MEET OUR SPEAKERS
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Amber DeWitt
Amber DeWitt is a Venture Associate at Fulcrum Global Capital, a Kansas City based venture capital firm investing in global ag tech, animal health, and food supply chain technologies. Amber is a graduate of Kansas State University, with her M.S. and B.S. in Agricultural Economics. She was raised on her family’s farming operation in central Missouri and focused her education on beef and livestock economics. Amber is passionate about rural America and innovative agricultural technologies. She enjoys learning about how agricultural producers adopt technologies and is excited to be a part of bringing innovative technologies to global food and agricultural production.
Beth Johnson
Elizabeth (Beth) Johnson, MS, founded Food Directions LLC in February 2010. Johnson’s unique experience and skill set helps clients gain valuable insight into both domestic and international food policy. After working 30+ years in the nutrition and food issues arena, she has deep connections with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Capitol Hill. Johnson also has strong relationships with thought leaders at NGOs, food associations, and consumer groups, which help Food Directions gain a diverse perspective on food issues. Johnson is regularly tapped to speak at food related conferences and events.
Prior to starting Food Directions LLC, Johnson served as Executive Vice President for Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association where she oversaw government affairs, public policy and communications for the organization. In 2008, Johnson was named Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA where she lead and oversaw the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), USDA’s public health agency that ensures the nation’s commercial meat, poultry, and certain egg products are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. At that time, she was also responsible for the U.S. government’s role in CODEX. In addition to her service as Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, Johnson was deputy chief of staff and senior advisor for the Secretary of Agriculture at USDA, where she focused on agricultural trade, animal health, food safety and nutrition. She joined the department in 2002 after nearly four years at Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., where she was a vice president with clients in the food and agriculture arena. Her previous experiences include positions as a senior professional staff member at the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; a nutritionist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and a research dietitian at USDA. Johnson also worked at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as associate director for food policy.
Johnson is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), serves on the National Food Policy Conference Advisory Committee, and is a Board member of Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). Johnson has been quoted in numerous media outlets including USA Today, HealthDay, Supermarket News, Food Navigator USA, AdWeek, Washington Times, Politico, and The Hill, among others.
Johnson holds a BS in Dietetics from Ball State University and an MS in Nutrition from the University of Maryland. Johnson has two grown daughters and lives in Maryland with her husband Bill and five dogs.
Bradley D. Lubben, Ph.D.
Extension Associate Professor, Policy Specialist, and
Director, North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Brad Lubben is an Extension Associate Professor, Policy Specialist, and Director of the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and extension, focusing on agricultural policy and agricultural economics and working in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska. Brad's expertise includes federal farm policy, agricultural policy development, and agricultural risk management education. Brad grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Burr, southeast of Lincoln and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
Lubben’s ties to Flinchbaugh started in the early 1990s when, as an early-career Extension professional in Illinois, he met Barry through multi-state Extension policy work. When Brad moved to Manhattan to work for K-State Research and Extension from 1999 to 2005, Barry became a colleague and mentor, willingly sharing the stage on farm bill programs across Kansas and providing helpful direction, support, and prodding as needed for Brad’s work on policy and on his Ph.D. from K-State.
Brandon Depenbusch
Brandon Depenbusch serves as President and CEO of Irsik & Doll Feed Services, Inc. where he oversees seven feed yards with a combined capacity of 287,000 head of cattle. Since earning his Ph.D. in ruminant nutrition from Kansas State University in 2009, Brandon has gained 17 years of experience in the cattle-feeding industry.
He also co-founded U.S. CattleTrace, an initiative focused on developing a voluntary animal disease traceability system and serves on the Kansas Animal Health Advisory Board.
Brett Sciotto
Brett Sciotto is the founder and CEO of Idealyst Innovation, a firm empowering the future of agrifood through market and policy innovation. As a part of that mission, Brett also leads the Center for American Food Power, a strategic think tank launched by Idealyst to develop a 2040 national agrifood strategy and supporting policy frameworks.
Before launching Idealyst, Brett founded and led Aimpoint Research, a global, strategic intelligence firm specializing in agri-food that was named to the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a former Army Intelligence Officer, Brett Sciotto brings a practical, results-oriented approach to the civilian business world. His training in, and emphasis on, mission-critical information-gathering and targeted research methodologies make him unique in his approach to problem-solving in a corporate environment.
With over two decades of leadership and service to Agriculture, Brett's deep understanding of the dynamics facing our industry, clear view of the future, and relentless pursuit of solutions that strengthen American Food Power make him a trusted advisor to corporate leaders, government officials, and state and national organizations at all levels.
SIGNATURE PRESENTATION
Harnessing the Storm - Maximizing Farm Potential in a Time of Dynamic Change
Cappi Hoeting
Cappi Hoeting is a junior majoring in Agricultural Communications and Journalism with a secondary major in Global Food Systems Leadership from Stockton, Kansas. She is placed with the Kansas Department of Agriculture for her Spring 2026 state placement. Cappi serves as the Communications Director for the Student Governing Association, a College of Agriculture Ambassador, and the team lead for the Agricultural Natural Resources Communications A-Team. She has also held positions with Kansas Wheat and the Kansas State University Foundation.
Dan Maycock
Dan Maycock is the co-founder and CTO of Dataplai, an AI and data consulting firm building technology for the agriculture and food industries. Raised in a small farming town, he has spent his career pairing hands-on agricultural knowledge with deep technical expertise, building AI-powered platforms that turn the data farms already generate into better decisions on yield, crop management, and the broader food supply chain.
His career spans more than two decades across enterprise technology, consulting, and agtech, including engineering and data roles at major technology companies and senior advisory work with global consulting firms. He has served as a fractional executive and strategic advisor to growers, processors, and supply-chain operators across the West Coast and Pacific Northwest, leading data-transformation initiatives, and he co-founded Loftus Labs, a consultancy delivering fractional data services to agribusinesses nationwide.
Dan's work centers on the practical edge of precision agriculture: passive, on-farm data from equipment and IoT sensors, satellite and remote-sensing analysis, harvest optimization, and AI products that help organizations raise efficiency, lift yields, and use resources more effectively across the supply chain. He writes and speaks widely on the future of AI in agriculture, including his AI From the Front Lines essays on the missing "coordination layer" in agtech and on why ag-tech ventures succeed or fail, and he is a visiting researcher at North Carolina State University and a member of the Strategic Advisory Council of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST).
He has also helped shape federal technology policy as a member of the FCC's Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture, serving on the working group examining current and future connectivity demand, where he advocated for the rural broadband and data-rights foundations that modern, data-driven farming depends on. Dan holds degrees from Washington State University and Carnegie Mellon University, and is known for translating complex data into practical solutions for one of the world's oldest and most essential industries.
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Dan Moser
Dr. Dan Moser was appointed dean of the Kansas State University College of Agriculture in March 2026. He brings a strong blend of academic leadership, industry experience, and deep K-State roots.
Prior to this role, he served as associate dean of academic programs and held leadership positions with Angus Genetics, Inc. and the American Angus Association. He also previously served on the faculty at K-State, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Georgia.
Dr. Moser holds animal science degrees from the University of Georgia and Kansas State University.
Greg Ibach
Greg Ibach of Sumner, Nebraska, is a fifth-generation farmer and rancher whose career has centered on practical, producer-focused advances in livestock health, marketing, and animal disease traceability. A University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumnus (B.S. in Agriculture, 1984, majors in Animal Science and Agricultural Economics), he was active in Block and Bridle and FarmHouse Fraternity. After early work in agricultural finance with Farm Credit Services, he returned to the family cow-calf and grain operation near Sumner.
Ibach rose through state leadership as Assistant Director and then Director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (serving more than 12 years, the longest tenure in the department’s history). In that role he championed livestock growth, export markets, youth programs (FFA and 4-H), and regulatory support for producers.
Appointed by President Donald Trump as USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs (2017–2021), he oversaw the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Animal disease traceability became a personal priority. Drawing on nearly a decade of participation by his own Nebraska ranch in a USDA Process Verified Program, he advanced a modern, technology-enabled system capable of rapid tracing from birth toward slaughter. Under his leadership, USDA established four overarching goals in 2018: expanding electronic data sharing among federal, state, and industry partners; increasing use of electronic identification; strengthening birth-to-slaughter tracking capability; and moving interstate certificates of veterinary inspection and related documents into electronic systems. He consistently emphasized affordable, practical solutions that producers could implement, focusing official identification requirements on breeding-age cattle and bison moving in interstate commerce while listening to industry feedback on technology and implementation.
Ibach’s contributions have been recognized with the UNL Outstanding Young Alumnus award, Block and Bridle and Agricultural Economics Department honors, the UNL IANR Service to Agriculture Award, induction into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement, and service as Under Secretary in Residence at UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Today he remains engaged in agricultural policy discussions while continuing the family cow-calf and grain operation with his wife Teresa. They have three adult children, and four grandchildren.
Gregory (Gregg) Doud
Gregg Doud is NMPF’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Before arriving at NMPF he served as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative from 2018 until 2021; before that, he served as the president of the Commodity Markets Council, representing commodities exchanges before Congress and federal agencies. He also has served as a staff member for the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where he helped draft the 2012 Farm Bill, and as chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Most recently, he worked at Aimpoint Research as its Vice President of Global Situational Awareness and Chief Economist.
A native of Mankato, Kansas, where he grew up raising cattle, Doud earned a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science and a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Kansas State University Agriculture Alumni Association in 2012 and also received the Outstanding Alumnus award from the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State in 2017.
He currently lives with his family on their horse farm in Lothian, MD.
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Dr. Jackie McClaskey
Dr. Jackie McClaskey is President and Chief Innovation Officer of the American Royal Association and a nationally recognized leader in agricultural policy and biosecurity. During her service as the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture (2013–2019), she worked closely with USDA and industry partners to continue strengthening animal health preparedness, through the statewide foreign animal disease response exercise that became a model for other states. She also played a key role in launching CattleTrace, an innovative traceability system designed to protect the U.S. beef industry against emerging disease threats. Jackie holds a bachelor's degree in agriculture economics from Kansas State University, a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from Kansas State University. Her career bridges academia, government, nonprofit and industry, giving her a unique perspective on how biosecurity measures translate into policy decisions, on-the-ground practices, and the long-term competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.
Jason Brantley
Jason Brantley is Vice President, Production Systems, Small Agriculture & Turf, for John Deere. He is responsible for leading John Deere’s agricultural machinery and technology business focused on utility and mid tractors, high value crop solutions, and dairy and livestock solutions globally.
Jason is a proven marketing, business, and innovation leader who thrives on developing strategies and solutions to equip farmers with tools to help them work more efficiently, profitability and sustainably. With extensive experience in sales, product development, marketing, and channel management, Jason brings a solutions-oriented mindset that is grounded in the customer experience into everything he does.
From 2018 to 2023, Jason served as Vice President, Sales, Asia, Africa & Middle East, successfully leading his team through a challenging period of growth and change. For the three years prior to that, Jason served as Managing Director for the John Deere Sub-Saharan Africa Sales Branch where he and his leadership team built a solid foundation to support innovation strategy and leveraged John Deere’s unique strengths to transform agriculture on the continent for both large and smallholder farmers.
Jason began his career with John Deere in 1993 and has held leadership positions in sales, marketing, product development, product support, innovation, strategy and general management in both the Ag & Turf and Construction & Forestry divisions. Jason also serves as a board director for Amadas Industries, the leading manufacturer of peanut harvesting equipment globally, as well as a board director for the Farm Foundation. He previously served two terms on the United States President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he chaired the subcommittee for Agribusiness and Food-Water policy.
Jason received his BS in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University and his MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.
Dr. Jennifer Ifft
Jennifer Ifft is a Professor and the Flinchbaugh Agricultural Policy Chair in the Kansas State University Department of Agricultural Economics. Her research examines how policies and regulations influence financial risk and outcomes for Kansas and U.S. agriculture. Current projects focus on expanding farm debt and nontraditional finance, forage storage and the cattle cycle, and the impact of crop insurance on capital-labor allocation. Her broader research has examined how farm programs and regulations are capitalized into farmland values, farmland value determinants and measurement, farm labor and management, crop insurance and farm debt, and the relationship between conservation practice adoption and farm profitability. She teaches undergraduate agricultural policy, and her extension program is currently focused on Farm Bill education, livestock and forage insurance options, and high coverage crop insurance options. She was born and raised on her family’s farm in central Illinois. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, an MPhil in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, and PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California Berkeley. Before joining Kansas State, she worked in the USDA Economic Research Service Farm Economy Branch and at Cornell University.
Julie Callahan
Ambassador Julie Callahan is the Chief Agricultural Negotiator of the United States. In this position, Ambassador Callahan works to promote the interests of U.S. farmers, ranchers and food manufacturers, including through conducting negotiations on tariff and non-tariff barriers affecting U.S. agricultural exports, addressing agricultural issues at the World Trade Organization, advocating on behalf of U.S. agriculture, enforcing agriculture-related commitments of trading partners, and opening markets for U.S. agriculture.
Dr. Callahan served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy from 2020-2025, where she led the USTR Agriculture Office in agricultural trade negotiations and the development and coordination of U.S. agricultural trade policy. Dr. Callahan previously served as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative and Senior Director in the USTR Agriculture Office, focusing on strategic engagement in UN organizations, bilateral and regional sanitary and phytosanitary issues, and agriculture-related technical barriers to trade.
Prior to joining USTR, Dr. Callahan held senior leadership positions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, executing strategic and operational planning, and aligning FDA analytical and policy approaches to preempt or resolve regulatory issues that arise in international trade. She has also served in the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and the American Chemical Society.
Ambassador Callahan earned her Bachelor of Science from MIT, and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts.
Justin Welsh
Dr. Justin Welsh leads the Merck Animal Health Livestock Technical Services team, which supports commercial teams across the cattle, swine and poultry industries in the U.S. market. The team’s veterinarians and nutritionists are located throughout the U.S. and focus on veterinary and producer education, as well as research related to product life cycles and field use.
Dr. Welsh earned his undergraduate degree in animal science from the University of Nebraska and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, magna cum laude, from Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1995.
Dr. Welsh has been with Merck Animal Health since 2012, first as a field technical services manager and, for the past eight years, as executive director of Livestock Technical Services for the U.S. business. Before joining Merck Animal Health, Dr. Welsh practiced mixed animal medicine in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, as a partner in Pioneer Animal Clinic for 18 years. His practice focused on cow-calf and feedyard consulting, livestock auctions, equine medicine and surgery. He is a certified animal chiropractor and acupuncturist.
He lives in De Soto, Kansas, with his wife, Julie. In his free time, he enjoys team roping, golf and outdoor activities with his family.
Rhishi Pethe
Rhishi Pethe has 25+ years of technology experience in food and agriculture. He created “Software is Feeding the World”, a rational techno-optimistic analysis of food and agriculture industries. Rhishi’s goal is to explore and shape the direction of progress by closing the gap between cutting-edge technologies and real-world agrifood practices through his advisory, analysis, and aggregation work.
Rhishi has held leadership roles at Mineral (an Alphabet company), The Climate Corporation (Bayer), Amazon, and startups (with exits), and has expertise in product management, artificial intelligence, strategy, supply chain & logistics. He is an alumnus of Kansas State University.
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Sara Wyant
Sara Wyant is an award-winning agricultural journalist, entrepreneur and founder of Agri-Pulse Communications Inc., a unique digital media firm she launched in 2004 to focus on farm, food and rural policy issues.
An investigative reporter who has written many groundbreaking stories, Wyant has covered almost every farm and food policy debate since the 1980s. She is well-recognized on Capitol Hill, as well as by farm, ranch and commodity associations across the country, as a veteran journalist and sought-after speaker.
Throughout her career, Wyant has been a trailblazer through several “glass” ceilings. In 1995, she was the first female to be named to the senior management team in agricultural publishing as vice president for editorial at Farm Progress. She served as the first female chairwoman on the Farm Foundation's board of trustees and as president of the American Agricultural Editors Association, where she also earned an Oscar in Agriculture award for excellence in agricultural reporting.
Wyant was named to Folio’s "Top Women in Media" in the Entrepreneurs category in 2015. For her leadership within the industry, she has received numerous awards and accolades from a wide variety of organizations including: American Agri-Women, Agriculture Future of America, FFA, Missouri Farm Bureau, National Association of Farm Broadcasters, North American Agricultural Journalists, United Soybean Board and others.
A graduate of Iowa State University, Wyant gained first-hand knowledge of crop and livestock production while growing up on a century farm near Marengo, Iowa, which she now owns and manages. She and husband Allan Johnson also own the farm where her husband's family originally established a homestead near Almont, North Dakota. They are the parents of two sons and three grandchildren.
Susan Metzger
Susan Metzger is the Director of Strategic Interdisciplinary Program Development at Kansas State University, where she also leads the Kansas Water Institute, the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, and the Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics (ID3A). She works across local, regional, and national networks to advance integrated agricultural and water programs that address critical resource challenges. Previously, she served as deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture and spent over a decade at the Kansas Water Office, where she helped develop the Vision for the Future of Water Supply in Kansas. Dr. Metzger holds degrees in biological sciences and wetland sciences, and a Ph.D. in leadership communication.
Timothy Peters
Tim Peters is a Senior Managing Director in FTI Consulting's Strategic Communications Segment, where he focuses on corporate reputation, issues management, and public affairs for clients in the Food, Agriculture and Industrials sectors.
Tim brings more than 25 years of experience across consulting, corporate, and government roles. He joined FTI in 2024 after serving as a founding partner of a small boutique corporate advisory firm in Chicago and holding senior leadership positions at Golin and Edelman. At Golin, Tim led the Corporate Affairs Practice for the Central Region before serving as U.S. Corporate Practice Lead. At Edelman, he served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs Practice where he led the Corporate Reputation, Crisis and Public Affairs teams. Tim also co-led the firm's Chicago Food Practice from 2014 to 2016.
Prior to consulting, Tim served in U.S. and global communications and public affairs roles at McDonald's, where he was responsible for public affairs, issues management and stakeholder engagement strategies for the brand. Before joining McDonald's, Tim spent nearly seven years in legislative and political roles for three different members of Congress and a congressional advisory committee in Washington, D.C., managing policy issues in food, agriculture, international trade, energy, and transportation and infrastructure.
Tim serves on the Board of Directors of the Barry Flinchbaugh Center for Agriculture and Food Policy at Kansas State University and the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Kansas State University and holds degrees in secondary education and agriculture economics. He was raised on a grain and livestock farm in Central Illinois and remains an active partner in the family farming operation.