More than 7,800 farmers, industry leaders, commodity groups and ag exhibitors participated in Commodity Classic 2022 last week in New Orleans.  

The show is the largest farmer-led agriculture and education event in the United States, featuring the latest innovations, equipment and insights to advance the agriculture industry and support farmers and growers.  

“AEM is proud to partner with commodity groups to host Commodity Classic and bring our member companies to share the latest innovations that support the ag industry and help farmers succeed,” said AEM Senior Vice President Curt Blades. “The energy and excitement of being back together in-person was felt throughout the show, and the face-to-face interactions provided a perfect opportunity to make lasting and meaningful connections.” 

As part of the show’s general session, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave the keynote address and shared the priorities for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his thoughts on trade, climate and fertilizer, among other topics. In addition, AEM’s Ag Sector Chair and Senior Vice President of Kubota Todd Stucke represented equipment manufacturers on the main stage and talked about the importance of technology and data, as well as their impact on OEMs and end users alike.  

Prior to the General Session, Vilsack met with AEM President Megan Tanel to learn more about AEM priorities and what the association is doing to support the agriculture industry. 

Some of the additional highlights of AEM’s involvement with Commodity Classic include our partnership with the Agriculture Electronics Foundation (AEF) to bring the North American Plugfest 2022 to the show, featuring a first-ever demonstration of the High Speed ISOBUS that offers greater bandwidth and faster connection speed that will provide new opportunities for innovation and interoperability. The fifth annual Davidson Prize for ag innovations was also announced by AEM and ASABE at the show.

Also, AEM held steering committee meetings with AEF, the AEM Ag Technology Leadership Group, and the AEM Sprayer Leadership Group and participated in an executive panel discussion with commodity group leaders.  

Commodity Classic will be held next March 9-11, 2023, in Orlando. For more information, visit www.commodityclassic.com.

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