The show must go on

Any way you look at it, farming tends to be a solitary sort of occupation. Sure, it's often done by families working together, but when you're miles from the nearest neighbor, it can take a real effort to touch base with other growers.

At the same time, there's a real need for farmers to band together to promote their products and exchange ideas. Grower associations like the Western Alfalfa Seed Growers and the Washington State Hay Growers Association play an important role in enabling farmers to cross-pollinate, as it were. But those sort of groups come with a set of tasks all their own: mailing lists, membership databases, dues collection and the annual trade show. Farmers work their tails off already; who has time for things like that?

That's where Shane Johnson and his team come in. Shane owns Ag Association Management, an association management and event planning company in Kennewick. AAM was founded 18 years ago by Rod Christensen. Rod retired in April, and Shane bought the company out. Along with the company came Sheri Nolan, who worked for Rod and after nearly 20 years, knows the business inside and out. Recently Madi Clark also joined the AAM team.

Ag Association management manages the affairs of eleven different grower organizations. That management may include maintaining membership rolls, putting out newsletters, publishing event notices and programs, recruiting new members and maintaining the group's online presence through social media. Essentially, AAM becomes the machinery behind the organization, allowing its members to concentrate on the important work of growing crops. They attend board and commission meetings, pay the group's bills and do research and collect reports on the state of the industry. And finally, they act as a liason with local media to get the word out to growers and consumers.

"We have great partners who help us publicize our meetings which helps us grow our non-profit associations - which is extremely important and valuable to our success as a company," said Sheri.

But one of the biggest and most visible functions AAM performs is the annual trade show. When the show season begins to ramp up in late fall, AAM is already on top of the event, lining up speakers, securing a venue, recruiting sponsors and exhibitors and arranging entertainment, food and lodging for attendees. It's a multi-faceted specialty with more juggling than a dozen circuses, but Ag Association Management has been doing it for years and they've pretty well got it down to a science.

Currently, AAM is putting together five conventions, Shane said: the Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association (November 12-13 in Kennewick); the Washington Mint Convention (December 2 in Pasco); the Pasco Real Ag Convention and Trade Show (January 6-7 in Pasco); The Washington Hay Growers Northwest Hay Expo (January 14-15 in Kennewick) and the Western Alfalfa Seed Growers (January 25-27, in Las Vegas, Nevada).

"There are two schools of thought" when it comes to expos, Shane said. "One is that it's a trade show with some education. But most of ours are educational events that have a trade show associated with them."

The exhibitors and sponsors are vitally important, of course. Without those, there is no show, Shane said. Conversely, for the exhibitors, the customer base they can build up at a trade show is invaluable.

But, Shane said, most of the shows they do emphasize education. The education-oriented shows take a good deal more work than the other kind, but they carry a lot more benefit for both attendees and exhibitors. The shows' ability to disseminate technical and business expertise is invaluable. Consequently, Ag Association Management puts a great deal of effort into finding experts in the various ag-related fields, ones who are intimately acquainted with the issues affecting specific kinds of growers.

"Most of our boards are made up of not just growers but also industry people," said Shane. "We're constantly on the lookout for potential speakers or ideas. It's a year-round process. As soon as the conference ends we've already started to plan the next one."