Wisconsin Agribusiness Classic

 

2023 Speakers

2023 Speakers

Kevin Harvatine

Kevin Harvatine

Wednesday
Animal Health & Nutrition

Kevin J. Harvatine is Professor of Nutritional Physiology at Penn State University. He grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Pennsylvania and received his BS in Animal Science from Penn State. He earned an MS from Michigan State University and PhD from Cornell University. Dr. Harvatine’s research is focused on regulation of milk synthesis. His goal is to identify nutritional, environmental, and physiological factors that impact milk fat and protein yield and develop strategies to improve production, efficiency, and health. His research spans from applied nutrition to basic biology and provides both real-world applications to the dairy industry and a basic understanding of biological mechanisms. Current ongoing projects focus on seasonal and circadian rhythms of feed intake and milk synthesis, effect of acetate and specific long-chain fatty acids on milk fat, omega-3 fatty acid metabolism, and management of diet-induced milk fat depression. His research program has been funded by USDA AFRI, commodity boards, and industry grants.

Bio
Amie Hasselbring

Amie Hasselbring

Thursday
Agribusiness Workforce Development

Amie Hasselbring works out of Bloomington, Illinois with GROWMARK as the Member & Student Recruiting Manager. Her team serves FS Member cooperatives in the recruiting space from Missouri to the Delaware and Canada to Kentucky.
She has been a part of the GROWMARK team for 10-years. She started as an Energy Marketing intern and throughout her career has held roles in human resources and the energy product division. She maintains her Society of Human Resource Management – Certified Professional designation.
Amie has her bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Communication & Leadership from Illinois State University. She is a lifetime member of National FFA Alumni where she supports Illinois FFA members by serving as a judge and assists in preparing them for Career Development Events.

Bio
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Dave Hooker

Thursday
Disease Management

Bio
David Jaramillo

David Jaramillo

Wednesday
Forages & Insects

David Jaramillo is a research animal scientist with the US Dairy Forage Research Center but based out of Marshfield. David joined US DFRC in the Spring of 2021, shortly after completing a short post-doctoral period in Pennsylvania and a PhD in Florida. David’s research program is primarily focused on developing grazing systems for replacement dairy heifers, encompassing both pasture agronomics with animal nutrition work.

Bio
John Jones

John Jones

Wednesday
Soil & Water Management

Dr. John Jones is a Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management Researcher in the Department of Soil Science at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Jones’ research experience has focused on measuring and managing soil nutrients for agronomic and water quality benefits through soil-test calibration, identifying in what forms nutrients exist in soil and water, and improving nutrient recommendations. He is an alumnus of Kansas State (BS) and Iowa State (MS and PhD) Universities. John and his family live on their farm near Columbus, Wis.

Bio
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Sally Ladsten

Thursday
Agribusiness Workforce Development

Sally Ladsten is the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Education Consultant for the Department of Public Instruction and serves as the State FFA Advisor. Prior to coming to DPI, Sally worked as an Agriculture and Biology Instructor at Sauk Prairie High School and was one of the FFA Advisors for the local chapter.

Bio
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Becky Larson

Wednesday
Fertilizer & Manure

Dr. Larson is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed her BS, MS, and PhD in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at Michigan State University. The main component of her work focuses on increasing sustainability of food waste and livestock manure systems to reduce environmental impact while maintaining profitability.

Bio
Joe Lauer

Joe Lauer

Wednesday
Agronomy

Joe is a Professor in the Dept. of Agronomy at UW-Madison. His research focuses on management decision-making regarding crop productivity, quality, and production system efficiency including hybrid selection, rotation, tillage, replanting and yield loss damage assessments. Emphasis is on impact of cropping practices on grower profitability, the environment, and natural resource conservation.

Bio
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Laura Lindsey

Wednesday
Agronomy

Dr. Laura Lindsey is the soybean and small grain extension state
specialist. The goal of her research and extension program is to
maximize crop yield while maintaining economic and environmental
sustainability. She received her PhD in Crop and Soil Sciences from
Michigan State University and her BS and MS in Soil Science from Ohio
State.

Bio
Brian Luck

Brian Luck

Wednesday; Thursday
Forages & Insects; Disease Management

Brian Luck is an Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist in the Biological Systems Engineering Department. Dr. Luck specializes in Machinery Systems and Precision Agriculture. His research interests include machinery logistics and movement, remote sensing, and planter/planting technology. He received his BS and MS degrees from the Univ. of Kentucky and his PhD from Mississippi State Univ.

Bio
Dan Marzu

Dan Marzu

Thursday
Nutrient Management

Dan Marzu is the UW-Madison Nutrient and Pest Management Northcentral Regional Outreach Specialist. Dan held Agriculture Extension Educator positions in Lincoln, Langlade, and Marathon Counties from 2012 to 2021. Dan’s programming focused on practices that decrease soil erosion and nutrient runoff. These programs included assisting farmers in writing and implementing nutrient management plans and participating in research studies on nitrogen applications to corn and cover crops in northern Wisconsin. Prior to Dan’s appointment with Extension, he was in private industry working as custom pesticide applicator and sales agronomist in Illinois and Wisconsin, where he earned his Certified Crop Adviser certification. Dan has his bachelor’s degree from UW-River Falls and a masters of science degree from UW-Whitewater.

Bio
Paul Mitchell

Paul Mitchell

Thursday
Economics & Special Topics

Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Extension State Specialist for Cropping Systems and Environmental Management
Director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute

Paul grew up on a farm in northeastern Iowa, attended Iowa State University for his PhD in Economics. He has been on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin since 2004 where he runs an active research, teaching and outreach program focused broadly on agriculture. As director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute, he leads the Institute’s broad mission to enhance education for students and support research and outreach for the state’s agribusiness sector.

Bio
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Susan Mockert

Thursday
Nutrient Management

Susan Mockert is a grant manager with the Wis. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, currently acting as the program manager of the Nitrogen Optimization Pilot grant program. Susan holds a MS from Indiana University-Bloomington and has over 15 years of experience in the environmental arena, including work in conservation, watershed planning, and environmental assessment.

Bio
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Jim Nolte

Agribusiness Safety & Compliance

Jim is the Safety Director for Wisconsin Agri-Business Association (WABA). Jim’s responsibilities include assisting WABA members with their overall safety program and OSHA compliance in general. Jim earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Occupational Safety from UW-Whitewater. Before joining WABA, Jim held various safety management positions in private industry, worked with the OSHA consultation program and did some private consulting. Jim has over 39 years of safety and OSHA compliance experience.

Bio
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Aaron O'Rourke

Thursday
Nutrient Management

Aaron O’Rourke is a graduate of UW-Stevens Point where he received a Bachelor Degree in Resource Management and a minor in Soil Science. Aaron has been with the DNR and in the CAFO program since 2016. He started with the program as a Nutrient Management plan reviewer and took over as the Nutrient Management Program Coordinator in the CAFO program in 2017. Aaron is located in Eau Claire Wisconsin, however he covers CAFO NMP’s statewide with an emphasis on policy making and NMP review.

Bio
mike parsen

Michael Parsen

Wednesday
Vegetables

Mike Parsen is a Hydrogeologist (Scientist II) at the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey within the Division of Extension at UW-Madison. His research uses data and models to evaluate the regional response of groundwater systems to changes in pumping, recharge, and contaminant transport. Mike has worked in many regions of the state and brings an applied approach to addressing groundwater concerns and helping Wisconsinites better understand groundwater resource issues that affect them. WGNHS webpage https://wgnhs.wisc.edu Mike Parsen’s webpage https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/about/people/mike-parsen.

Bio
Jamie Patton

Jamie Patton

Thursday
Nutrient Management

Jamie Patton is an Outreach Specialist for northeast Wisconsin with the Nutrient and Pest Management Program (NPM), UW-Madison. Her research and outreach activities focus on farm system approaches to improving soil health as a means to achieve, farm profitability and resiliency, and ground and surface water quality. She earned her soils degrees from Iowa State and Oklahoma State Universities.

Bio
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Amy Pechacek

Thursday
Agribusiness Workforce Development

Amy is a government administration strategist with two decades of executive leadership experience, including serving as the Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and directing numerous public programs for Milwaukee County. Secretary-designee Pechacek has managed benefit administration, health and life safety functions, community development, criminal justice and juvenile detention reform, and other complex program services for multimillion-member constituencies. For the past decade she has been involved in public policy creation and implementation, and acted in advisory roles for various practice areas associated with local and large-scale governmental administration, specializing in crisis management for compliance related damage mitigation and program recovery. Amy began her career as a licensed private detective focused on fraud investigations, and has traveled the country extensively working undercover.

She received her master's degree in public policy and public administration from Northwestern University and her undergraduate degree from UW-Madison in sociology and criminal justice. Amy is also a graduate of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service's Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.

Bio
Laila Puntel

Laila Puntel

Wednesday
Fertilizer & Manure

Laila Puntel is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Agronomy and Horticulture, Univ. of Nebraska. She received her BS from Univ. of Mar Del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2010; her MS from Iowa State Univ. in 2012; and her PhD from Iowa State Univ. in 2018. Her area of expertise is soil and water, focusing on soil fertility and precision agriculture.

Bio
Heathcliffe Riday

Heathcliffe Riday

Wednesday
Forages & Insects

Heathcliffe Riday is the forage legume breeder at the U.S. Dairy Forage Researcher Center (USDA-ARS) in Madison, Wisconsin. He received his bachelors degree at Brigham Young University in Conservation Biology and his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. at Iowa State University in Plant Breeding in Charlie Brummer’s Forage Breeding Program. He is interested in breeding questions related to all forage legumes species and runs active breeding projects primarily in red clover with smaller projects in alfalfa, kura clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and white clover.

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