Strain to open conference
Jan 22, 2009 9:36 AM
The Monday, Jan. 26, opening session of the National Conservation Cotton & Rice Conference in Marksville, La., will have “three great speakers this year,” said said John LaRose, publisher, MidAmerica Farm Publications.
The speakers are: Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain; Berrye Worsham, president and CEO of Cotton Incorporated; and Dwight Roberts, president and CEO of US Rice Producers Association.
Strain was elected commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry in 2007. Strain earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1983 from Louisiana State University.
He served two terms in the office of State Representative in House District 74. While in the Louisiana Legislature, Strain served on the Agriculture Committee and chaired the Legislative Rural Caucus, the largest legislative caucus in Louisiana.
Committed to ethics and a high level of service to the public, Strain’s goal is “to provide effective, efficient programs to the farmers, forest landowners and consumers of Louisiana.”
Worsham oversees Cotton Incorporated’s global research and marketing programs. Cotton Incorporated has U.S. offices in New York, Cary, N.C., Dallas and Los Angeles. The company has international offices in Osaka, Japan, Singapore, Mexico City and Shanghai, China.
Prior to becoming president and CEO of US Rice Producers Association in 1998, Roberts spent over 24 years working in international agricultural activities both in the private sector and as director for international marketing at the Texas Department of Agriculture. Roberts has 10 years experience living and working in the grain and cattle business in South America.
Visit the conference web site at www.nctd.net for complete details and registration information.
