We are excited to bring some fantastic speakers to the 2023 Farmer's Showcase. Attendees will leave the event armed with new insights to help them make better decisions for their farm operations.
Steve is not your average cookie cutter run of the mill presenter, but strives to be a motivational speaker that educates and informs audiences on what is happening today to help prepare for what is next. His focus is on Agribusiness, technology, the future, risk management, interpreting global macro trends and grain marketing with crop insurance. His expertise is not limited to Agriculture but also includes global markets, insurance, lending, capital markets, energy, and finance. He has 37 years of vast experience that includes being the managing director for a multi-million dollar, Global Trading Company with operations in 62 countries, over 2000 employees and profitability in the hundreds of millions. Today, he is part of an executive team that manages a division of Great American Insurance Group that focuses on helping innovative Ag Producers manage risk and link up with the right partners to maximize profitability. He has lived in South America and the European Union and today resides in Central Illinois with his wife and family.
Andrew Pritchard, an operational meteorologist at Nutrien, specializes in weather risk communication, focusing on disruptive weather events and severe weather safety in agriculture. He provides regional and global meteorological forecasts, collaborates on product development, and presents to audiences across North America. Beyond Nutrien, he emphasizes weather safety, decision support, and forecast curation. Andrew's expertise earned him a Regional Edward R Murrow Award for broadcasting excellence during a significant tornado outbreak in 2021. Alongside his professional work, he's spent twenty years documenting tornadoes and supercell thunderstorms in Tornado Alley, with his imagery featured on major networks like The Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX.
Brian Wiggins: Director of Alternative Farm Revenue, ADMBrian is a 24 year veteran of the grain industry. The first 15 years of his career included various plant and regional commercial management roles within ADM Grain’s elevator system. He focuses on supporting the efforts of ADM’s Farmer Services, their partners at Great American Crop Insurance and other agriculture groups, identifying ways to better serve farmers.
At ADM, Brian monitors trends in world food production and demand, in combination with farm and economic policy to enhance the relationship between ADM’s grain originators and farmers. He specializes in price risk management and the use of crop insurance as an important tool in the marketing of cash grain. Brian has a passion for empowering farmers to make more informed decisions on the farm.
Alex Mizell: Lead Field Marketing Specialist in Illinois, NAU Country InsuranceAlex Mizell was raised on a grain and swine farm in McLean County, IL. Alex graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Communication from Illinois State University in Normal, IL in 2009. Shortly after, he began his career in Agriculture Insurance and is currently Lead Field Marketing Specialist in Illinois for NAU Country Insurance Company based out of Ramsey, MN. For the past 14 years, he trained Insurance Agents on all of the USDA’s Risk Management Agency’s Insurance products. The majority of his time is spent on the widely popular MPCI Crop Insurance products. However, in the last few years, he has allotted some more time to the USDA RMA’s Livestock Insurance options. There have been new Livestock Insurance products introduced and there have been improvements to existing products available. Alex lives in rural McLean County with his wife and 2 children.
