More than 250 dairy producers gathered for the Missouri Dairy Grazing Conference, held in Springfield, Missouri July 6-8. Originally scheduled to be in Joplin, Missouri, the conference had to be moved when a devastating tornado struck Joplin in May.

Junior, Kansas State University Marketing & Communications Intern with Accelerated Genetics Based in Baraboo, Wisconsin Background Q. In what area are you pursuing a degree? I have a double major in agricultural communications & journalism and animal sciences & industry, with a minor in leadership studies. Q. What is your agricultural background? I grew up on a diversified grain and livestock farm in northwest Indiana. In addition to a commercial hog operation, my younger brother and I showed beef cattle across the country. We then began our own business - RJ Show Cattle, and market a few select club calves each year. Q. What previous internship positions have you held? In 2009, I interned for the K-State Youth Livestock Programs in Manhattan, Kansas. Here I helped plan and execute various youth livestock events, including an overnight camp for high school students, the K-State Animal Sciences Leadership Academy.

A native New Yorker, Ron St. John came to North Central Florida in 1986, and has blazed a trail of innovation and expansion in dairy farming ever since. St. John lives in Trenton, Florida. He owns five dairy farms, including two in Georgia, and has a new one under construction in Florida. As a result of his dairy farming success, St. John has been selected as the 2011 Florida winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. St. John now joins eight other state winners from the Southeast as finalists for the award. The overall winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Georgia.

Dairy farmer Mac Pate of Maryville, Tennessee, is 85 years young. Though he has slowed down some in recent years, he still has the drive and energy that helped him develop and maintain an outstanding dairy farm. As a result of his long success as a dairy farmer, Pate has been selected as the 2011 Tennessee winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. Pate now joins eight other state winners from the Southeast as finalists for the award. The overall winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Georgia. Milk production is excellent, now at about 27,000 pounds of milk per cow per year, down a bit from a peak of 29,000 pounds. At the peak, his 200 cows produced 5.8 million pounds per year. “For two months, our cows produced more than 100 pounds of milk per cow per day,” he adds.

David Areias was recently named Ruan Transportation Management Systems’ 2010 Driver of the Year after being selected from a pool of more than 3,700 professional drivers. Areias, who operates out of Ruan’s Turlock, California, terminal, and lives in Los Banos, California, has been with Ruan since 2006 and has logged more than 2 million miles during his 40 years as a professional truck driver. Areias said he was surprised and honored to be nominated for the recognition because Ruan has many exceptional drivers. “You learn something new every day,” Areias said about being a professional truck driver. “Safety is my No. 1 concern. I want to go home to family every night.”