Keynote speakers

Keynote Speaker

Mike Boehlje

10 Strategies To Build A Championship Ag Business, Tuesday, 9:30 am (Meeting Rooms 8-10).

 Mike Boehlje is a distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Center for Food and Agricultural Business at Purdue University. He previously held faculty and administrative positions at Iowa State University, University of Minnesota and Oklahoma State University. Mike has devoted his career to helping farm and agribusiness managers and policymakers understand the pragmatic economic and financial consequences of their decisions. The fundamental focus of his work has been to integrate concepts of economics, finance and strategy to solve problems of farm and agribusiness managers. A major theme of Mike’s research, writing and lecturing for the past 10 years has been the importance of strategic planning and thinking, and positioning the firm for long-term viability and success. His work has attempted to extend and apply modern management concepts of systems analysis, process control, transactions cost, strategic positioning, real options and supply/value chain management to the food production, processing and distribution system. Mike is the author or co-author of four books and more than 500 articles and publications. He is also senior associate of Centrec Consulting. He is a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association and the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association.

Virtual Tours

Blue Mound Dairy

Wednesday, March 28, 8 am (Meeting Rooms 6-7).

At Blue Mound Dairy, Luverne, Minn., efficiency and quality are the goals. Those goals extend to every aspect of the operation – from milking protocols to feed production. Owned and operated by Rick and Carrie Van Santen and their four sons, Blue Mound Dairy is nationally recognized for both milk quality and reproduction management. It has received six consecutive Milk Quality Award and has a bulk tank SCC average of just 112,000 for their 1,000-cow herd. They also received the 2009 Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council Silver Award for reproductive performance across their herd. Blue Mound Dairy has a rolling herd average of 28,500 lbs. with nearly all home-grown forages. By implementing several new procedures and practices, forage digestibility is at an all-time high for both their haylage and corn silage.

Prairieland Dairy

Thursday, March 29, 8 a.m. (Meeting Rooms 6-7)

Prairieland Dairy, located 15 miles outside of Lincoln, Neb., was started in 1998 when Dan Rice and his family moved their dairy from Pennsylvania to Nebraska and joined Cliff and Dave Obbink on their fourth generation family farm. In 2000, Prairieland moved into a new 700 cow facility, and in 2005 they invited two other like-minded dairy farm families to join them i their business. As a result, four family farms have come together to dairy on one farm. The total number of families directly involved is eight. They have created three distinct companies to market around the cow. The cow produces milk, meat and manure. Prairieland Dairy, the mother company houses, milks and cares for the cows. A compost company, Prairieland Gold, markets all the solid manure from the dairy, along with source-separated organics from neighboring communities. Prairieland Foods processes and markets milk and meat products. By joining together, Prairieland Dairy partners have been able to accomplish far more than any one family could do separately. Through the partnership they are providing opportunities for the next generation to work in their area of passion to sustain the family farm. Dan Rice is a Partner and General Manager of Prairieland Dairy. He and his wife Brenda have four children Megan (22), Emily (20), Samantha (18), and Ben (15).