THE BEST INVESTMENT YOU'LL MAKE IN YOUR BUSINESS ALL YEAR...
What is FARMCON?
FARMCON is an opportunity for you to connect with like-minded movers and shakers in the ag sector. These are people who have felt the ground crumbling beneath their feet and lived to tell the tale. It’s is an event for learning, working, and some play too. It’s not for everyone though – we’re looking for those ready and willing to take themselves and their businesses to the next level in 2021. It’s a series of hands-on workshops that will encourage you to push the limits of your creativity, discipline, and potential for success.
Most importantly, FARMCON doesn’t end when the conference is over. We are working to build a network of creative-minded people that love rural America and what it stands for, and people that are willing to fight to keep it alive. We aim to give you something you can take home to your team, to help arm you with the tools to needed to create a growing and thriving modern business.Together we can make a difference!
It will change your perspective!
Is FARMCON for me?
FARMCON is for owners, founders, partners, and entrepreneurs that are willing and open minded enough to look at new ideas and new practices. It is not for everyone, though. It is not for those who want to be told what to do, or for those not open to change. If you are looking for someone to make you feel good about what you are currently doing or your current business practices, this is not your conference. This is for those individuals who can’t find people in their offices or back home that will challenge their perspectives or current beliefs. This is for the leaders, the movers, the shakers, the difference makers… Those who have always dared to see things differently. The ones who follow a vision. You value the things that actually matter – family & lifestyle. While others are distracted by the NEW changes, you focus on the significance and excitement of a whole new perspective. Together we can change things!
Relentless optimism is what has always moved our farming families forward. So here’s to those who keep seeing things differently and keep trusting that there is going to be another way. We simply want to help those who want to lead and see the reason to fight for rural America. You are the difference between the world of agriculture as it was and the better place it will be. You are the one that helps push the world forward. We need people like you, agriculture needs people like you, rural America needs people like you.
If you believe you are one of those men or women, we are honored to have you on our team and look forward to seeing you in Kansas City this January. Come ready to work and leave ready to make a difference!
The Main Event
Featured Speakers
Peter Zeihan
Peter Zeihan is an expert in geopolitics: the study of how place impacts financial, economic, cultural, political and military developments. He presents customized executive briefings to a wide array of audiences which include, but are not limited to, financial professionals, Fortune 500 firms, energy investors, and a mix of industrial, power, agricultural and consulting associations and corporations. Mr. Zeihan has been featured in, and cited by, numerous newspapers and broadcasts including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, AP, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC, The New York Times, Fox News and MarketWatch.
Granger Smith
Granger Smith also known by his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr., is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released ten studio albums, one live album, and two EPs. He scored his first number one hit in 2016 with “Backroad Song” and a second top ten hit with “If the Boot Fits” in 2017. Since then, he has also started a company with his two brothers, Tyler & Parker Smith, called Yee Yee nation, which consists of apparel, podcasts, their own YouTube video, music videos, tournament fishing, and so much more.
Bill Ludwig
Strategic, Creative and New Business Consultant – visionary and strategic leader with a passion for great ideas, vibrant conversations, and emerging trends and technologies. Most known for the Chevy ad campaign “Like a Rock”.
Former CEO – Campbell Ewald – served as brand champion for some of the country’s most recognized marketers, including Alltel Wireless, Carrier, Centers for Disease Control, Chicken of the Sea, Chevrolet, Ghirardelli, The Hartford, Kaiser Permanente, LA Tourism, MotorCity Casino Hotel, Olympic Paint and Stain, OnStar, PIMCO, USAA, the U.S. Mint, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Postal Service. During a career at Campbell Ewald spanning almost 30 years, been on the receiving end of just about every award in the industry. Worked in the trenches as a copywriter and in C-level suites as the agency’s Chief Creative Officer.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement
• Served as the U.S. judge at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
• Featured Wall Street Journal Creative Leader
• Member of the Ad Council Board of Directors
• Outspoken advocate for the creative community in Detroit, including founder of the annual D Show creative awards and co-chair of the Michigan Film Coalition
• Nationally recognized creative leader behind iconic ad campaigns that won hundreds of industry awards — Cannes, Clios, Effies and the MPA Kelly Award
• Joined Campbell Ewald as a copywriter in 1982
Gregg Doud
Gregg brings an unparalleled global perspective and economic expertise to the team. He works closely with members of the Executive Intelligence Network (EIN) and plays a major role in the development of its thought leadership priorities. Prior to joining Aimpoint Research, Gregg served in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as Chief Agricultural Negotiator with the rank of U.S. Ambassador. He was one of the primary architects of the U.S.-China “Phase One” trade agreement.
Gregg has previously served as President of the Commodity Markets Council, the leading trade association for commodity futures exchanges and their industry counterparts, where he worked to lead the industry in addressing global market and risk management issues. As a senior staff member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Doud helped craft the 2012 Senate Farm Bill working on international trade, food aid, livestock, and oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Doud served as Chief Economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for eight years and is a former market analyst for the U.S. Wheat Associates.
Raised on a dry-land wheat, grain sorghum, soybean, swine, and cow-calf operation near Mankato in North-Central Kansas, Doud continues to be involved in his family’s 100-year-old farm and is a partner in a commercial cow-calf operation. He received a B.S. in Agriculture with an emphasis in animal science, as well as a M.S. in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. He currently resides with his family on their horse farm in Lothian, Maryland.
Kevin Van Trump, CEO
CEO, Farm Direction, Angel Investor, Trader, Corp. Coach, and author of The Van Trump Report. Helps investors and Ag professionals better execute by making more informed decisions.
Paul Mobley
Paul Mobley is an award-winning photographer who has traveled the world to capture and celebrate humanity. His early training began at Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies, and continued in the New York studios of such leading photographers as Annie Leibovitz and David Langley, where he apprenticed for many years before embarking on his own career.
In 2005 Paul set out to capture everyday heroes through the world. From Farmers and ranchers, to medical doctors giving of their time to help in Haiti, to former POW’s, to teachers, to firefighters who braved the towers in New York City on 9/11. Paul shares the images and the stories behind them, inspiring us to realize that we all can make a difference in the world.
Jacob Shapiro
Jacob oversees geopolitical analysis at CI, working with the CI research team to integrate geopolitics into CI’s investment strategies. He also authors the “Global Situation Report,” a weekly intelligence brief on the world’s most important developments.
Jacob hosts CI’s podcast series, “Cognitive Dissidents,” which features interviews with a diverse array of foreign policy, technology, and global business experts. Jacob is a prolific writer and frequent keynote speaker at conferences and events, known for challenging consensus views whilst retaining a healthy sense of irony.
Prior to joining CI, Jacob was Director of Analysis at Geopolitical Futures, which he co-founded with famed geopolitical strategist George Friedman. Before co-founding GPF, Jacob was Director of the Operations Center at Stratfor, the geopolitical intelligence firm. He received a master’s degree with distinction from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Near Eastern studies.
In addition to CI, Jacob is the founder and Chief Strategist of Perch Perspectives. Perch is a business and political risk consulting firm that works directly with global businesses, helping them to identify and plan for key global risks to their supply chains, with special focus on the technology, agriculture, energy, and apparel industries.
When he doesn’t have his head buried in a book, you can find Jacob at a random pick-up basketball game somewhere in New Orleans doing his best Larry Bird impersonation.
Guest Panelists
Soren Schroder,
Carter Williams, CEO
Andy Daniels, CEO
Travis Potter, Owner
Andrew O'Donnell,
Steve Barr
Mary Shelman, Fmr.
Steve Bruere, CEO
Mitch Eviston, CEO
Walter Cronin
David Farley, CEO
Jeff Tarsi, Exec
Grant Wells, CEO
Emily French, CEO
Johnny Hunter
Mike Mock, CEO
Mitchell Hora, CEO
Matthew Wadiak
Greg Beck, SVP
Emily de La Bruyère
Carter Malloy, CEO
Tom Willis, CEO
Jay Felton, Partner
Matt Crisp, CEO
Chris Harbourt,
Mary Winn Pilkington
Chris Baumann
John Peurifoy, CEO
Eric Snodgrass
Shane Hutchinson
Craig Kaiser, CEO
Jay O’Neil
Kellen Nielson
Troy Bolt
Jordan Van Trump
Attend The Event
FARMCON TWO DAY CONFERENCE
Founding Partners
#FARMCON2023
JANUARY 04-05 KANSAS CITY, MO
Copyright @2022 Farm Direction – All rights reserved.
TERMS
Take a moment to review the terms and conditions for this event.
- FULL REFUNDS will be given 90-days prior to the event.
- A 50% refund will be given for any reason between 31 and 90 days prior to the event.
- NO REFUNDS will be given within 30 days of the event unless the event is postponed due to circumstances beyond our control. It is extremely important that we commit by this date in order to bring reduced rates to our participants.
For questions or partnership opportunities,
Contact us here: Michelle@farmdirection.com
