Aggrad Live Podcast

Persistence Pays OffThe farming & entrepreneurial ventures of Jarrod Creasy. It’s with a sense of self-assuredness that Jarrod talks about the plans he made for being an entrepreneur and first generation cattle rancher with his wife. The only catch? He didn’t own land and he hadn’t even asked his future wife on a date, but he knew what was in his heart and in his passion. Through persistence, hard work, networking, education and more persistence, Jarrod & Becca Creasy are the proud owners of 920 Cattle and Company in southeast Georgia. But that’s not all. This ranching power couple have gone above and beyond in creating a multi-faceted entrepreneurial agriculture adventure.   

This is a re-release of an interview Tim Hammerich did for the "AgTech, So What?" Podcast by Sarah Nolet. You can find the original episode here: https://www.agtechsowhat.com/bushtechpodcast/2019/09/26/episode-50-tim-hammerich Tim Hammerich is the Founder of AgGrad and the host of the Future of Agriculture podcast. Tim grew up on a hobby farm in Northern California selling pigs, goats and ducks. After 8 years working in a feed and grain business, Tim saw an underserved market for helping young people get jobs in ag and agtech. He founded AgGrad to fill the gap.   AgGrad began as a ‘traditional’ recruiting company where Tim would do the legwork of recruiting talent for agribusiness. It’s since become about helping employees find their place in modern agriculture through a wealth of content for job seekers and employees.  In this episode, Tim shares his insights on what agtech companies are looking for, tips for getting and staying hired, and ideas for how all ag companies, including farms, can hire ‘right’

Don’t be fooled by John Romo’s title as a first year high school agriculture teacher in South Texas. It may seem as if he is a rookie, but he’s more of a veteran than one would guess by his young age. Not only did he graduate from Texas A&M with his undergraduate degree, but he also got his masters from Oklahoma State University. Between the two degrees, he spent time internationally in Ghana working in school-based agricultural education with AgriCorps before becoming a recruiter for their fellowship program, then heading back to Ghana for more outreach work, and then coming back, full circle, to South Texas.

While she may have grown up in the New York City suburbs, Connie Bowen now resides on a farm in small town Scio, Oregon. An entrepreneurial fellowship program for Venture for America helped combine her interest in conservation, engineering and cooking. Using that experience as a springboard, she is now working for Farmacopia Farms! This farm is more than just a co-op or a farm, it’s a group working for a cause. It seems that Connie is on the cusp of all things new and exciting in the world of Ag Tech! 

Mindy McBee knew that she had a passion for working with people but if you had told her she was going to manage pricing and feed for Cargill Feed & Nutrition, she might not have believed you. Mindy began her career journey at Kansas State University in the apparel design program. She found herself navigating through Cargill taking trainings and moving upwards in her career, before she found the opportunity to be the pricing supervisor.

Locus Agricultural Solutions provides soil amendments to improve its physical or chemical properties. As the Vice President of Agricultural Operations at Locus Ag, Alexander “Alex” Fotsch manages the product development team. He also can be found traveling, networking, working with universities and extension agents, as well as managing the company’s financial forecast and business model. For someone in his late 20’s, Alex may seem a little “young” for this large of a role, but the challenges that he’s accepted in his young career has been just as pivotal as the amendments that they sell in saturating his life with the opportunity for growth. Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/category/video/

Originally from a cow-calf operation where “if you tried to stick a drill in the ground, it might break,” Jonathan Williams found success in a career that he never would have expected. Jonathan is a regional product agronomist for Hoegemeyer Hybrids. A career that is tasked with crop science, proactive continued education, one-on-one relationships with growers, and lots of traveling - it seems that Jonathan has found his niche.

Meet the people that literally wrote the book on launching your career. Dr. Kerry Litzenberg and Codie Wright join us to share their book Launchers: Don’t Just Take a Job, Launch Your Career. The book was inspired by many questions posed to them by students who were exploring their career options. They hoped to relieve some of the common frustrations seen in current populations of students. “There is this mounting pressure to decide ‘what am I going to do?’. And if you don’t know that, it can be very daunting and very exhausting,” says Wright This book is meant for proactive individuals that want to own their career through personal individual development and growth. “What we find is that you learn in your twenties so you can apply what you have learned in your thirties and you can reap what you have sown in your forties and fifties,” explains Codie Wright. Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/category/video/

Growing up on a dairy farm, Bo Harstine always thought that if you had an interest in science and animals that you had to be a veterinarian. Through an internship at Select Sires that opened up his awareness to the growing technological genetic advancements in the cattle industry, Bo has been able to find his job not only as a researcher in cattle breeding services but also as a university professor.

If you had an idea and were asked to take time off school, give up all your resources, couch surf and spend your time attempting to fundraise millions of dollars - would you do it? Matthew Rooda did in 2015 when he and his co-founder started forward with an idea to automate swine care and the current health care industry through agricultural technologies that weren’t developed as of yet. The result was admittance into an accelerator program, a semester off from school, investors, development, and a new business - SwineTech.

Promoting Agriculture on Capitol Hill Riley Pagett’s position has been newly created with the signing in of the 2018 Farm Bill. Formerly working for the National FFA office, Riley is now the Chief of Staff for the Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement for the United States Department of Agriculture on Capitol Hill. Covering a broad spectrum of topics, Riley shares how law school, always saying “yes,” and working hard has allowed him to find success in promoting and sharing the story of agriculture to a group of individuals that may not understand the agricultural world that we live in.  Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/category/video/

A member of the agriculture industry for only two years, Jonathan Hua started and failed two businesses before going back to business school with a focus on Capitalist Venture. There he realized he wanted to be an investor in the Silicon Valley but, unsure of how to get his foot in the door, he took a position for a non-profit consultation program. There they tasked him with the project of building an ag tech conference and, in doing so, he became the master of event management and event networking. Through the process of that internship, he fell in love with the agricultural industry and has led to his new position as the Thrive Accelerator Manager for SVG Ventures.

Throughout internships and explored career paths, Jessica Kueffer wasn’t sure what exactly set her passions on fire when it came to a career. A common denominator was facilitation of trainings and mentorships, which led to a career recommendation by her mentor to a position that was not only her dream job, but one that she didn’t even know existed prior to the recommendation. As the recruitment and employee development manager for MFA Incorporated, an agricultural cooperative in her home state of Missouri, it was the perfect fit and she has enjoyed the challenges, growth and leadership roles it has given her. Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/category/video/

Levi Hall spends his time understanding the different challenges of not only the grain industry, but also of running a business across state lines. As the General Manager of Beach Cooperative Grain Company, Levi finds himself split over the state lines of Montana and North Dakota, while also being close to the southern border of Canada. As a young manager, his role includes a variety of tasks, as well as managing multiple employees and cooperative members. Read the full article at www.aggrad.com.

TEDX and SXSW speaker Reagan Pugh joins us today to share his insight on corporate culture, motivation and identity. In 2016, he was a cofounder of Assemble, a consulting firm in Austin, Texas. Reagan explains generational gaps in finding your own personal identity and how the modern-day relationship with work has led to it consuming our identity. Unfortunately, this is often detrimental, leads to burn out and fosters and environment of stress and fear rather than pride and accomplishment. Also, how will millennials communicate effectively and appeal to baby boomers when their communication styles are drastically different? Reagan emphasizes the shift to community building being a focus in the workplace to allow employees to develop relationships within an organization and establish an identity that leads to better productivity and quality of life.    “What I found is the goal has to be where are we finding our identity, where are we finding the value of who we are and what are the stories that we’r

When faced with the challenging decision of whether or not to take a semester of student teaching as a part of his agricultural education degree, Steven Brockshus found himself deciding to instead focus on his agricultural start up. Constant journaling and notetaking throughout his childhood and in traveling the country as a national FFA officer, he found that there was a strong need for assistance and data in buying, selling, and valuing ag real estate - a void he thought he could fill with the use of technology. He was right and Farmland Finder was created - a real estate tech player, it leverages data and technology to make the process of buying and selling farm land simple. Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/stephen-brockshus/

Imagine getting to work at the forefront of strategy in combating those groups set against the animal agriculture industry - utilizing marketing, communications, speaking engagements, political legislation, industry specific groups and more to ensure that those on farms and ranches can continue raising their animals. Welcome to the world of Allyson Jones-Brimmer - an FFA alumni whose love of animals has led her to her position as the Director of Industry Relations for the Animal Agriculture Alliance!  Read the full article at https://aggrad.com/category/video/

In a world where sustainable agriculture must be at the forefront of marketing, production, and business for farmers and ranchers, it takes individuals like Mackenzie Dierks to help them document, manage, strategize and protect their business. Mackenzie is a Senior Associate at K Coe Isom, an agriculture business advising firm historically focused on accounting and tax, whose mission also includes the sustainability of businesses. Read the full article at aggrad.com.

Everyday there are fires that have to be put out, but these are the tasks John Farmer tackles as Chief of Staff at Clara Foods. A strong interest and passion in biosecurity and food security, John has been involved with a variety of careers that have moved him further and further into the unique world of sustainable and alternative agriculture. Using strains of yeast to reproduce animal proteins of interest and selling them worldwide to a variety of companies, it’s no surprise that this may be one of the more unique and science-based careers in agriculture. Read the full article at www.aggrad.com.

Despite his friends thinking that all he does is go for coffee, lunches and dinners, Caleb Wright’s active role in social networking is actually a part of his job in public policy at both the state and federal level of the Pennsylvania Legislature. As Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Versant Strategies, Caleb wears multiple hats of social networking, analytical policy reading, strategic consulting, and organizing operating systems for business. One thing is for sure, though, he definitely loves his job! Read the full article at aggrad.com.