Changing Agriculture in the Age of Climate Change: Balancing Budgets AND Environmental Sustainability
General Session
August 11, 2020 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
CCA CEUs: 1 - Sustainability Sponsored by: Senator Todd YoungSenator Todd Young represents Hoosiers in the United States Senate. He currently serves on the Senate Committees on Finance; Foreign Relations; Commerce, Science & Transportation; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. A fifth-generation Hoosier, Todd grew up watching his parent work hard in order to support the family. His first jobs were delivering newspapers, mowing lawns, and providing janitorial services at the family business. Todd is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated with honors in 1995 and accepted a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2000, Todd was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps as a Captain. While serving in the Marines and working as a business consultant, Todd earned an MBA and his law degree. In 2010, he ran for Congress and served three terms representing Indiana's 9th District. He was elected to the US Senate in 2016. Todd married his wife, Jenny, in 2005 and worked together in a small law firm in Paoli, Indiana, started by Jenny's great-grandfather. Today, they reside in Greenwood, Indiana, with their four young children: a son, Tucker, and three daughters, Annalise, Abigail, and Ava. Moderator: Eric Pfeiffer, Hoosier Ag Today
Panelist: Bruce Kettler, Indiana State Department of Agriculture Bruce Kettler is the Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, appointed by Governor Eric Holcomb on January 8, 2018, as well as the Director of Agribusiness Development for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Bruce was appointed to Governor Holcomb's cabinet in December of 2019. He joins the department with over 30 years of agricultural leadership experience and knowledge that spans from production agriculture and sales, to community and industry relations. Bruce grew up in western Ohio and developed a passion and appreciation for agriculture at an early age. After serving as the National FFA Vice President, he attended The Ohio State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Agronomy with emphasis in Agricultural Business. He began his professional career in 1987 at Dow AgroSciences where he spent 17 years working in a variety of roles. In 2006, he joined Beck's Hybrids as a Sales Consultant and worked his way up to Area Team Leader, Field Sales Manager, and then Director of Public Relations, the position he held prior to joining ISDA. Bruce is a 2012 graduate of the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program. At ISDA, his main priorities include agricultural advocacy, economic development, youth development and environmental stewardship. Bruce is married to Tammy and has two children, Cory and Christy, and three grandchildren. Panelist: Ben Thomas, Environmental Defense Fund Ben Thomas is the senior policy director for agriculture at Environmental Defense Fund. He focuses on creating innovative and pragmatic solutions to address environmental risks from agriculture by working with key farm groups and policymakers across state and federal government. He has extensive experience working in both state and federal government to develop and implement policy related to food and agriculture. Prior to EDF, Ben served as the director of the Montana Department of Agriculture. In that role, he oversaw economic and regulatory programs serving Montana's number one industry. In 2020, he led the rapid creation and deployment of two new programs created to address faults in the agriculture markets created by the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously served at the United States Department of Agriculture as deputy undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and as chief of staff for the Farm and Foreign Services mission area, where he served as a top adviser to USDA Secretary Vilsack on international trade and farm policy Prior to joining the USDA, he served two members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and was a key player in the development of new farm programs and changes to the conservation and crop insurance title of the farm bill. Ben was raised on a diversified family farm near Morton in the Texas Panhandle. His entire career in policy has been firmly rooted in ensuring state and federal policy support farm families and rural economies across the United States. Panelist: Todd Janzen, Janzen Agricultural Law
Todd J. Janzen is an attorney and co-founder of Janzen Agricultural Law LLC, a law firm dedicated to serving the needs of farmers, ag technology providers, and agribusinesses. Todd also serves as the Administrator for the Ag Data Transparent project, a national effort to bring transparency to contracts between farmers and technology providers. Todd has testified before the US Senate and US House subcommittees on issues concerning ag data collection, privacy, and technology. Todd grew up on a grain and livestock farm in Kansas. Todd served as the chairs of the American Bar Association's Agricultural Management Committee and the Indiana State Bar Association's Ag Law Section. Todd acts as the general counsel to the Indiana Dairy Producers. Todd publishes a nationally recognized ag technology blog, the Janzen Ag Tech Blog. Learn more at: www.aglaw.us. Panelist: Josiah McClellan, Corteva Agriscience Josiah McClellan is the Corporate Sustainability Leader at Corteva Agriscience. He is responsible for developing, managing, and reporting progress against Corteva‘s sustainability commitments. In this role, he works across Corteva’s seed, crop protection, and digital platforms, its integrated operations, and external partners to achieve sustainable outcomes across the agri-food value chain. Josiah has more than two decades of experience in consulting Fortune 500 companies on business sustainability and strategies to improve performance. He has written articles on business sustainability strategies for Sustainable Brands, B2B Marketing Magazine and Marketing Daily and has sat on the boards of Field to Market and U.S. Feed Life Cycle Assessment groups. He has led working groups for Carbon Disclosure Project, Global Reporting Initiative, and ISEAL. Panelist: Chris Lehe, Lehe Farms, Inc. Chris is married to Kimberley Lehe and has the joy of raising three children with her. |