Commodity Classic Breaks Records in Nashville

More than 4,500 growers and others descended on Nashville, Tenn., for the 2008 Commodity Classic, the combined convention and trade show of the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association and the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Highlights of the event included addresses by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and political analyst Charlie Cook, an exclusive show at the Grand Ole Opry, a sold-out trade show, association meetings, banquets and receptions, and several other significant networking opportunities.

“I believe that agriculture must continue to produce the very foundations that made this country great; that the agrarian lifestyle – the rural lifestyle, the people out there who touch the land – really are the ones who produce the character, the hard work ethics, the understanding of life and death,” Secretary Schafer said at the Classic. “The sense of community, the responsibility for a helping hand and providing for those in need really come from the agriculture community.”

With a total of 4,532 registrants and 145 members of the media in attendance and 847 trade show booths, Commodity Classic reached record-breaking numbers this year. The National Sorghum Producers will take part in Commodity Classic in 2009.