s the same thing. But on Thursday AgLeadership Class 12 found that cheap labor has done little to improve Chilean rice production.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

Chile’ knows fruit. It’s pretty keen on vegetables too. The first thing you learn about Chile’ is that for a small country it has big ambitions. A leader in world fruit production, the country is the fourth largest supplier of wine globally and ships hundreds of millions of boxes of fruit, worth hundreds of billions to the U.S. every year.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

After an uneventful eight hours in the air, LSU AgLeadership Class 12 touched down at 6:55 a.m. Santiago time (3:55 a.m. CST) in the capital city of Chile. While a few class members were able to sleep on the plane, many had a restless, fitful night. And after a brief check in at the Torremayor Hotel, it was on to the U.S. Embassy to begin our 10-day tour of South America.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

If there’s one thing Louisiana farmers know about, it’s drought. Last year Louisiana farmers and ranchers lost more than $250 million in crop and livestock production to cracked soil and parched pastures. Weather is and always will be the dominant factor in the profitability of global agriculture.

Read More

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

Any journey of exploration must always begin with a plan. And a suitcase that weighs 50 pounds or less. I trust you’re all making final preparations for our departure to Chile and Argentina Jan. 23. It’s going to be a great trip and I’m looking forward to traveling with each of you.

Read More