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Bill Kirk is the CEO and Co-founder of Weather Trends International. He has 26-years experience with a contagious passion for applying year-ahead business weather guidance and predictive analytics to help Fortune 1,000 companies and farmers everywhere achieve better business in any weather. To date, over $1 Billion in ROIs have been achieved for WTI’s weather savvy clients. This is the second company Bill has founded with the first selling for a 28X return on investment in 3 years. Bill has raised $6.8 million in venture capital from Kodiak Venture Partners, Trestle Ventures, and Innovation Capital. Bill served as a Captain in the U. S. Air Force and worked with NASA and the Space Shuttle Columbia Ferry Flights, briefed 1000’s of F-16 fighter missions and saved the government millions of dollars in the procurement of a $100 million dollar Satellite Data Handling System. He has published several business-weather and technical reports identifying winning strategies to capitalize on the weather, and has identified how weather influences the overall economy. Bill is regularly featured on Fox, CNBC and other national TV networks and quoted in Bloomberg, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, ICSC and Citigroup retail reports and other media outlets as an expert in long range weather cycles. Bill is also a consulting partner with the Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) with leader status on their network of experts (Top 5%). He is named on four U.S. and U.K. patents as inventor and co-inventor for business-weather forecasting technology. Bill is a graduate of Rutgers University as an Air Force Distinguished Graduate with a B.S. in Meteorology. Bill currently sits on the Advisory Board of Directors for Millersville University’s Business of Science Masters Program, and is a lifetime founding member of the Open Atmospheric Society (OAS). Bill is a signatory and member of the Cornwall Alliance.

Granular is an agriculture software and analytics company dedicated to helping industry leaders build stronger and smarter farms. With cloud, mobile and advanced data science technology, the Granular platform makes it easier to manage a large farm every day and use data for critical business decisions. Connecting financial, operational and agronomic information into a single platform, farmers can boost their efficiency and productivity. Granular’s rapidly growing network of farms in the US and Canada is finding new ways to profit from aggregated data, expertise and market power. Granular is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Tao Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures and Khosia Ventures. http://www.granular.ag

Tom is a passionate entrepreneur and precision conservation thought leader with over 30 years of experience in conservation planning. He founded Agren in 1996 to pioneer innovative conservation solutions to complex environmental problems. After 22 years he sold Agren to a major ag retailer. Tom drives business development and strategic partnerships, and is highly regarded for his creativity, innovation and commitment to developing tools to further conservation implementation. Prior to Agren he spent 14 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Iowa as a Soil Conservationist and as a District Conservationist. Tom has received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy in 1982 and a Master of Business Administration in 1995, both from Iowa State University.

Rachel Gingell has always had an interest in farm tractors. The interest that sparked at a young age in the barn with her dad continued to competing in tractor pulls, working at a dealership and professionally auctioning farm equipment. Years later, Rachel’s childhood interest in farm equipment is still going strong. She’s become an integral part of the family business and an innovator in her own right, with her work featured in several trade magazines. Rachel specializes in developing technological tools to expand the tractor enthusiast community. She is a pioneer in online-only auction sales and created Tractor Guide, and iPhone app that allows people to determine the year any tractor was built. Rachel is an alumnus of Cedarville University and Missouri Auction School. Besides tractors, Rachel also enjoys motorcycles, baking and sewing.

Matt Gould is dairy analyst at The Dairy & Food Market Analyst. He is a 2014 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Contact him at MGould@DairyMarketAnalyst.com or 585.813.8777. Subscribe at www.DairyMarketAnalyst.com.

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Originally from central Minnesota, Mark Jewell grew up around the aquaculture, dairy, and poultry industries. He attended the University of Minnesota, completing a B.S. in Agricultural Education, Leadership Training and Development. Carrying a deep devotion for agriculture he spends time working with young leaders of the National FFA Organization as a leadership trainer and speaker. His work has carried him around the United States, and Europe working to develop sustainable leadership training programs for young people. Always quick to pick up on the potential and talent of others, Mark has ventured into the World Wide Web to help free lance professionals share their skills with the agriculture industry. In this effort, he founded AggieLance.com (or Ag-eLance) a service which aids agricultural employers in finding the free lance talent they need. mark@aggielance.com www.aggielance.com

Vance Ehmke and his wife Louise live and farm in the High Plains of western Kansas on the farm that was homesteaded by Vance’s great grandparents back in l886. A past president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and current member of Kansas Crop Improvement Association, the Ehmkes are strong believers in value added and niche markets as well as vertically coordinated business systems. They grow certified seed wheat, rye and triticale. Vance has BS and MS degrees from Kansas State University.

Cargill Animal Nutrition is ready to help you feed your dreams. Our nutrition specialists work with you to understand your dairy’s needs and goals. Then we artfully apply 150 years of insight to tailor nutrition that helps bring your dreams to life. It’s a blend of art and science. It’s how Cargill helps dairies thrive.

Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top tier agricultural company providing innovative crop protection, pest and vegetation management, seed, and agricultural biotechnology solutions to serve the world’'s growing population. We do this through a people-centric performance culture, through our commitments to sustainable development and environmental stewardship, and through collaborations with world-class institutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, global sales for Dow AgroSciences are $3.4 billion.