Connecting the dots at Governor’s Ag Summit

In August I had the opportunity to attend the Governors Ag and Economic Development Summit in Kearney, which you may have seen if you watch NTV News. Conferences like this happen regularly in economic development and I try to attend as many as my schedule allows especially when the topic falls within our target industries.  
Attending conferences is an easy way to strengthen connections with other industry professionals and learn about different topics that can be brought back to our community and used for future growth.
Throughout the day, I was able to connect in person with many people that I correspond regularly with by email. A large part of my job is done virtually, but there is something refreshing about catching up with someone in person. This also gives us the opportunity to touch base on current and past projects we have worked on together. These connections also plant seeds of ideas or shed light on problems that might come up in future projects, so I know who to contact when something new comes up on my workload.  
One thing that I enjoy about this conference is the focus on making a connection between economic development and agriculture. With ag being our largest industry, most of the economic development work we do is tied to agriculture in some way. This year there was a specific focus on the bio economy with several different sessions related to the topic.  
I participated in a session focused on the bio economy as it relates to fuel. Panelists discussed topics like sustainable aviation fuel, new blends of diesel fuel and the other types of opportunities Nebraska will see from this growing market. One of the overarching themes of this session was turning our local commodities, like corn and soybeans, into products on a larger scale so there is more demand for producers. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity on the horizon in this field for communities that will be open to these projects.  Another session I attended was called “Nebraska’s New Vision for Economic Development.”  This session talked about how the field of economic development has changed recently. These changes included the growing demand for electricity generation and how that impacts the way we respond to projects. Another change that we might see coming down from the state level is incentivizing technology and innovation instead of job creation, since we are living in an era where the workforce is struggling to meet the number of jobs that are already open.  
The final session that I attended focused on the foundations of growth related to housing and childcare.  Hamilton County is already a leader in these areas, but there are a few new opportunities coming through the pipeline that we can be prepared for.  Taking advantage of these programs will help us diversify what we can offer for housing and childcare, so it was great to learn more about these new resources.  
All in all, it was a busy day in Kearney, but time well spent, and I am excited to start plugging this new information into the businesses I work with moving forward.   
 KELSEY BERGEN serves as executive director of the Aurora Development Corporation. She can be reached at kelsey@growaurora.com