Bozeman Magazine

Montana State University’s College of Agriculture and Montana Agricultural Experiment Station will host the annual Celebrate Agriculture Weekend Oct. 21-22 on the MSU campus. Celebrate Agriculture honors MSU alumni and students and the legacy of Montana’s agricultural communities.

Celebrate Ag Weekend will include an agricultural economics conference, a pregame event at Saturday’s Bobcat football game against Weber State and the presentation of the Outstanding Agricultural Leader Award.

“Celebrate Ag Weekend is one of our college’s greatest traditions and something we look forward to each year,” said Sreekala Bajwa, MSU’s vice president of agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture. “I look forward to seeing our partners, alumni, donors and friends come together to celebrate the college and the importance of agriculture to Montana.”

Events begin Friday, Oct. 21, with the annual Agricultural Economics Outlook Conference hosted by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics and MSU Extension. The conference will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. at the Best Western GranTree Inn’s Grand Foyer, 1325 N. Seventh Ave. in Bozeman. Presentation topics will include the 2022 agricultural year in review, rebalancing cattle inventories after a drought, agricultural subsidies for farmers and ranchers, and an introduction to precision agriculture, among others.

The conference also includes the featured M.L. Wilson Lecture, which this year will be given by Nathan Kauffman, Omaha branch executive and vice president and economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The talk, “Macroeconomic Crosswinds in U.S. Agriculture,” will be held at 11:25 a.m. the day of the conference. A full agenda and registration information are posted at ampc.montana.edu/economicsconference.

Saturday, Oct. 22, will begin with a celebratory breakfast at 10:30 a.m. in the Strand Union Building ballrooms on MSU’s campus. The event will feature remarks by MSU President Waded Cruzado and the recipient of the annual Outstanding Agricultural Leadership Award. The award is given to a Montana agriculturalist who embodies service, engagement and community impact. The honoree will be announced at a later date.  

More information and a full agenda for the Celebrate Agriculture weekend can be found at http://agriculture.montana.edu/celebrateag/.