Chip joined Pro Farmer as a floor reporter for Futures World News in January 1988 after graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in Ag Journalism. He spent 3 years reporting from the floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as Bureau Chief for FWN.
Chip moved to the Pro Farmer headquarters in 1991 where he started as Electronic Services Editor. With Pro Farmer, he served as Sr. Market Analyst, General Manager, Editor of the company’s flagship newsletter for 17 years, Editorial Director and is now Editor Emeritus for Pro Farmer.
Chip is the host of Farm Journal Media’s issue- and market-driven AgriTalk radio. Each hour airs live on stations across the country and on the free “AgriTalk” app. Chip is also the Farm Journal Economist, providing market insights for readers in each issue of the company’s flagship magazine, Farm Journal.
Chip grew up on a farm in the east-central Iowa community of Oxford Junction. He has three grandchildren, two grown and married children, and he and his wife Sue live in Denver, Iowa.
Paul Hawken starts ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce, and consults with heads of state and CEOs on climatic, economic and ecological regeneration. He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Talk of the Nation, Bill Maher, and Charlie Rose, and has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Business Week. He has written eight books including five national and NYT bestsellers: Growing a Business, The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, and Drawdown (2017).
Zach Ducheneaux was appointed Administrator for USDA’s Farm Service Agency on February 22, 2021. In this role, Ducheneaux will provide leadership and direction on agricultural policy, administering credit and loan programs, and managing conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices.
Ducheneaux previously served as the Executive Director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the largest, longest-standing Native American agriculture organization in the United States. Since the 1990s he’s held several positions at the IAC, working with all Federally Recognized Tribes and their 80,000 Native American producers. He’s also served as Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council Representative. He has spent his career educating people about the critical role of thoughtful ag finance, improved food systems, value-added agriculture, and foreign exports to respond to the enduring economic and social challenges facing Native Americans and reservations.
Ducheneaux continues to volunteer on the board of directors for Project H3LP!, a nonprofit founded by his family to benefit his local community by providing life lessons and therapy through horsemanship. He is one of many partners on the family’s ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in north central South Dakota.
Jen has spent over 20 years in consumer packaged goods, beginning her career at Procter & Gamble. Jen’s undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering, and she’s always loved tackling complex problems. She went on to get her MBA at Kellogg School of Management and enter a career in brand management, working at companies including Clorox, Premier Nutrition, and Campbell’s. She has been privileged to work on a range of iconic brands across many categories. Bringing Airly to life has been a labor of love, and Jen is excited to be tackling one her most interesting and important challenges to date…getting the word out about the role we all can play in tackling climate change together.
Scott is the Director of Corporate Sustainability at Charter Next Generation (CNG). Joining Charter Next Generation in 2015, Scott supported the CNG converter customer base with new film developments and improvements. Today, he focuses on spearheading all the company’s Sustainability initiatives, which include the technical and customer support of the Charter Next Generation GreenArrow™ family of films, the Zero Waste to Landfill objective for all nine of the CNG manufacturing facilities, as well as the corporate social responsibility and climate related aspects.
Prior to joining Charter Next Generation, Scott spent 29 years in the converting world, most recently as the Vice President of Technology & Sustainability at C-P Flexible Packaging. There, for 16 years, he was responsible for various business areas including Quality, Product Development, Process Improvements and Sustainability.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Scott received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Scott has been married to his wife Penny for 36 years, and they have two children, Zachary and Brittany. An avid sports fan, Scott enjoys golf and coaching softball.
Casey Onstot is the U.S. Commercial Leader for Digital at Corteva Agriscience. In this role, he has responsibility for leading the digital business across the U.S. Casey joined Corteva Agriscience in 2006, serving in both seed and crop protection sales roles. He later held marketing leadership roles for Rice and Tree and Vine Herbicides, Seed Traits and Range & Pasture/Industrial Vegetation.
Casey also spent time as the National Account Sales Leader for Mycogen and Phytogen Cottonseed. From 2017-2020, he served as the Area Lead for the Northern Iowa Commercial Sales team representing Pioneer, crop protection and digital for Corteva.
Casey holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Business Management and Agriculture Studies from Iowa State University. He and his wife Rahne reside in Norwalk, Iowa with their 2 daughters.
Lance Ruppert grew up on a registered Holstein dairy farm in south central Illinois. He holds three degrees from the University of Illinois: a B.S in Animal Science, a M.S in Ruminant Nutrition, and a M.A. in Managerial Accounting. He was a District Sales Manager for 12 years working with salespeople and farmers. After his field experience, Lance has held sales and marketing responsibilities for GROWMARK Crop Protection, Seed, Agronomy Marketing, and Market Development. He is currently the Executive Director of GROWMARK Agronomy Marketing and Technology. Lance helped develop and launch GROWMARK’s AgValidity platform that works with start-up companies on testing and developing their products with agronomists and farmers.
Beatriz Zavariz is dedicated to climate change mitigation through ensuring proper accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. She has ten years of experience in civil society associations and in the public sector. Her main skills are GHG emissions accounting, GHG project protocol development, management of GHG registries and programs, training, analysis and research.
Beatriz has been part of the Climate Action Reserve since 2017. As the Associate Director of Policy, Beatriz fosters carbon markets in California, the United States, Mexico and Canada. The types of projects in which she specializes are in the sectors of sustainable agriculture, avoided grassland conversion, biogas destruction and halocarbon destruction.
Before working in the Reserve, Beatriz served as an analyst and consultant on issues of land use, climate change and biodiversity for various organizations in Mexico and the US. Beatriz obtained a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara.
Paul and his wife Diane operate an 1800 acre small-grains farm located in north-central North Dakota. They adopted no-till farming in 2005 and raise a diverse crop mix of canola, field peas, flax, hard red spring wheat, oats, soybeans, and sunflowers. They have also been working to include cover crops in the rotation. Diane and Paul are cooperators with the General Mills Regenerative Ag program.
They use a rotational grazing system on pasture they rent out. They used precision ag to identify areas to create buffer strips around wetlands and field edge plantings that are for wildlife and hay production. Since 2006 all 1400 crop acres are mapped with management zones used for variable rate nutrient application.
As president of the North Plains Resource Conservation and Development Council, Paul led a cover crop project called “How Far North Can We Grow: Cover Crops Along the 49th Parallel.” He is a supervisor on the Rolette County Soil Conservation District, serves on the NDSU Precision Ag and NDSU Ag Biosystems and Engineering Advisory Boards, and worked with the ND Department of Environmental Quality on creating voluntary nutrient management standards. He is a past board member of the Manitoba/North Dakota Zero-Till Farmers Association.
Jeremy leads the day-to-day operations at Silent Shade Planting Company. He graduated from Mississippi State University (MSU) in 2005 with a Bachelors in Agriculture Economics and in 2006 with a Masters of Agribusiness focusing in Agriculture Policy. As part of his graduate work at MSU, Jeremy worked in Washington, D.C., under Senator Thad Cochran during the 2008 Farm Bill. Jeremy has also completed The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) and the American Soybean Association/DuPont Young Leader Program. Jeremy is a member of the Mississippi Soybean Association, Farmers Grain Terminal Board, Mississippi Rice Council, Mississippi Farm Bureau Immigration Committee, Mississippi Farm Bureau Water Meter Committee, Wister Gardens Advisory Board, Delta Council (Advisory Research Committee). He is also an active member of Rotary International, the Association of Agriculture Production Executives (AAPEX) and the M-Club. Jeremy is member of First United Methodist Church in Indianola.
Christopher Joseph Lehe raises soybeans, popcorn, and dent corn on 5,000 acres near Brookston, Indiana, with his dad, uncle, and cousin. His grandfather bought the farm in 1955. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Mathematical Economics from Ball State University and is the co-owner of Freeman Cruises, LLC and G&L Seeds, LLC. Chris and his wife, Kimberly, have three children: Jocelyn (8), Grayson (5), Brycen (2).
Lance Unger is a 3rd generation farmer from southwestern Indiana. He runs a row crop farm with his parents that includes corn, soybeans, and wheat and is a graduate from Purdue University with a degree in farm management. They have a small show cattle herd, and show cattle and pigs as a family. He and his wife, Ashley, have a 7 year old daughter, Piper, and 4 year old son named Pryor.
Oklahoma farmer Mark Nault was raised on a family farm that was handed down from his great grandparents. He started farming with his dad when he was five years old and has not missed a harvest in 61 years. The farm is now run by Mark and his five brothers. From the early 1900s to today, conventional tillage with wheat for grain, year over year, was the norm. Cattle were also incorporated on the farm. He and his wife have two children and four grandchildren.
In 1975, Mark joined Phillips Petroleum Company in the oil and gas business. He was fortunate to live close to the family farm and I helped my father around the farm. In 1991 he was relocated to Hobbs, New Mexico. That didn't deter his love of farming. In 1996 he purchased 80 acres of land and leased the adjacent 80 acres that was neighboring land to the family farm. In 2005, he was relocated back to Oklahoma. In 2015 he and his father split the purchase of 160 acres. In 2017 his father retired and I leased his 80 acres as well as another 160 acres that had been lifelong leased from neighbors who settled in this area with his great grandparents.
Now, he operates 441 acres, 158 acres owned and 283 acres leased. In 2019, after 44 years, he retired from his job in oil and gas and began farming full time.
Chris leads Indigo Ag’s efforts to develop a trusted and scientifically rigorous carbon credit program for farmers. He first joined Indigo in 2019 as Vice President, where he was responsible for guiding Indigo’s Product and Engineering teams in the development of digital agronomic tools. Today, Chris oversees all aspects of the Indigo Carbon program – from scientific collaborations to corporate buyer partnerships, grower resources to business strategy – with the aim of establishing agricultural carbon credits as an indispensable resource for increasing grower profitability and environmental sustainability.
Barclay Rogers leads Indigo's carbon partnership efforts. He works closely with parties with one-to-many relationships with farmers, including agricultural input providers, retailers, major landowners, and farmland managers. Barclay has spent more than 25 years in the agricultural industry, with experiences ranging from in-the-field agronomy, agtech startup leadership, to major partnership development. He holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, an LLM in agricultural law from the University of Arkansas, and a JD with an environmental law emphasis from Lewis & Clark College. He was also active in the carbon market the "last time around" and knows that it's got to be different this "go-around.”
Max leads global carbon policy at Indigo Ag. This includes development and implementation of carbon accounting methodologies, as well as Indigo’s strategic engagement with external partners and initiatives to build reputation and positioning within the carbon market. Prior to joining Indigo, he was Policy Director at the Climate Action Reserve where he spent 11 years. He is an expert and thought leader on the development and implementation of rigorous offset project protocols, developing many key policy and technical approaches that underpin the voluntary and compliance offset markets in North America.
Ryan Stockwell serves as the Sr. Manager, Partner & Grower Advocacy. Previously, he served as the Director of Sustainable Agriculture for the National Wildlife Federation. In that role, he led the cover crops program, including policy development in the Farm Bill, research coordination, and farmer champion communication training. He also worked on strategies to communicate regenerative agriculture to farmers in ways that best meet their decision-making methodologies. In his spare time he farms near Medford, Wisconsin, using regenerative practices.
Evan serves as a Technical Service Manager/Indigo Agronomist in Iowa. He works with growers and large groups on implementation of carbon farming practices that fit their operation. Evan is a trusted source for growers seeking to adopt soil health practices on their acres. He advises on the best practices to increase carbon that lead to profitability. Previously, Evan has worked in the agriculture retail system with a deep understanding of farming, management practices, equipment operations, and products. Evan helps on his uncle’s row crop operation and serves part time as an assistant FFA Advisor at a local high school.
Laura leads Indigo’s federal strategy and owns a consulting company, representing a diverse portfolio of both traditional and emerging agricultural entities in seed, research, and conservation. Prior, she led federal government and industry relations for Syngenta and federal affairs for the National Association of Conservation Districts. Laura is a member of the Kansas Bar and attended Kansas State University and George Washington University Law School, where she served as adjunct faculty in the GWU Political Science Department. Laura grew up on a family farm near Trousdale, Kansas and co-operates an angus cattle herd and regenerative haying and grazing operation near Billings, Montana.
