The 2010 Commodity Classic was a success! For news from the event, please click here!!

To view and purchase professional photographs from the 2010 Commodity Classic, click here and select the NAWG event.

More than 4,000 people including more than 1,300 growers made their way to Anaheim, Calif., during the first week of March for the events associated with the 2010 Commodity Classic.

Classic is the annual convention and trade show of the corn, soybeans, sorghum and wheat industries, and a place for much of the agriculture community to gather and discuss everything from the latest equipment and technology to pressing policy issues.

The National Association of Wheat Growers has been a part of Classic for four years and has its annual policy meetings in conjunction with the convention.

Some wheat highlights from the 2010 event include:

NAWG again served as the principle sponsor of the Wheat Industry booth in the Classic trade show, which this year included NAWG, U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Foods Council and highlighted an important wheat product often over looked when discussing a crop that provides 20 percent of the world’s food calories – pasta. More here.

The NAWG Foundation sponsored two learning center sessions, including one on climate change, held Friday (presentation here), and one on the fertilizer market, held Saturday.

Friday’s general session was headlined by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and grower-leaders of the Commodity Classic sponsoring organizations. As part of the general session show, then-NAWG President Karl Scronce of Klamath Falls, Ore., joined moderator Mark Mayfield on stage to discuss wheat priorities, focusing on the importance of a robust trade agenda and research and technology work. He also participated in a roundtable discussion with the other sponsoring association presidents about sustainability in agriculture and how to communicate better with the urban populace. More here.

NAWG policy committees meeting at Commodity Classic focused their discussions on farm bill programs and timelines for development of 2012 Farm Bill concepts. More here.

In media interviews and other outreach, trade was a top wheat industry priority, with representatives from NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates taking the convention as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of more open trade to policy makers and growers. More here.

And, at its meeting Saturday, the NAWG Board of Directors elected Kansas wheat producer Jerry McReynolds as the next NAWG president. More here.