Wisconsin Agribusiness Classic

2025 Speakers

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Allison Young

Communications and Management

Originally from Lowden, Iowa, Allison graduated from UW-Platteville in 2018 with a degree in Animal Science with an emphasis in Ag Business. She has been with Premier Cooperative since graduation, where she currently serves as the Quality Assurance and Communications Manager. In this role, Allison manages Premier's feed safety plans and oversees marketing and communications company-wide. She now lives in Cuba City, WI with her husband, Austin and son, Jack. 

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Amit Sharma

Disease Management

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Aaron O'Rouke

Nutrient Management

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Andrea Topper

Andrea Topper

Nutrient Management

SnapPlus

Andrea Topper is the Nutrient Management Outreach Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.  She works closely with county land conservation staff, farmers and plan writers on nutrient management planning and the SnapPlus program.

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Angie Greving

Communications and Management

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Becky Larson

Soil Fertility

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Bob Lawire

Agribusiness Safety & Management

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Brenda Boetel

Brenda Boetel

Economics/Industry Topics

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Chris Bandura

Soil Fertility

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Chris Clark

Chris Clark

Soil Fertility

Chris Clark a CCA is an outreach specialist for the Nutrient & Pest Management Team in Northeast Wisconsin. Chris partners, cooperates and brings together farmers, researchers and industry providing agronomy outreach. Chris began her role at Extension in 2023. Prior to joining Extension, Chris worked in private sector agronomy lab testing for 12 years, and as a vocational agriculture educator for 9 years. She has a BA in Agricultural Education from UW-River Falls and serves on the Wisconsin Certified Crop Advisor Board.

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Chris Kucharik

Chris Kucharik

Weather & Forages

Chris Kucharik is Professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and serves as director of the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet (Wisconet). He is affiliated with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and the Wisconsin Energy Institute. He serves as co-chair of the Agriculture Working Group for the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI).  His interdisciplinary research program combines ecosystem modeling with field work on plant physiology, eco-hydrology, and biogeochemical cycling to better understand the impacts of land management decision-making and a changing climate on the food-energy-water nexus. 

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Cory Spaetti

Technology

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Damon Smith

Damon Smith

Disease Management

Damon Smith is a Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist at UW-Madison. Damon’s responsibilities include research and extension efforts that focus on improving our understanding of the epidemiology of plant pathogens in order to develop better control recommendations for the sustainable management of field and forage crop diseases. Damon is a native of Western New York State. He earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences at the State University of New York, College at Geneseo, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from North Carolina State University. Prior to Damon’s appointment at UW he was an assistant professor and extension specialist at Oklahoma State University. 

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Dave Nelson

Dave Nelson

Agribusiness Safety & Management

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Emily Bick

Insects

Dr. Emily Bick serves as the Assistant Professor of Precision Pest Ecology of Field and Forage Crops in UW-Madison’s Department of Entomology. Her work focuses on helping practitioners make better decisions in agriculture through the development of novel tools and strategies including sensors, degree day models, and most recently the Insect Pest Text Alert service.

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Eric Hurley

Nutrient Management

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Erin Mies

Communications & Management

Erin Mies co-founded People Spark Consulting with business partner Kristen Ireland, in 2018. People Spark is a business and human resources consulting company that works with small to mid-size businesses in the ag industry to achieve their goals through their HR strategies.  Erin has more than 20 years of experience consulting and coaching executives, leaders, and managers in human resources and leadership development, specifically in the agricultural and food industries. In addition to her work experience, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Music (Harp) from Wittenberg University (Ohio), and her Master of Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Erin resides in Minnesota.

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Fletcher Robbins

Insects

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Francisco Arriaga

Soil & Water Management

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Greg Martinelli

Greg Martinelli

Professional Sales

Greg Martinelli is a sales trainer, sales coach, and speaker who works with agribusiness companies to increase sales productivity, profits and ultimately dominate their market. He spent the last 32 years selling farm to farm, agribusiness to agribusiness and leading sales teams across North America.  He puts all 32 years of that experience into every event; bringing real world solutions that work. Greg is on a personal mission to make you the best salesperson or sales manager possible.  Seeing a critical need in the market, he launched Ag Sales Professionals in 2016. 

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