Conference Presenters
Monday, June 9
Leonard Blackham
Leonard Blackham was raised in Central, Utah. Coming from a family of farmers and ranchers, he participated in 4-H, FFA, and Boy Scouts. In 1970, he took over his family's turkey business which he still manages today.
Politically, he was elected to a four year term on the Sanpete County Commission and chairman of the Utah Association of County Commissioners until elected to the Utah State Senate. He served as state senator from 1993 to 2004. During this time he served as Senate Budget Chairman, Majority Whip and Majority Leader. Blackham served as Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food from January 2005 to January 2014. He was the 6th Commissioner since the state adopted a single commissioner structure.
Blackham continues to be involved in the community. He serves as a scout leader for local troops, national jamborees troops, and leadership training courses. He is active in the Utah Farm Bureau and is a past president of the Utah Young Farmers Association. He received a BS, Agriculture economics, Utah State University. His experience in all areas of agriculture and from the political side of the fence gives him insight into agriculture’s challenges as well as opportunities.
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Bill Hopkin
Ranch-raised in northern Utah, Bill spent the summers managing cattle. Intrigued with the relationship between livestock grazing, wildlife populations, resource health, and profitability, he experimented with different rangeland grazing strategies.
In 1983 Bill was hired as Cattle Manager of the 205,000 acre Deseret Land & Livestock Ranch (DLL). He became the General Manager from 1991 to 2004. Deseret Land & Livestock is well known as a sustainably profitable ranch receiving State and National awards. From 2004 to 2006, Bill was the General Manager of Deseret Ranches of Florida, Triangle Ranches of Texas, and Sooner Land & Livestock in Oklahoma.
Since 2006, as director of the Utah Grazing Improvement Program in the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, Bill and his staff have worked with Utah ranchers to invest over $20 million in projects to improve economic and natural resource management on nearly 2 million acres of private and public rangelands. He has been instrumental in unifying a group of diverse ranchers and land management agencies into combining management of their resources for sustainable livestock, wildlife production and water quality benefits.
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Gregg Simonds
Gregg Simonds is an award-winning, internationally renowned natural resource consultant and ranch manager. His 30-year career with many of the U.S.’s largest ranches and his experience working in several developing countries sets the bar for innovative and integrative land management that builds economic strength into a business.
Currently, Mr. Simonds serves as President of Open Range Consulting, a company dedicated to the successful management of working landscapes for biological and economical values and business sustainability. He has contributed expertise as a consultant for The Nature Conservancy and the nation’s largest private landholders, including the King Ranch, Padlock Ranch, and Malapi Borderlands Group. He has developed rangeland conservation plans in the U.S., Mongolia and Bolivia.
Mr. Simonds has served as a faculty affiliate in the Animal Science Department at Colorado State University and an Adjunct Professor in the Range Science Department at Utah State University.Gregg’s unique talents are to identify all the resources in a business and manage the use of all the resources for economic and resource improvement.
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Breakout #1: Dr. Randy Smith
Dr. Randy Smith currently serves as the president of the largest organization of rural colleges in the United States, the Rural Community College Alliance. He has testified in front of committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate as an expert on issues regarding community colleges. He was an invited participant to the White House Summit on Community Colleges. He served as a member of the 21st Century Community College Commission. He also facilitated the first ever Memorandum of Understanding between a higher education organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He recently facilitated the inclusion of rural community and technical colleges in the 2014 Farm Bill, the first time rural colleges have been specifically included in federal legislation. Randy’s insights into the rural needs and opportunities for adult education are sought out by college and government leaders. Randy holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership.
He is married to Tricia who is a music teacher for the Altus, OK public schools. Daughter Emily is the 2014 Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Princess. The family operates a small cow/calf operation near Altus, Oklahoma.
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Breakout #1: Dr. Ruby Ward
Dr. Ruby Ward was raised on a farm and ranch in Southeastern Idaho. After graduating from Ricks College, she received a BS in Agricultural Economics and Accounting from Utah State University. From Texas A&M University she received an MBA and a PhD in Agricultural Economics.
Dr. Ward joined the faculty at Utah State University in 1998 and was tenured in 2005. Ward is currently an associate professor and extension specialist at Utah State University in the Department of Applied Economics. Her current assignment involves all three areas emphasized at a land grant University: teaching, research and extension. She teaches agricultural finance and community planning.
Ward is the committee chair for the Diversified Agricultural Conference. Ward is the project leader for the Rural Tax Education website and Co-chair of the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee. Ward works primarily in the area of rural development focusing on regional economics and agriculture entrepreneurship.
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Breakout #1: Tina Barrett
Tina has been the Director of the Nebraska Farm Business, Inc. since 2002. She grew up on a corn and soybeans farm in central Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1999. She started with Nebraska Farm Business shortly after graduation as a consultant.
Tina has also been teaching the “Farm Income Tax, Analysis and Accounting” course for the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Agricultural Economics Department since 2005. She enjoys the opportunity to work with the 70 juniors and seniors each fall as they prepare to return to the family farm or support agriculture in many different ways.
Tina is married to Anthony Barrett and they have four girls (ages 7-14) that keep them very busy.
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Breakout #2: Josh Tjosaas
Josh is a second year FBM instructor at Northland College, based out of Moorhead, MN. Prior to working as a FBM instructor, he served thirteen years as a high school agricultural education instructor at BLHS High School in Hector, MN along with serving as a part time technology coordinator for the district. He graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a BS in Agricultural Education.
He works with over 60 progressive and technologically advanced farms in the Red River Valley and has presented to the MN FBM instructors regarding technology use in agriculture and farming. He also programs the website for the Moorhead FBM program at www.northlandfbm-moorhead.com which is a valuable resource for his farms and farms around the MN and ND area.
Josh resides in Wolverton, MN with his wife, Alyssa. They have two American Quarter and American Paint horses that they both compete with local, regional and state shows. They also have two house dogs.
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Breakout #2: Mike Mastey
Mike grew up on a Central Minnesota crop and livestock farm. After teaching high school agriculture for 7 years, Mike transitioned to farm business management education at Ridgewater College in 2000. Since then, he has been helping farm families in Central Minnesota with farm business management education, farm financial planning, transition planning and farm business analysis with livestock, conventional and specialty crop operations.
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Breakout #2: Pat Harrington
I was born on a wheat farm in the Palouse Country of Idaho and raised on a small dairy farm in Post Falls, Idaho, and chose to be a farmer in 1971. I married Ellen in 1981, and we have two fantastic children: Amanda and Kyle. I currently own a mini farm in Chandler AZ. Sweet corn harvest is in June.
Education: B.A. Philosophy, Gonzaga University (1972) and M.S. International Agricultural Development, UC Davis (1973).
Lifework: Department Head Crops and Horticulture, Zambia College of Agriculture (1974-1977); Agricultural Instructor, Gila River Career Center (1977-1981); Professor Emeritus Farm Business Management, Central Arizona College (1981-2010). I began consulting as a Farm Business Management specialist, Arizona Farm and Ranch Management Systems (Arizona F.A.R.M.S.) in 2011.
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Breakout #3: Lauren Omer
Lauren has been a Farm Management Specialist with the Kentucky Farm Business Management program since 2009. She is currently based in Henderson, KY and serves six counties in the area. She grew up on a cattle and row crop farm in western Kentucky and graduated from Murray State University in 2007 with a B.S. in Agribusiness and the University of Tennessee in 2009 with a M.S. in Agribusiness.
Lauren currently resides on the family farm in Union County and continues to be very involved in the cattle operation. As a farm management specialist, Lauren works with primarily grain farms, but also serves several livestock farms. She strives to be very involved in the agricultural community and sees this as one way of developing trust with her cooperators.
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Breakout #3: Kevin Klair
Kevin Klair has been an Extension Economist at the Center for Farm Financial Management in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota since 1987. He has more than 20 years of experience in teaching farm business management and developing farm financial management software programs.
Kevin helped develop the FINPACK farm financial planning and analysis software, as well as Marketeer market planning software and the FINPACK Business Plan software programs. Kevin was involved in the development of the Ag Risk & Farm Management Library and serves as a national coordinator for Extension Risk Management Education.
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Breakout #3: Jim Kelm
Jim joined Dairy Business Consulting in 2009 and is a co-owner of Kelm Management with his wife Barb in Red Wing, Minnesota. Jim has an extensive background in agricultural education. Jim’s areas of expertise include financial records and analysis, cash flow planning and budgeting, farm business planning, and tax planning and preparation.
Jim received his Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. He was the Vocational Agriculture Instructor at Red Wing High School before taking a position as Farm Business Management Instructor at Red Wing Technical College. After 22 years there Jim officially retired in 2009, when he started his consulting business. Many of Jim’s current clients are former Farm Business Management students.
Jim is an active member of many professional organizations: Minnesota Vocational Agricultural Instructors Association, National Farm and Ranch Business Management Education Association, National Council for Agriculture Education, Farm Financial Standards Council Board Member. Jim is also a past member of the Red Wing Port Authority and is a current member of the Red Wing Chamber of Commerce.
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Wednesday, June 11
Burke Teichert
Burke Teichert was raised on a family ranch in western Wyoming. His father and grandfather were ahead of their time in understanding the importance of low-input, low cost agriculture. After leaving the home ranch, he went to BYU to study Ag Economics with an emphasis in Ag Business. Upon graduating from BYU, he went to the University of Wyoming to get a M.S. degree in Agricultural Economics with emphasis in Farm and Ranch Management. While at UW he became acquainted with a very good Ranch Economist who taught him excellent methods for analyzing alternative ways of operating ranches or bringing new practices to them. Burke served on the Ag Economics faculty for one year.
Burke has worked in various aspects of farm and ranch management and consulting for 30 years. During his career he worked as a General Manager and later as Vice President and General Manager with AgReserves Inc. He was involved in seven major ranch acquisitions in the U.S. and the management of a number of farms and ranches in the U.S. as well as Canada and Argentina. Burke has developed a reputation for organizing farms and ranches to be very cost-effective with very efficient, small crews.
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Jed Christenson
Jed was raised on central Utah sheep ranch. Following college he took employment with the AgCredit system. After being appointed AgCredit's Director of Marketing in 1991, he successfully helped re-position the company during the 1980's to become the leader in agricultural lending in the Intermountain West.
Christenson has had a positive influence on agriculture during his career with AgCredit that spans 31 years. He has served as an Ex-officio Member of the Agricultural Advisory Board for the UDAF. He was a member of the Junior Livestock Show and Sale Committee for the Utah State Fair; he was chairman of the AgDay Organizing Committee to promote agricultural products and raise scholarship funds for rural youth seeking a career in agriculture or a related field. The Utah Farm Bureau recognized Jed for his contribution in 2000 with their “Friend of Agriculture” Award.
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Jake Harward
Jake Harward, Harward Farms, has been farming since he was 8 Years old. His grandfather started farming in 1945, with a very traditional farming enterprise of field crops that were grown to be fed to the beef cattle operation. When Jake was 8 he and his older brother, Lenny, wanted to buy a 4-wheeler so their father, Jud, helped them plant 3 acres of sweet corn which they sold in their front yard in the back of a 1934 Ford pick-up. Within 15 years, Jake along with his mom, dad and three siblings worked together to grow and expand the sweet corn farm into 80 acres with eight roadside stands.
In 2002, the family farm had three distinct farming enterprises, beef, of alfalfa and grain, sweet corn, and custom spraying. In 2005, Jake started a pumpkin and watermelon business to compliment what he was already doing with the sweet corn. He now runs 30 roadside stands throughout urban Utah and has 300 acres of sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, and tomatoes, which he sells at his roadside stands. He also raises 200 acres of pumpkins. After a year of growing pumpkins, Jake started a pick–your–own pumpkin patch, “Jaker's Jack-O-Lanterns”, that includes a petting zoo, straw maze, a corn pit for children to play in, hay rides and much more. He enjoys farming and finding new ways to market his products to the general public.
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David Condie
David Condie, Triple C Farms, was born and raised in central Utah. He and his partner are fourth generation farmers and currently farm 25 pivots (12,000 acres) of alfalfa hay. In 2005, they began implementation of their plan to transform the farm into a tri-task company, with farming, hay processing, and exporting as its key focuses. Triple C Farms process alfalfa hay into 30kg bales and large 450kg bales.
In 2005, they began the process of diversifying their alfalfa hay farm into hay processing using high compression bales and international hay exporting business. Currently, they process all their own hay and buy additional hay throughout the valley.
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R. L. “Dick” Wittman
Wittman manages a 19,000-acre Idaho family farm partnership involving crops, cattle and timber and provides consulting services in family farm business and financial management in the U.S. and abroad.
A former FCS lender, he’s also served on numerous commodity and financial institution boards, is a director and past president of the Farm Financial Standards Council and past president/founding member of the PNW Direct Seed Association.
He is an adjunct faculty member of Texas A&M University teaching annually at the TEPAP Executive program and King Ranch Institute, and also serves on the national Ag Carbon Markets Working Group which provides policy development leadership in climate change legislation impacting agriculture.
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Thursday, June 12
J. Shannon Neibergs
Shannon Neibergs is an Extension Economist in the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University and has served as the Director of the Western Center for Risk Management Education since 2011. He has a B.S. degree in animal sciences and a M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University, and a PhD in Agricultural economics from Texas A&M.
Shannon was a faculty member in the University of Louisville, College of Business Equine Industry Program from 1995 to 2006. Shannon’s primary Extension effort is in applied economics related to livestock enterprises and risk management, the economics of infectious animal disease and dairy nutrient waste management and the economics of anaerobic digestion.
As the Director of the Washington State University Extension Western Center for Risk Management Education, he provides leadership for Extension Risk Management Education in the 13 western states and U.S. Pacific Islands.
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Warren Peterson
Warren grew up in a rural Utah farm family. He graduated from Utah State University and earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Utah (1978). He practiced law for 29 years with emphasis in agriculture, land, and water, with side trips as city attorney for and as an elected county attorney.
Warren served as member and chairman of the Utah Board of Water Resources from 1995 to 2007. He was appointed to the Utah Water Issues Task Force in 2001 and was appointed by Gov. Michael Leavitt as the agriculture representative to the Utah Water Financing Task Force (2002). In 2012, he was special advisor to Gov. Gary Herbert on interstate water issues. He currently serves on the Utah Executive Water Task Force, the Utah Water Development Commission, and as agricultural co-chair of Gov. Herbert’s Utah Water Strategy Team.
He co-authored the current Utah right to farm statutes and various statutes relating to water and irrigation. He also co-authored and edited “Agricultural Water: Protecting the Future of Our Nation”, published October 2012 by the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management. He is frequently invited to speak on water and agriculture topics.
Warren is currently vice president of Farmland Reserve, Inc., an international food production company headquartered in Salt Lake City, with responsibility for agricultural land and water management and investment.
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Dr. Jay Jackman
Dr. Jackman is the Executive Director of the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE). NAAE started managing the CASE Initiative in 2010 and Dr. Jackman serves as the Financial Manager of CASE. In 1996, Dr. Jackman was hired as Executive Director of what was then the National Vocational Agricultural Teachers Association (NVATA). Since that time, the organization has changed its name (to NAAE) to better reflect the school-based agricultural education profession.
Dr. Jackman was raised on a family farm near Glasgow, Kentucky and resides in Versailles with his wife, Sharon. He received his PhD in Educational Research and Evaluation from Virginia Tech in 1991.
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