Feb. 26—Farmers and agriculture supporters gathered Saturday morning at Daviess County High School for the 43rd annual Farm City Breakfast sponsored by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce's Agriculture Committee and the Farm Bureau.

Don Camden, Cargill's integration leader for Owensboro Grain, was the keynote speaker for the event.

Camden spoke to the breakfast attendees about Cargill's plan for Owensboro Grain after purchasing the 117-year-old company in January.

"As integration leader, what that typically means, is you're taking a company like Owensboro Grain and bringing it into Cargill in a fairly quick manner, but that's not exactly what's happening in this case," he said. "What's really important to us is to make sure we protect and genuinely take care of the Owensboro Grain legacy that the family has built over time.

"As far as the integration goes, we are taking it very slow."

Global supply chains is one reason Camden said CEO Helen Cornell and Executive Vice President John Wright, along with other Owensboro Grain members, decided to sell the company to Cargill.

"This has turned into a vert global marketplace, and with renewable fuels and renewable diesel, it's very important to have those supply chains," Camden said. "Helen, John and others saw they needed to do something different in order to make sure their customers and employees were taken care of."

Camden said farmers are important to Cargill and the foundation to "most everything" the company does.

"If we didn't have farmers in our business, we couldn't do the things that we do today," he said. "We will continue to invest for farmers. We'll help with risk management, we'll help with brand marketing."

The way Owensboro Grain works with farmers is effective, Camden said, and Cargill does not plan on changing that.

"All of the things that you need, we will continue to do," Camden said, addressing the farmers.

Rep. Brett Guthrie also addressed the crowd of farmers.

Guthrie said he will travel to D.C. next week to continue work on the next farm bill. The farm bills are passed every five years.

"Crop insurance is the big thing that we need because we have increased our ability to feed the world four times," he said.

At the end of the breakfast, the 14th Farm City Humanitarian Award recipient was announced.

Daviess County farmer and volunteer firefighter Dustin Warren received the award for his dedication to the community and neighbors.

"I don't really have anything to say other than thank you very much," he said. "I've been taught this, it's been instilled in me through the years.

"When somebody needs something, we come together. This award represents more than me, it represents everyone that stands and helps."