Wisconsin Agribusiness Classic

2025 Speakers

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Harkirat Kaur

Agronomy

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Hava B

Hava Blair

SnapPlus

Hava is a soil scientist and researcher. She collaborates with the SnapPlus team to develop and implement the soil fertility, erosion, and nutrient loss models in SnapPlus. She earned her PhD in Land and Atmospheric Science from the Univ. of Minnesota."

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Horacio Lopez-Nicora

Disease Management

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Jason Rowe

Economics/Industry Topics

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Jedd Colquhoun

Jed Colquhoun

Agronomy

Jed Colquhoun is a Professor and Extension Specialist working in commercial fruit and vegetable production and IPM Program Director at the Univ. of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison. Jed's work is centered at the crossroads of productive agricultural systems and resilient natural resources.  His research program has been funded by over 150 competitive grants and he has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Jed has held several administrative roles for UW-Madison and UW-Extension, most recently as Interim Program Leader for Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension and Associate Dean for the UW-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences. Jed also serves as an advisor for several agriculture- and food-related organizations and on numerous boards for grower associations, foundations and related public agencies, sitting on over 90 leadership committees in his career. He has held the Friday Chair for Vegetable Production Research and Gottschalk Chair for Cranberry Production. Prior to returning to UW-Madison in 2005, he was a faculty member at Oregon State Univ. for 5 years.

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Jeff Hadachek

Jeff Hadachek

Soil & Water Management

Jeff Hadachek is an assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Ag and Applied Economics at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the faculty at UW in the fall of 2023. He grew up on a row crop farm in North Central Kansas and holds degrees from Kansas State Univ. and the Univ. of California-Davis. Jeff specializes in the economic valuation of environmental resources and agricultural conservation. His research also addresses adaptation and resilience of agriculture and food production to extreme events.

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Jerry Clark

Economics/Industry Topics

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Jess McCluer

Jess McCluer

Grain Quality Management

Jess McCluer, Senior Vice President, Safety and Regulatory with the National Grain and Feed Association is responsible for directing and managing the NGFA’s wide-ranging operations programs for grain elevators, feed mills and grain processing plants. 

This includes NGFA’s activities regarding employee safety and industrial health, environmental issues, grain-handling facility design and equipment, grain inspection and weighing issues, grain and feed quality, crop technology, trade and agroterrorism/facility security related issues.  

Jess also serves as co-Chair of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council and is co-chair of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) National Occupational Research Agenda Sector Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing. The Journal of Agromedicine selected Jess as its 2021 “Leader in the Field.” The annual award is for those who have made significant contributions in agricultural safety and health practice, policy, and research.

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John Hageman

Technology

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John J

John Jones

Nutrient Management

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

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Jordan Kampa

Pesticide Application

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Justin McMechan

Insects

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Kristen Ireland

Kristen Ireland

Communications & Management

Kristen Ireland co-founded People Spark Consulting with business partner, Erin Mies, 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. Kristen has more than 20 years of experience consulting and coaching executives, leaders and managers in human resources and leadership development. She is certified as a Change Practitioner through PROSCI. In addition to her work experience, she earned both a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Kristen lives in Minnesota.

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Kyle Cranmer

Kyle Cranmer

Technology

Kyle Cranmer is the David R. Anderson Director of the UW–Madison Data Science Institute and a Professor of Physics with courtesy appointments in Statistics and Computer Science. He is also Editor in Chief of the journal Machine Learning Science and Technology. He was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering in 2007, the National Science Foundation's Career Award in 2009, and became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021. Under Cranmer’s leadership, the Data Science Institute has collaborated extensively with researchers in the agricultural and life sciences, developing models and tools that give growers, consultants, and Extension specialists insights into the profitability and health of their farms.

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Lindsey Hartfiel

Lindsey Hartfiel

Soil & Water Management

Lindsey Hartfiel is the Research Program Manager for the Discovery Farms Program. In this role, she leads the water quality monitoring projects, identifies new research questions and monitoring areas for the program, and builds research partnerships. Lindsey received her B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls and her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from Iowa State University.

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Luiz Ferrareto

Weather & Forages

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Mallika Nocco

Soil & Water Management

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Mark Renz

Weather & Forages

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Martha Kohmann

Marta Kohmann

Weather & Forages

Marta Kohmann started her work as the Forage Systems Agroecology Extension Specialist/Assistant Professor in 2023 at UW-Madison. She has worked extensively with forage production in various systems, focusing heavily on how to make them more productive – and healthy. Marta is passionate about extension, and is excited to continue to build science-based knowledge to support producers in their management decisions.

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Matt Rurak

Matt Rurak

Soil Fertility

Matt Ruark is a Professor of Soil Science/State Extension Specialist in the UW-Madison Department of Soil Science.  He is the inaugural recipient of the Wis. Potato and Vegetable Grower BCS Chair in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.  His research and extension activities are related to soil fertility and nutrient cycling in field, vegetable, and biofuel cropping systems. He is currently the co-director of the Wis. Agribusiness Classic and faculty advisor the Discovery Farms Program.  Matt received his BS and MS from the Univ. of Minnesota, and his PhD from Purdue.

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