When I started with Truffle Media I noticed immediately that I was the one person that has no formal agriculture background. Sure, I grew up in Xenia, Ohio (actually, nearer to Jamestown but Xenia is better known) and my dad leased the 400 acres behind the house to those raising soybean and wheat. And, yes, I was in the FFA my freshmen year, mainly to fill a slot in the Robert's Rules of Order team. And, yes I was able to "drive" a tractor when I was 12. But my interests were more toward technology, computers, electronics, and science fiction. My brother was the one who was ag focused and got the many degrees in Ag Econ. So it is a bit ironic that I am involved in running an ag focused company.

One of the interesting things is learning the terms and phrases used in ag. Two I have just recently picked up are "Farm to Fork" and "Flop Test". I picked up the "Farm to Fork" reference when I listened to Trent Loos while at the Iowa Pork Congress and at his apperace at the NIAA 2008 annual conference in Indianapolis. If you need a great speaker on a topic few Americans really understand (farming), Trent is your speaker!