AgVocacy
Forum
FEED THE
FUTURE
Brought to you by Bayer | #AgVocate
San Antonio, Texas
Tuesday, February 28 – Wednesday, March 1, 2017
HOW DO YOU #AGVOCATE?
What do a TV star of PBS’s “A Chef’s Life,” an esteemed author, a former advisor to the
ag committee in the House of Representatives and growers from various U.S. geographies
have in common? A love for food, for one, but they also all AgVocate for the future and,
this week, are with us at AgVocacy Forum.
Over the next two days, the AgVocacy Forum, organized by Bayer, will showcase individuals
such as these who are making a strong impact on the future of farming and food production.
Moderated by former CNN investigative reporter, Frank Sesno, we’ll discuss a number
of forces shaping the future of agriculture, including new laws, changing public perception
and rapid technological innovation. Prominent thought leaders from across the industry
will exchange ideas about these forces and their implications for agriculture and our food
supply, while promoting a sense of community and collaboration as AgVocates.
This year, we’re exploring what it takes for each of us to AgVocate and how that is
ultimately feeding the future. We believe the future of farming depends on our ability
to collaborate and connect in order to generate new solutions and technologies that
will enable growers to produce safe and quality food, feed and fiber.
The AgVocacy Forum is just one way Bayer is hoping to create open dialogue among
the various stakeholders that must work together to meet this challenge. With engaging
panels promised to provide stimulating and motivating thought, we’re ready to get this
forum—and the storytelling—started.
We encourage you to also join the conversation on social media by following
@bayer4cropsus on Twitter and Instagram and using #AgVocate.
Sincerely,
Bayer Communications Team
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AGENDA
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Lunch 12:00 PM – 12:10 PM
Welcome
• Darren Wallis, vice president of communications,
Crop Science, a division of Bayer, North America
• Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public
Affairs, The George Washington University
Salon I
Salon E
12:10 PM – 1:10 PM
Navigating Global Economic Uncertainty
• Dr. Vikram Mansharamani, lecturer, Harvard University
and Yale University
1:10 PM – 2:10 PM
Bayer Outlook/ Remarks
• Dr. Adrian Percy, global head of research & development, and
executive committee member of Crop Science, a division of Bayer
• David Hollinrake, vice president of North America Marketing,
Crop Science, a division of Bayer
2:10 PM – 3:10 PM
Poster Sessions & Interviews
3:10 PM – 3:40 PM
Funding the Next Agricultural Food Revolution
• Louisa Burwood-Taylor, chief editor, AGFUNDER, USA
• Ben Chostner, vice president, business development,
Blue River Technology
• Steve Tuttle, president & CEO, Agrimetis
3:40 PM – 4:15 PM
Salon C,D
Financial Economics of Ag: Urbanization and Rural Production
• Nathan Kauffman, assistant vice president and Omaha Branch
executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• David Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of AeroFarms
4:15 PM – 5:15 PM
Poster Sessions & Interviews
Salon C,D
5:15 PM – 5:50 PMComing Home: Next Generation Returning to Rural
America to Invest in Infrastructure and Communities
• Vivian Howard, owner, Chef & The Farmer, Kinston, N.C.
• Zach Bailey, grower, Bailey Family Farm
• Jeremy Brown, grower, Broadview Agriculture Inc.
5:50 PM – 6:00 PM
Closing Remarks
• Frank Sesno
6:30 PM – 8 PM
Evening Reception
Salon I
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AGENDA
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
6:00 AM – 8:00 AM
8:00 AM – 8:10 AM
8:10 AM – 8:50 AM
Breakfast
Salon I
Welcome & Opening Comments
• Frank Sesno
Salon E
Beyond the Farm Gate: Today’s Challenges Create
Tomorrow’s Opportunities
• Ray Gaesser, grower, Gaesser Farms
• Deb Gangwish, grower, PG Farms, Inc.
• Jay Hill, grower, Hill Farms and Wholesome Valley Farms
8:50 AM – 9:25 AMFarm Labor Issues in Rural America: Addressing the Needs
and Concerns from All Sides
• Brian Antle, president, PlantTape
• Kevin Wulf, director of education, Riverview Farms
• Lynn Jacquez, managing partner and principal, CJ Lake LLC
9:25 AM – 9:55 AMScience & Policy: How Embracing New and Emerging
Technologies Benefits Sustainable Agriculture
• Dr. John Goldberg, founder, Science Based Strategies
• Wayne Parrott, professor, University of Georgia
9:55 AM – 11:10 AM
Poster Sessions/Interviews
Salon C,D
11:10 AM – 11:45 AMChanges Coming to Your Food Labels: How will the Newly
Passed GMO Labeling Law Impact the Food Chain
• Randy Russell, president and CEO, The Russell Group
(Coalition for Safe & Affordable Food)
• Kelly Johnston, vice president of government affairs, Campbell
Soup Company
• Roger Lowe, vice president of communications, GMA
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM
The Multi-Point Approach to Ending Food Waste
• Jack Bobo, chief communications officer, Intrexon, and previously
senior advisor for biotechnology at the State Department
• Carrie Calvert, director of tax and commodity policy, Feeding America
• Barbara Cohen, co-founder, Food Cowboy
12:30 PM – 12:45 PM
Summation of Event
• Darren Wallis
• Frank Sesno
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
Salon C,D
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COMMUNICATIONS CONTACTS
Darren Wallis
Ashley Feldhaus
Jeff Donald
Bekah Mahan
Casey Allen
Linda Whaley
vice president, North America communications
(O) 919.549.2294
(C) 919.406.4553
(E) [email protected]
external communications
(O) 919.549.5395
(C) 919.518.4234
(E) [email protected]
external communications
(O) 919.549.2607
(C) 919.441.6039
(E) [email protected]
Cory Wightman
external communications
(O) 919.549.2835
(C) 919.274.9970
(E) [email protected]
external communications
(O) 919.549.2595
(C) 919.475.5308
(E) [email protected]
marketing communications manager
(O) 919.549.2058
(C) 919.236.3531
(E) [email protected]
marketing communications manager
(C) 919.309.6805
(E) [email protected]
Terri Mitchell
marketing communications manager
(O) 919.549.2836
(C) 919.886.9865
(E) [email protected]
MEETING CONTACT
Tanya Zuckerman
Sr. Manager, Meeting Management
(O) 919.549.2445
(C) 919.328.0287
(E) [email protected]
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SPEAKER BIOS
Darren Wallis
vice president of communications,
Crop Science, a division of Bayer,
North America
With more than 20 years of experience in strategic
communications, Darren Wallis currently leads all
North American internal and external corporate
communication activities, including corporate reputation,
media relations, employee communications, digital
communication and issues management. Prior to this
role, he worked as director of public affairs and executive
communications at Monsanto, where he formed and
led teams focused on leadership communications for
internal and external stakeholders. Darren has also
held leadership roles at two prominent international
public relations firms developing award-winning
communications programs for a variety of clients.
Wallis graduated from the University of MissouriColumbia and has completed the first year of a
Master’s degree in international business at St. Louis
University. A native of Southeast Missouri, Wallis
grew up on a grain and beef farm which his family
still farms today.
Frank Sesno
moderator, director, School of
Media and Public Affairs,
George Washington University
Frank Sesno is director of the School of Media and
Public Affairs at the George Washington University. He
is the author of Ask More: The Power of Questions to
Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change
and is an internationally recognized journalist and
interviewer with more than 30 years of experience
reporting from around the world. Sesno spent 21
years at CNN, serving as White House correspondent,
anchor and Washington bureau chief. He hosted the
network’s Sunday interview program, Late Edition with
Frank Sesno. At GW, Sesno launched Planet Forward,
a user-driven multimedia platform that focuses on
inspiring stories to move the planet forward. Sesno has
interviewed some of the most influential people in the
world, including five U.S. Presidents, world leaders,
innovators, CEOs and Nobel Prize-winning scientists.
Dr. Vikram Mansharamani
lecturer, Harvard University and
Yale University
Dr. Vikram Mansharamani shows people how to
anticipate the future, manage risk and spot hidden
opportunities. He gained widespread attention with
the release of his first book, Boombustology: Spotting
Financial Bubbles Before They Burst, in 2011. Since
then, he has been a frequent commentator on issues
driving disruption in the global business environment.
Vikram is a regular contributor to Worth magazine and
the PBS NewsHour. His commentaries and opinions
have also been featured by Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune,
The New York Times and the Daily Beast, among others.
In the Online World, Vikram was #1 on LinkedIn’s
list of 10 Top Voices in Money and Finance for 2015,
where his commentaries were shared more than a
million times that year.
Vikram was lecturer at Yale University until spring
of 2016. He is president of Kelan Advisors, a global
consulting firm. Vikram has been an active participant in
the financial markets for the last 20 years. His experience
includes positions in management consulting, investment
banking and asset management. Vikram is currently
a paid advisor to several leading endowments and on
the board of the Africa Opportunity Fund. His research
interests center on decision-making and the relative
value of specialists and generalists in navigating
uncertainty.
Vikram previously served on the boards of the
Association of Yale Alumni, the U.S.-Pakistan Business
Council, Interelate and ManagedOps. Vikram has a
Ph.D. and MS from the Sloan School of Management
at MIT, an MS in political science from MIT and a BA
from Yale University.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Dr. Adrian Percy
global head of research & development,
and executive committee member of
Crop Science, a division of Bayer
Dr. Adrian Percy joined the Executive Committee of
the division of Crop Science on August 1, 2014, as
head of research and development.
Adrian was born in Hertford, United Kingdom. He
grew up and studied in the United Kingdom, earning
a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology at the University
of Liverpool, a master’s degree in toxicology and
then a doctorate in biochemistry at the University
of Birmingham.
He began his career in 1991 as a toxicologist with
Rhone-Poulenc Agrochimie based in France. Since
then, he has held numerous positions in the research
and development departments of the Crop Science
division of Bayer and its legacy companies in France,
Germany and the U.S. These include leading crop
protection development activities in North America and,
most recently, regulatory affairs activities across the
Crop Science technology platforms, including seeds
and traits, crop protection and environmental science.
Adrian is also a member of the Research and
Development Executive Committee of Bayer and
a member of the Board of Trustees for the Bayer
Science & Education Foundation.
Adrian is married and has two children.
David Hollinrake
vice president of North America
marketing, Crop Science, a division
of Bayer
senior roles with Monsanto Co. Previous to Bayer,
David worked at Adayana Inc., a training-development
and consulting company, where he was vice president
of business development.
At Crop Science, David is responsible for strategy
development and execution for ACO marketing and
serves on the North America Leadership Team. He
is based at the North American headquarters in
Research Triangle Park, N.C.
David is a passionate AgVocate for modern production
agriculture, working to educate, enable and engage
other voices to demonstrate the need and the benefits
for utilizing modern practices to help feed a hungry,
growing world sustainably.
In his free time, David enjoys spending time with his
son Andrew, providing support for the Alpha Gamma
Rho fraternity, golf and following his favorite sports
teams – the Fighting Illini and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Louisa Burwood-Taylor
chief editor, AgFunderNews
Louisa is chief editor of AgFunderNews, bringing over
10 years of financial journalism experience to the team.
She has covered a range of financial products and
markets during her career, from equity capital markets
in Asia to structured bonds in Europe, before turning her
attention to agriculture three years ago. She’s also been
responsible for launching two publications: an institutional
investment intelligence service for Financial Times and
the first-ever title focused on agriculture investment, Agri
Investor, for PEI Media.
David Hollinrake is vice president of North America
marketing for Crop Science, a division of Bayer.
David graduated from the University of Illinois and
received an MBA from Washington University. The
majority of his career has been spent in agricultural
and related industries, and he served in a variety of
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SPEAKER BIOS
Ben Chostner
vice president of business development,
Blue River Technology
Ben joined Blue River in 2012 and has helped bring
the See & Spray machines to life by linking grower
needs to research and development in the lab. He
now leads strategy and commercialization and pursues
partnership opportunities. Previously, Ben worked
as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Ben earned a BS in mechanical engineering from
University of Illinois and an MBA from Harvard.
Steve Tuttle
president & CEO, Agrimetis
Steve comes with more than 25 years of global
agricultural business experience and expertise. His
experience includes building, running, developing
and leading global businesses. Specifically, within
the Agricultural Segment he has held several sales,
marketing and commercial management roles. He
has been global business director for the insecticides
and fungicide portfolios within Dow Agro Sciences. In
addition, responsibility as global business director
for the Bioscience platform, Ventures & Business
development and Alternative Energy Business (AEB)
within The Dow Chemical Company. Steve served as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Dow Kokam
LLC. He has traveled globally since 1994 and lived for
6 years in Tokyo Japan. Steve will be accountable for
building out the team that will shape and accelerate
Agrimetis’s approach to develop and deliver new
innovated molecules to the global agricultural market.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural
Engineering from The Ohio State University.
Nathan “Nate” Kauffman
asst. vice president / Omaha Branch
executive, Federal Reserve Bank of
Kansas City
Nathan Kauffman is assistant vice president and Omaha
Branch executive with the Federal Reserve Bank
of Kansas City. In this role, he serves as the Bank’s
regional economist and representative in the state of
Nebraska, recruits and works closely with the Branch’s
board of directors, and is responsible for briefing
the Kansas City Fed’s president – a member of the
Federal Open Market Committee – on economic and
business activity in the state.
In addition, Nathan is the Kansas City Fed’s lead expert
in agricultural economics. He oversees several Bank
and Federal Reserve System efforts to track agricultural
and rural economies, including the quarterly publication
of the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit
Conditions and the Federal Reserve System’s
Agricultural Finance Databook. He is also responsible
for the Nebraska Economist, a quarterly publication
providing insights into the Nebraska economy.
Nathan’s current research focuses primarily on agricultural finance, commodity market analysis and the rural
economy. His additional research interests include
international rural development and agricultural trade.
Nathan joined the Federal Reserve in 2012 and served
as an economist in the regional affairs department
at the Omaha Branch before being named branch
executive in 2013. He received his Ph.D. in economics
from Iowa State University. Prior to receiving his Ph.D.,
Nathan spent three years in Bosnia and Herzegovina
coordinating agricultural economic development projects.
Nathan lives in Omaha with his wife and four children.
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SPEAKER BIOS
David Rosenberg
CEO and co-founder,
AeroFarms
David, a serial entrepreneur, co-founded and leads
AeroFarms, a clean-technology company that builds
and operates advanced vertical farms in urban
environments. Recognized for its sustainable food
production model, AeroFarms has been named a
Circular Economy 100 company, won the World
Technology Award for most impactful Environmental
Company, was voted Most Innovative Company at
the Future of Agriculture conference, the Best Growth
Company to invest in at The Wall Street Journal’s
ECO:nomics conference and was a finalist for The
Circular Awards. David is also the founder of Hycrete,
Inc., a nanotechnology cleantech company. David is
a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF),
where he is honored as a Young Global Leader, and
was a Technology Pioneer for his nanotech company.
At WEF, he co-chairs the YGL Circular Economy
Taskforce and is also a co-lead for Technology and
Innovation Group of The Transformational Leaders in
Agriculture and was previously a member of the Global
Agenda Council on Water Security. David is also a
member of the B20 SME Taskforce, which advises
the G20. David is also a member of Young Presidents
Organization. David is an annual lecturer at Columbia
Business School and a former adjunct professor at
NYU’s Stern School of Business. David received his
BA from UNC Chapel Hill and holds an MBA from
Columbia University. He competed for the U.S. in
fencing, where he was a finalist at a World Cup and
represented the NYAC, winning three U.S. National
Team Fencing Championships and two individual
silver medals.
Vivian Howard
chef and television personality –
PBS television series, A Chef’s Life
Howard graduated from the Institute of Culinary
Education in NYC in 2003. She completed an internship
at Wylie Dufresne’s wd~50 and trained at Jean-Georges
Vongerichten’s Spice Market. Howard moved to North
Carolina in 2005 and opened Chef & the Farmer in
2006 in a downtown building that had once been a
mule stable. More than 60 percent of the ingredients
used in the restaurant come from within a 90-mile radius.
The restaurant strives to create modern interpretations
of traditional regional dishes, as collected from members
of the small eastern North Carolina community. Howard
says, “Older folks in our community teach me how to
make something very simple. One of the things I like
about A Chef’s Life and dislike about modern media,
in general, is that [our culture is] very young-personnew-ideas driven, and I don’t think people call on the
wisdom of older folks very much. To learn from them
and share has been wonderful.” Howard has authored
one cookbook, Deep Run Roots – Stories and Recipes
from my Corner of the South, which was released in
October 2016.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Zach Bailey
farm manager, Bailey Family Farm
Zach is farm manager at Bailey Family Farm. In his
role, he has the task of overseeing daily operations –
everything from organizing employees and logistics
to performing equipment maintenance, planting and
harvesting. Additionally, Zach is responsible for
organizing the long-term outlook for the farm with
his father and brother.
Zach’s formal education is in aviation management,
and he continues to enjoy flying, as well as serving
with the local Experimental Aircraft Association
(EAA) chapter.
Bailey Family Farm is a 11,000-acre, third-generation
grain farm operated by Zach and his father, Darren,
and brother, Cole, in south central Illinois. The farm
specializes in corn, soybeans and wheat production.
The slogan at Bailey Family Farm is “faith, family,
farming,” and the family takes that to heart every
day – in that specific order. On the farm, they strive
to implement progressive farming techniques that
allow them to be good stewards of the ground and
to produce the best possible crop.
Jeremy Brown
Texas organic crop farmer,
Broadview Agriculture Inc.
Fifth-generation family farmer Jeremy farms with his
wife, Sarah, and three children on their 3,000-acre
farm on the South Plains of west Texas, growing both
conventional and organic cotton, wheat, rye, grain
sorghum, peanuts and sesame. Jeremy is committed
to sustainable farming practices, including crop
rotation, minimum tillage and using cover crops.
The mission of Jeremy’s farming operation, Broadview
Agriculture Inc., is to steward and manage the natural
resources God has given us to feed and clothe the
world. They make soil health and water efficiency top
priorities in being a sustainable farm. Jeremy builds
his soil health through composting, minimum tillage
or no-till, crop rotation and high residue cover crops
that help build organic matter. Of their 3,000 acres,
840 acres are irrigated, and Jeremy enhances his
water efficiency by using remote devices to control
their pivots via phone or computer.
Jeremy is a member of the Texas Organic Cotton
Marketing Cooperative and Texas Farm Bureau Plains
Cotton Growers, Inc., and he serves as one of the U.S.
Farmers & Ranchers Alliance’s Faces of Farming &
Ranching. He has a degree in agriculture communications
from Texas Tech University and worked professionally
for six years before coming back to the farm. He has
been actively involved in farming since he was given
40 acres of land to manage at the age of 15.
Ray Gaesser
grower, Gaesser Farms
Ray grew up on a small farm in Indiana. Ray and his
wife, Elaine, were married in 1977 and moved near
Lenox in southwest Iowa – where they began farming.
They have two children, Jennifer, who is the high school
vocal instructor at Atlantic Iowa, and Christopher, who
is an agronomist and farms with Ray and Elaine.
Ray, Elaine and family have been active in St. Patrick’s
Catholic Church in Lenox, and they have served on
many boards and committees there, plus many
community boards.
Since 1997, Ray has been a leader in the Iowa and
national soybean associations, having served as
president of the Iowa Soybean Association and recently
as president of the American Soybean Association.
Ray also serves on the National Cover Crop Council
and the National Climate Smart Agriculture Steering
Committee.
The Gaesser farm has a long history of community
service, early adapting with innovations in agriculture
and caring for the land.
Gaesser Farms grows approximately 6,000 crop acres
total, with about half of them being soybeans and half
corn each year.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Deb Gangwish
co-owner, PG Farms, Inc. and
The Diamond “G”
Deb currently serves on the Board of Directors of the
Nebraska Corn Growers Association. She is also on
the Freedom to Operate Action Team for National Corn
Growers Association. Deb obtained a bachelor’s degree
in biology and chemistry with advanced degrees in
counseling and school psychology, all from the University
of Nebraska in Kearney. Deb grew up on a small acreage
outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. She credits growing up
on the acreage, tending to the needs of an enormous
garden and a small menagerie, as the foundation of
her passion for agriculture today.
Deb is the co-owner of PG Farms, Inc., and The
Diamond “G”, a family farm and ranch with a custom
seed corn harvest and trucking company employing
20 full-time and 10 part-time employees. It is a
geographically diverse farm and ranch with sites in
central and north-central Nebraska. PG Farms, Inc.,
and The Diamond “G” is “smart,” using the most
modern technology available in every aspect of the
operation – farming, ranching and trucking, allowing
for the most efficient and effective use of all
operational inputs.
Deb and her husband, Paul, live surrounded by the
land they farm, where Paul’s grandfather farmed,
and they are actively involved in every aspect of the
farm, ranch, custom harvest and trucking company.
Stewardship for future generations is a value PG
Farms, Inc., and The Diamond “G” honor throughout
their family farm and ranch. Clean energy options
are always a top priority, as is soil health and water
conservation and habitat health.
Deb and Paul have five adult children who all grew up
working on the farm. One son has returned to the farm
and other children plan to return to work and raise their
families. They believe taking care of the environment
is taking care of the future generations.
When there is free time, Deb and her family enjoy
the great outdoors through activities such as fishing,
hunting, kayaking, scuba diving, water skiing and
snow skiing.
Jay Hill
grower, Hill Farms and Wholesome
Valley Farms
Jay Hill is a second-generation farmer in southern
New Mexico. Jay partners with his father, Jim Hill,
on their 750-acre farm started by Jim in 1969. The
majority of their operation is dedicated to vegetable
and nut production.
Upon graduation from New Mexico State University
with a bachelor of science degree, Jay returned to
Hill Farms in 2008 and took over the reins of the
operation. He implements GM, conventional and
organic practices on his farm.
Today, Hill Farms produces more than 18 million pounds
of fresh onions, 3 million pounds of fresh lettuce and
an assortment of other vegetables. In addition to
onions and lettuce, Jay also grows carrots, cabbage,
pecans, alfalfa, cotton, pinto beans, corn, pumpkins,
cucumbers, watermelons and world-famous New
Mexico green chile.
In 2012, Jay started a small beef cattle herd, which
has grown to 60 head of mother cows.
Jay’s operation now involves a restaurant and grocery
distribution based out of his commercial pinto bean
cleaning facility.
Jay also owns and operates Wholesome Valley Farms.
This farm includes hydroponic greenhouse production,
vegetable seed production for Bayer Vegetable Seeds
and a large organic vegetable farm.
Jay’s wife, Katie, has finalized plans and construction
is underway on a farm-to-market store, which will sell
Hill Farms produce, as well as produce from growers
around the Southwest.
Along with the farm and the future store, Jay retails a
line of New Mexico chile sauce online, as well in area
grocery stores. Jay’s hobbies include photography,
playing guitar, hunting, hiking and camping. Jay is
currently the president of Dona Ana County Farm
Bureau and is a state board member with New Mexico
Farm and Livestock Bureau.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Brian Antle
president, PlantTape
Brian Antle is current president of PlantTape, a global
automated transplanting system owned by Tanimura
& Antle. The PlantTape technology is leading the
way in reducing labor and cost, while increasing yield,
uniformity and sustainability.
As a fourth-generation farmer in California, Brian
first started working on the ranch at age 14 moving
irrigation pipes for the Tanimura brothers on their local
ranches. Over the years, he has worked in all aspects
of the family business; however, he was always
attracted to the harvest operations and eventually settled there before being tapped to lead the worldwide
commercialization of PlantTape.
Brian gives back to the industry by serving as a
board member of United Fresh, the Grower Shipper
Association of the Central Coast, the Monterey County
Farm Bureau and Monterey County Agricultural
Education. He most recently served as a member
of United’s Grower Shipper Board, is an alumnus of
United’s Produce Executive Development Program
at Cornell University and Western Growers Future
Volunteer Leaders Program. In 2015, Brian received
the Forbes Impact Award in Innovation at the AgTech
Summit for the company’s PlantTape technology. He
received a degree in agricultural business from Cal
Poly San Luis Obispo in 2006.
Kevin Wulf
director of education, Riverview Farms
Kevin Wulf was born and raised on a beef and crop
farm near Morris, Minnesota. He joined the Riverview
team in 2007 after teaching fifth grade for eight years
and works in the human resources, employee education
and community relations areas of the business. His
primary duties include employee development and
training, organizing and giving tours, and cultivating
community relationships. He also focuses on maintaining
Riverview’s culture, employee recruitment and the
company’s BE SAFE initiative.
Lynn Jacquez
managing partner and principal,
CJ Lake LLC
Lynn Jacquez currently serves as principal at CJ
Lake LCC, with a professional background that spans
private law practice, government relations and service
in the federal government. Upon graduation from the
University of Notre Dame School of Law, she came to
Capitol Hill to serve as counsel for the House Judiciary
Committee. In her work for its Subcommittee on
Immigration, Refugees and International Law, she had
primary responsibility for the drafting and processing
of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
(IRCA) and refugee reauthorization legislation. In
1992, she helped form the government relations firm
which became CJ Strategies in 2006, and in 2011, she
established the law firm of CJ Lake LLC, where she is
now managing partner and principal. In her legal practice,
Ms. Jacquez represents organizations seeking regulatory
and legislative reform to address workforce issues and
is actively engaged in behalf of employers in developing
immigration policy reform legislation.
Dr. John J. Goldberg
founder, Science Based Strategies
Dr. John J. Goldberg is the founder of Science Based
Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based food, agriculture
and environmental policy consulting firm. Prior to his
move to the private sector, Dr. Goldberg served 22 years
as Science Advisor to the Committee on Agriculture
in the United States House of Representatives. In this
role, Dr. Goldberg was the principal policy advisor to
seven chairmen for issues including animal health
and welfare; food safety; livestock, dairy and poultry
programs; fruit and vegetable programs; agricultural
marketing and promotion programs; grain standards;
homeland security and bioterrorism; plant health;
pesticide regulation; water and air quality; biotechnology;
agricultural research, education and extension; Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Standards for international trade
(SPS); and organic agriculture. As a senior policy advisor
to the House Agriculture Committee, Dr. Goldberg was
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SPEAKER BIOS
responsible for numerous titles and subtitles of the last
four farm bills.
Dr. Goldberg holds a bachelor of science degree in
animal science from Rutgers University, a master of
science degree in animal sciences from the University
of Vermont, and a doctorate in animal and food sciences
and microbiology and molecular genetics, also from
the University of Vermont. Following his graduate
work, Dr. Goldberg accepted a post-doctoral research
appointment in both the Department of Dairy and Animal
Science and the Department of Veterinary Science at
the Pennsylvania State University. John’s past academic
research focused primarily on microbiological factors
affecting milk quality and animal health.
Wayne Parrott
professor, University of Georgia
Wayne Parrott received a degree in agronomy from
the University of Kentucky and MS and Ph.D. degrees
in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the faculty at the
University of Georgia in 1988. Since then, he has
been conducting research on the development, use
and safety of transgenic (i.e., GM) crop plants, using
grant monies from USDA-NIFA, NSF, DOE and the
United Soybean Board. He has published a guide
for environmental risk assessment of GMOs, along
with approximately 110 journal articles in referenced
publications and 14 book chapters. He has served
terms on the editorial boards of Plant Cell Reports,
Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, and Crop Science.
He has served as elected chair of the biotechnology
section of the Crop Science Society of America and
of the plant section of the Society for In Vitro Biology
and is a fellow of both of these societies. He is actively
engaged in training graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows, and he teaches graduate-level courses in
genetics and has taught undergraduate courses in
agroecology and sustainable agriculture. Wayne has
traveled extensively throughout Latin America and
other countries and advised legislators and regulators
in the various countries on the requisites for a functional
regulatory system that ensures the safety of GM
products. He volunteered for six years as a scientific
advisor to the Biotechnology Committee of the
International Life Sciences Institute, which served to
bring the best science available to help guide those
who formulate regulatory policies.
Randy Russell
president and CEO, The Russell Group
(Coalition for Safe & Affordable Food)
Randy M. Russell was born and raised in Virginia.
Randy attended George Mason University, where he
was a proud member of the school’s baseball team
and where he completed his undergraduate studies in
public administration and graduate work in economics.
Before joining the firm in 1986, he worked in a number
of agricultural policy positions, both inside and outside
of government. Randy served as chief of staff to
Secretary of Agriculture John Block and also as deputy
assistant secretary of economics. He also served
as agricultural aide on Capitol Hill for the Senate
Agriculture Committee and former U.S. Senator
Rudy Boschwitz.
Randy has been actively involved in the Big Brothers/
Big Sisters Program in northern Virginia. He served as
a Big Brother for 10 years and has served as president,
vice president and treasurer of the Northern Virginia
Council of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He also served on
the board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the National
Capital Area. He previously served as chairman of the
board and is currently on the Executive Committee for
the World Food Program USA, which raises awareness
and funding in order to fight global hunger. He and his
wife, Beth, are co-founders of The Golden Phoenix
Foundation, focused on addressing the issue of
childhood abandonment around the world. He and
Beth are also actively involved in the National Council
for Adoption, which helps promote domestic and
foreign adoptions.
Randy and Beth live in McLean and have six children.
The family recently purchased a small farm in Round
Hill, Virginia, and has since added over a dozen
alpacas to the clan. When Randy isn’t at the farm, he
can be found at one of his daughter’s cheerleading
competitions or soccer games.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Kelly D. Johnston
vice president – government affairs,
Campbell Soup Company
Kelly Johnston joined Campbell in July 2002 as
vice president – government affairs. He coordinates
activities and relationships with local, state, federal
and international government legislative and regulatory
agencies, as well as the company’s participation in
trade associations. He reports to Adam Ciongoli,
senior vice president and general counsel.
Previously, Kelly spent nearly 25 years in Washington,
D.C., in several leadership positions within the executive
and legislative branches of the federal government,
politics and the trade association world. He was
executive vice president for government affairs and
communications at the National Food Processors’
Association (NFPA), serving as the organization’s
chief government affairs and communications officer
for nearly six years.
From 1995 to 1997, he was the secretary of the U.S.
Senate, the Senate’s chief legislative, financial and
administrative officer. Kelly has also served as staff
director of the Senate Republican Policy Committee;
deputy assistant secretary for public affairs in the U.S.
Department of Transportation; and chief of staff or
press secretary to three members of Congress.
Kelly is active within the food industry and in the
community. He serves as vice chair of the nonprofit
Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), which
provides management training and services to the U.S.
Congress. He serves on the Board of Directors for the
New Jersey Food Council (NJFC). He is a founding
board member of the Convergence Center for Policy
Resolution, a nonprofit group dedicated to bipartisan
public policy resolutions. He is a board member and
former chair of both the Canadian American Business
Council (CABC) and the Chamber of Commerce of
Southern New Jersey.
A native of Oklahoma, Kelly earned his B.A. degree
in communications in 1976 from the University of
Science and Arts of Oklahoma, where he has been
named to the Alumni Hall of Fame. He attended
Georgetown University’s Graduate School of
Demography in Washington, D.C. He has guest lectured
on politics, government, lobbying and communications
at several universities, including Yale University, the
Annenberg School of Communications at the University
of Pennsylvania, George Washington University and
Burlington County College in New Jersey.
He and his wife, Adrienne, live in Newtown Square,
Pennsylvania. They have two sons.
Roger Lowe
executive vice president of
strategic communications, Grocery
Manufacturers Association
Roger Lowe is executive vice president of strategic
communications at the Grocery Manufacturers
Association (GMA) and has more than 35 years of
experience as a corporate communications leader,
public relations consultant and newspaper reporter.
Roger, who joined GMA is January 2015, leads efforts
to proactively communicate the many accomplishments
of the industry in providing safe, high-quality and
affordable product choices to families, provides
communications support for GMA’s public policy work
and oversees GMA’s work to engage on social media.
Prior to joining GMA, Roger served as senior vice
president of communications at the American Red Cross,
where he provided strategic counsel on proactive
organization initiatives and served as a spokesperson
for the organization. He directed the communications
efforts for major disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy
and the Haiti earthquake, and has led the crisis
communications work relating to labor issues, corporate
reputation matters and organization restructuring
initiatives. He oversaw the expansion in social
engagement by the Red Cross, especially the use
of social media in times of disaster.
Previously, he was a senior vice president at APCO
Worldwide and worked on issues management,
media relations, crisis communications and litigation
communications for clients such as the Business
Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other
businesses and organizations. Prior to APCO, Roger
worked at Porter Novelli, where he was senior vice
president and directed public affairs for the
Washington office.
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SPEAKER BIOS
Roger started his career as a reporter and spent
21 years as a reporter and bureau chief for Ohio
newspapers. He worked nearly 15 years for The
Columbus Dispatch, covering the U.S. Supreme
Court, Congress and national politics from the
Washington bureau, after earlier covering the Ohio
governor’s office, Ohio Supreme Court and state
elections as a statehouse reporter.
Jack A. Bobo
senior vice president,
chief communications officer,
Intrexon
Jack Bobo serves as the senior vice President and
chief communications officer for Intrexon, a synthetic
biology company developing revolutionary solutions to
the world’s most pressing problems – in food, energy
and health. In 2015, he was named by Scientific
American one of the 100 most influential people in
biotechnology today. He joins Intrexon from the U.S.
Department of State, where he worked for the past
thirteen years as a senior advisor on global food
policy, biotechnology and agricultural trade. He is an
accomplished communicator, having delivered more
than 300 speeches on the future of food, the role of
science and technology in feeding the world and how
to build consumer trust. Prior to his distinguished
career at the U.S. Department of State, he was an
attorney at Crowell & Moring LLP. He received a
J.D., a M.S. in environmental science, a B.A. in
psychology and chemistry and a B.S. in biology
from Indiana University.
Carrie Calvert
director of tax and commodity policy,
Feeding America
and 60,000 local agencies, Feeding America feeds
46 million Americans a year and leads efforts to
reduce hunger in America. Carrie is a member of the
public policy team in the D.C. office and leads the policy
team’s work on food waste, tax issues and nonprofit
governance, including federal incentives for food and
fund donations. She also has extensive experience in
federal and state policies that promote food rescue and
strengthened capacity in food rescue organizations.
Barbara Cohen
co-founder, Food Cowboy
Barbara Cohen, a public health and nutrition expert,
has addressed issues of hunger, food insecurity,
nutrition and the relationship between food and health
outcomes at both national and local levels through
program development and evaluation. She was part
of a small group of academic and policy leaders who
worked to move the national discussion from one of
hunger to food security and developed measures now
used on national and international population-based
surveys. Barbara authored a “Community Food Security
Assessment Toolkit” for the USDA that she used to
train communities in the development of adequate
food systems that reduced waste and improved
people’s access to nutritious food.
Most recently, Barbara co-founded Food Cowboy to
address food waste, food insecurity and environmental
sustainability by using location-based technology
to route surplus or “rejected” food to charities or
sustainable disposers. The Food Cowboy system
is used nationally in the supply chain and by local
donation networks, as well.
Carrie Calvert is the director of tax and commodity policy
at Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger
organization. Through a network of 200 food banks
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U.S. SPOKESPEOPLE AND TOPICS
Driving Innovation Toward the Future
Sugarcane Aphid Control in Sorghum
The Challenges of Modern Agriculture
Operational Efficiency in Proper
Weed Control
Uplifting Youth in Agriculture
Disease Management and Yield
Potential in 2018
Dr. Adrian Percy, global head of research &
development, and executive committee member
of Crop Science, a division of Bayer
David Hollinrake, vice president of North America
marketing, Crop Science, a division of Bayer
Beth Roden, global communications lead,
Crop Science
Darren Wallis, vice president of communications,
Crop Science, a division of Bayer, North America
What’s the Future of Weed Resistance?
David Tanner, product manager, Liberty
Aaron Hager, associate professor, University
of Illinois
Frank Rittemann, product manager, cotton &
insecticides
Jason Manz, product manager
Jason Manz, product manager
Value of Neonics on Corn
Bill Striegel, product development manager,
seed treatments
Pete Nowak, professor, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Nematode Management/Root Health
New Product Launch: Fluency Agent
Advanced
Do Seed Treatments, Insecticides and
Fungicides Pay Off in Soybeans?
Beyond the Buzz: Bayer continues to
Fight for Pollinators
Maximizing ROI during a Soft
Commodity Market
Regulation of New Breeding Tools
Jennifer Riggs, product development manager,
SeedGrowth
Jeremiah Mullock, product development manager,
SeedGrowth
Shawn Conley, associate professor, University
of Wisconsin-Madison
Mike McCarville, field operations North
Dan Basse, president, AgResource
Joe Vaillancourt, northern region campaign
manager, soy
Josh VanDeWalle, northern region campaign
manager, corn
Melissa Chu, product manager, SeedGrowth
Ron Reichert, application technology manager,
SeedGrowth
Jerry Dove, grower
Becky Langer, North American bee care manager
Iain Kelly, director, regulatory policy and issue
management
Dean Bushey, Ph.D., global regulatory manager
for research
What Can We Expect from the
New Administration?
Jim McVaney, senior director of federal relations
and policy (energy, environment & agriculture)
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NOTES
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