The VISION Conference

Paul Schrimpf

Group Editor | U.S. Agribusiness Group

Meister Media Worldwide

Paul Schrimpf, an award-winning journalist, has covered the agriculture market since 1998. He is Group Editor of the U.S. Agribusiness Group at Meister Media Worldwide, leading an editorial team covering the ag retail distribution channel under the CropLife® and CropLife® IRON brands and the precision sector under the PrecisionAg® Professional. He also administers North American activities for the PrecisionAg Institute, a consortium of industry-leading organizations that is a principal source of research, advocacy, and education in the areas of precision agriculture and digital farming.

Founded in 1994 and acquired by Meister in 2000, the PrecisionAg brand includes a website at PrecisionAg.com, a bi-monthly magazine, a weekly e-newsletter, a variety of in-person events, and the PrecisionAg Institute. The Institute is a consortium of agriculture companies that is dedicated to facilitating the adoption of precision agriculture products and practices, and promoting the benefits of precision agriculture for improving profitability, sustainability, and efficiency in the farming operation.

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Jeff Keiser

Lead Offering Manager

Agribusiness Solutions IBM Watson, The Weather Company

Jeff Keiser, Lead Offering Manager, Agribusiness Solutions IBM Watson, The Weather Company, has been recognized as an industry leader in digital farming, crop technology, and data and analytics across his more than 30 years of experience in global agribusiness. Jeff joined IBM’s Watson Media & Weather group at The Weather Company in 2018. He helps agribusiness clients overcome challenges in precision farm data management and analysis through innovation and delivery of advanced crop environment analytics that solve their business challenges by leveraging machine-collected data and creating new business intelligence and crop management insights. Jeff earned a BS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University.

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Chris Rhodes

Global Director of Business Development

AGCO Fuse

Chris Rhodes, Global Director of Business Development for AGCO Fuse, is in charge of developing partnerships as part of Fuse’s open approach to technology development. Chris joined AGCO in 2014 after spending eight years at John Deere in various roles, including his role as product manager for the Robot Gator. He entered the agricultural industry in 2005 as a co-founder of the biotechnology company, Precision Biosciences, where he created and managed partnerships with seed companies including DuPont and Bayer Crop Science. Chris earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and his MBA from Duke University. He is based in Duluth, GA.

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Renato Hersz

Strategy and Corporate Development Director

SOLINFTEC – Automação Sem Limites

Renato Hersz is Strategy and Corporate Development Director for Solinftec overlooking initiatives in: (I) New Crops: Legacy in Sugar Cane, operating in Citrus, Coffee, Perennial Crops, Forestry and a core growth focus in Row Crops (Corn, Soy and Cotton) and Wheat, (II) New Regions: Originally from Brazil, solutions deployed in 8 countries and a core growth focus in the US Midwest and Eastern Europe and (III) Ecossystem partnerships: Deploying Ecossystem strategy through commercial and technological agreements with leading players in the Industry. Renato has been a partner and board member in Solinftec since 2014.

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Fred Ziari

President

IRZ Consulting

Fred Ziari founded IRZ Consulting, a resource management company that provides irrigation engineering and water resource management to agriculture communities around the world. As a social entrepreneur, Ziari founded the non-profit, Farmers Ending Hunger (FEH). As a tech innovator, he developed satellite soil-moisture monitoring and sensor technologies that have resulted in one hundred billion gallons of water and 300+ million kilowatt hours of electricity saved for communities over the last decade. Ziari’s awards include the OSU Agricultural Hall of Fame, Austin Entrepreneurship Program of OSU’s College of Business’s Weatherford Award, and the International Business Award from the Oregon Consular Corps.

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Todd Berg

Director Product Management & Customer Success

HarvestMark Division of Trimble, Inc.

Todd Berg works with agriculture and food supply chain customers to identify new tech opportunities that could potentially benefit their business. Berg is an expert in traceability and supply chain quality solutions from the field to the consumer and a volunteer on the PMA Science & Technology Committee which advocates the development of Blockchain solutions and standards for the fresh food supply chain. Berg has spent his career leading software product management, specifically in SaaS and mobile solutions, and he has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University.

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Young Kim

CEO

Digital Harvest

Young Kim has 20+ years of experience growing companies in aerospace, robotics and data science. His experience of applying unmanned systems to agriculture started in 2008 when he was CEO of company that converted a single seat manned helicopter into a fully autonomous aerial crop sprayer. In 2011, he created the first conference dedicated exclusively to applying unmanned systems technology in agriculture and later as a member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) led its first Precision Agriculture committee. Since 2014 he has been building Digital Harvest to be a leading data science company focused on global C4 photosythentic and tuber crops. He holds a BS in Applied Physics and an MBA.

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Jeremy Wilson

Technology Specialist

Crop IMS LLC

Jeremy Wilson began his career as a crop insurance loss adjuster and Certified Crop Specialist for Wabash Valley Service Company in 1995. In July 2006, Wilson became a Technology Specialist for Crop IMS LLC (a Field Consulting, Data Management and Technology Company based in Effingham, Illinois). Wilson works with growers to collect a variety of data for in-depth data analysis to help farmers make timely crop production decisions. He also serves on the Strategic Board of Directors for AgGateway, a non-profit consortium of business that promote and enable industry transition to digital agriculture to maximize efficiency and productivity.

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Kyle Welborn

Managing Director

The Yield Lab

Kyle Welborn is Managing Director for The Yield Lab, an Ag Tech focused venture capital firm that invests in high-impact early-stage companies around the world. He is also co-founder and Partner at Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm formed in 2012 with over $100 million under management and 120+ portfolio companies. He leads the operations team which manages eleven different venture funds and accelerator programs. From 2007-2008, Welborn served as an analyst at the I2A Fund, a $10 million venture capital fund focused on making seed stage investments in the Midwest. Welborn graduated from Loyola University Chicago where he studied political science.

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Sean Gilbert

President

Gilbert Orchards

Sean Gilbert is the President of Gilbert Orchards, a family owned, vertically-integrated tree fruit company that has been growing in Washington State’s fertile Yakima Valley since 1897. After earning a B.A. in History from Pomona College, Gilbert served various management roles in orchards, warehousing, and marketing. He currently represents the Yakima Valley’s organic and conventional fruit industry on the Board of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association.

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