Julian Candanosa is the Engineering and Technologies Director at NatureSweet. He has 30 years of experience in various branches of industry, including paper, food, electronics, and appliances. He has led teams in manufacturing and maintenance and has implemented various work systems: Lean, TPM, SMED, High Efficiency Work Teams, etc. Candanosa has also led packing operations and new product development at NatureSweet. Today, he is in charge of all new greenhouses installation and new packaging technologies for NatureSweet.

Mike is the Head of Agriculture Data Exchange (ADX) at TELUS Agriculture, one of the world’s largest, pure play agriculture technology teams focused on creating better food outcomes by connecting and digitizing our food ecosystem from seed growers to grocers. As head of ADX, Mike leads the team responsible for providing a better exchange of information across the full value chain by linking systems together in new ways, which will drive trust, efficiency, and innovation across the industry. Prior to joining TELUS Agriculture, Mike was a founding member of AgIntegrated, the global leader in providing neutral data integration services to enable software vendors and enterprises for over 10 years.

Mike holds an MBA from Saint Francis University and a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Penn State University.

Kris Covey is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program at Skidmore College where he studies terrestrial ecosystems and their role in climate and life. An Applied Ecologist, and a Biogeochemist, Kris works to integrate his research into solutions for managing human-dominated landscapes for multiple values.

After designing the global study that provided the first robust estimate of number of trees on earth (3.04 trillion), Kris turned his focus to large-scale, soil-carbon mapping using a novel combination of existing technologies. Prior to joining the faculty at Skidmore College, Dr. Covey was the lead scientist at the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative and a Lecturer in Forest Dynamics at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. There, he co-founded the Western Research Fellowship at the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative and the Quick Carbon research program, served as a member of the School’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Committee, and as a member of Yale University’s Carbon Offset Task Force. As a contributor to the Global Carbon Project’s Methane Working Group, he authors the vegetation section of the Global Methane Budget. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Adirondack Nature Conservancy and the New York State Wood Products Development Council.

In 2020, Kris co-founded The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP) along with Bruno Basso. Together with private, industry, academic, and foundation partners they are building a distributed national-scale soil inventory system to inform soil management and markets. Through a novel combination of app-based automated sampling design, and distributed soil sampling tools allowing anyone to collect near-surface soil samples, TSIP is building regional scale models capable of linking individual producer practices to measurable outcomes.

Bailey Stockdale is the founder & CEO of Leaf: food & agriculture’s data infrastructure company. Bailey has worked with food and agriculture technology since 2014 as a software developer, entrepreneur, and EIR at SP Ventures’ AgTech fund. Bailey is passionate about empowering developers that are solving farming, health, and sustainability challenges through food and agriculture technology. With Leaf, he contributes to broadening industry access and building the tools that food and agriculture technology needs to scale. Leaf provides farm data infrastructure similar to Plaid in finance, Twilio in communications, or Stipe in payments.

Ben Sloan is Senior Vice President of Product for EFC Systems. He is responsible for the design, development, and deployment of FieldAlytics. Prior to his role at EFC, Ben led the development of first of its kind tools at AgSolver connecting farm profitability with environmental performance. Ben holds Masters and Bachelor’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University.

Rob leads Ernst & Young’s (EY) agribusiness sector globally and focuses on strategy, innovation, and M&A in the agribusiness and food sectors. As EY’s global leader, he works directly with client executives to optimize their approach in global markets and serves as lead partner on accounts ranging from seed/chem, agri-retail, grain processing, and meat processing.

Rob’s experience ranges from growth strategy to operating model design to digital innovation across the agri, food, and beverage value chain. He works with client executives in the design and implementation of the appropriate operating model for their business, including strategy/portfolio management, marketing/merchandising, digital agriculture, operational areas, and back-office efficiency.

Todd Stucke

Senior Vice President, Marketing, Product Support & Strategic Projects, Kubota

Kurt Coffey

Vice President, Case IH North America

Deanna Kovar

Vice President, Production & Precision Ag Production Systems, John Deere