The Farm Beat: A Bear of a Man

Once again, the keynote speaker at the Almond Board of California conference is someone who has little to do with almonds. That's not to say he isn't a little nuts. The Dec. 9-10 event in Modesto will feature Bear Grylls, host of “Man vs. Wild” on the Discovery Channel. On that show, he goes to some far-flung spot on the globe and puts his survival skills to use. Grylls served in the British Army’s special forces and is a mountain climber, skydiver and more. My favorite story from his web site goes like this: “In June 2005, Bear broke a world record by hosting a dinner party at a table suspended below a hot air balloon at 24,500 feet. He rappelled from the balloon's basket to the table, where in full naval uniform he ate a three-course meal before saluting the queen and skydiving to earth.” The Almond Board in recent years has booked keynote speakers who can motivate members in general ways, or provide insight into some interesting topic. A couple of years ago, it was L. Paul Bremer, who oversaw Iraq soon after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Grylls’ talk will be part of a Wednesday evening gala, at $60 a head. Information on this and other conference topics (all of them having something to do with almonds) is is at http://www.mosaicevents.com/almondboard/index.html?snItemNumber=470