The Scoop's 40 Under 40 For 2022

The award program is sponsored by Nufarm

Isaac Anderson Market Development Specialist, WinField United Arden Hills, Minnesota As a WinField United Market Development Specialist, Isaac helps retailers incorporate service-based solutions and secure new market access opportunities for their growers, including value-added offerings for grain and newly adopted sustainability practices that offset carbon emissions. Previously, he served as a Technical Seed Agronomist for WinField United and helped advance new corn hybrids and soybean varieties into the CROPLAN lineup. Isaac spent his first six years in the industry as a crop adviser at a local cooperative retailer in central Minnesota, helping local growers with all facets of their farm management plans.

Brice Bonin Sales/E-Business Support Administrator, NuWay-K&H Cooperative Trimont, Minnesota Brice is currently the sales/e-business support administrator for NuWay-K&H Cooperative. In this role, she does an excellent job of maximizing the value that her internal team gets from their digital tools. Not only does she act as a liaison between the NuWay-K&H team and outside digital organizations like AgVend, she also takes on the role of subject-matter expert in the digital space, and finds areas of opportunity for the currently implemented techstack. She has stepped up to answer any and all questions from her team, as well as providing them with resources on an ongoing basis so that they can begin to build their own knowledge about the digital platforms that they use. On top of these tasks, Brice has also been a marketing lead for the Nuway-K&H Cooperative brand. She manages marketing communications going out to the customer base and the internal team, including an impressive push during Black Friday each year. This role has demanded creativity and attention to detail, both of which Brice has exhibited consistently.

Tyler Bottoms Commercial Director, AgVision Software Ankeny, Iowa Bottoms worked for 14 years at Barchart starting as a Support Specialist and working up to Director of Client Services overseeing Ag support as well as assisting with sales & product management. He's a driven industry expert that over his tenure at Barchart helped that company grow from a few dedicated ag clients to over 600. He works to ensure that along the way that his clients were always taken care of. He's now looking to help AgVision Software expand and modernize their solutions within the quickly changing agriculture technology sector.

Matt Brown Business Unit Lead, Landus Cooperative Des Moines, Iowa Matt Brown has been an employee of Landus or their origin companies for 17 years now. That translates to his entire career. He started with the company as an applicator/sales person and has worked his way up to being in charge of the entire sales and operations leader of the entire company. In Matt's current role he oversees 3 individuals that manage 80% of our entire labor force at Landus (over 600 full time employees). Matt is in charge of sales growth, and asset utilization for the whole company and has advanced the company greatly on overall sales growth.

Hunter Carpenter Senior Director of Public Policy, Agricultural Retailers Association Arlington, Virginia Hunter leads ARA's advocacy efforts in a number of policy areas related to the Farm Bill, conservation and sustainable ag programs, tax, trade, biotech, and energy.

Anna Cardoze VP of Strategic Accounts Verdesian Life Sciences Cary, NC As VP of Strategic Accounts for Verdesian Life Sciences, Anna Cardoze is responsible for ensuring revenue goals and creating long-term value for partners within the US and Canada. She manages key accounts and secures new/expands relationships. Cross functionally, Anna works to keep a consistent, strategic path forward along all fronts. Prior to this, Anna developed and maintained AgVend’s ecosystem relationships including John Deere, WinField United, Agvance, DTN, and others

Matt Clark Digital Technology Manager, Ceres Solutions Crawfordsville, Indiana Matt leads our digital technology specialist team at Ceres Solutions. His team is responsible for supporting our CORE Agronomic services including precision soil sampling, tissue sampling, scouting, and operations. Matt and his team are consistently supporting our field staff with technical training and bringing new innovations to the market.

Matt Comrey Technical Nutrition Agronomist, Wilbur-Ellis Yuba City, California Matt has been an absolute leader in advancing the next wave of precision irrigation and scheduling throughout his territory. Matt has deployed multiple technologies to achieve this, including the use of pressure bomb calorimeters, belowground soil moisture sensors, and the use of mathematical models to predict irrigation needs. Altogether, Matt offers a multi-modal approach to helping his grower clients optimize irrigation supplies during a prolonged drought. In addition, Matt is a leader in almond, grape, and walnut nutrition programs throughout his territory.

Matt Dolch Corn Product Manager, NK Brand, Syngenta Lincoln, Nebraska Matt is corn product lead for all of NK Seed, a Syngenta brand. He is an exceptional example of someone whose leadership and success have helped him grow his company and advance his career. He started as a local sales manager on the Golden Harvest brand. He grew his territory and then took on a marketing lead role for Syngenta. He moved from that position to become a district manager over the western corn belt sales territories from NK and just recently got promoted to the corn product manager for the entire brand.

Willie Elgin General Manager, Shenandoah District, Southern States Cooperative Richmond, Virginia Willie serves as the District General Manager for 14 retail locations focused on Energy, Agronomy, Feed and Farm Supplies. His district has annual sales of $118 Million and consistently delivers results, while serving diverse agricultural markets. In addition to sales performance, his teams lead in the organization in adopting change, execution of company initiatives, and adapting to an ever-changing marketplace. Willie came to Southern States following a role as a location manager for Tractor Supply Company. He started as a location manager for Southern States and quickly ascended the ranks to Assistant General Manager and now District General Manager.

Ethan English Manager, Carolina Eastern-Vail Inc. Salem, New York Ethan graduated from Cornell University in 2019 and has recently taken on the role of plant manager at 25 years old. Ethan worked as an intern for Carolina Eastern-Vail Inc. over the summers when he was studying agricultural science at Cornell. Since then, Ethan has taken on the role as an applicator, a salesman, and is now working as the manager very successfully.

Kayley Essington Client Success Representative, CommoditAg Brownsburg, Indiana Kayley is a client success representative - where she offers inputs and services that have a direct impact on the growers' bottom line. Much of her time is spent working directly with farmers to find the right products at the best price.

Corey Evans Strategic Marketing Manager, WinField United, Arden Hills, Minnesota Corey oversees the WinField United proprietary herbicide portfolio and active ingredient strategy team, which is accountable for building a pipeline of new proprietary herbicide, insecticide and fungicide offerings. He spends every day collaborating with internal stakeholders, retail owners and manufacturer partners to deliver product solutions that help growers improve yields, reduce input costs and increase confidence. Previously, Corey served as a CROPLAN Technical Seed Manager, managing CROPLAN brand seed offerings and lifecycles, and providing agronomic technical support to retail sales agronomists. He started his career in agriculture as a retail sales agronomist in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Shannon Fortenberry Community Investment Manager, GreenPoint Ag Decatur, Alabama Shannon currently spearheads GreenPoint’s community investment program across our 10-state footprint and oversees the operations of the newly formed GreenPoint Foundation. She has proudly served at GreenPoint Ag for 5 years, formerly managing our communications efforts.

Ashley Giese Strategic Marketing Manager, WinField United, Arden Hills, Minnesota Ashley is a Strategic Marketing Manager, overseeing the WinField United Seed Treatment and Insecticide businesses, which includes managing the five-year product pipeline strategies and maintaining strong marketing relationships with several suppliers. She is also a key leader in developing and executing the WinField United biologicals strategy. Ashley’s entire career has been in ag retail. Previously, she served in corn genetics product manager and seed care specialist roles at Syngenta, managing segment strategies and providing agronomic support to retail and independent seed companies. Her career kicked off as a sales agronomist supporting the farmer dealer network in central Wisconsin.

Brooke Grieder Seed Division Business Manager, GROWMARK Bloomington, Illinois Brooke is currently the Seed Business Manager for GROWMARK, Inc. In her role she is responsible for the financial aspect of the Seed business for GROWMARK, Inc. and the member companies. Brooke works with vendor partners to maximize contracts to return profit to our members owners through margin and patronage payouts. Brooke consults member-owners on margin structure to ensure current and future financial success. Prior to her role in the seed division Brooke also worked as an auditor for member companies.

Brandon Harrelson District General Manager, Southern States Cooperative Richmond, Virginia Brandon serves as the District General Manager for 16 locations focused on agronomy sales and service in the Coastal regions of North and South Carolina. His district has annual sales of $120 million. Under his leadership, the district has delivered profitable results in a highly competitive market where maintaining a strong margin can be difficult to achieve. Brandon leads a team designed to work together across locations to achieve the goals set for the district. Brandon served as a Production Supervisor for Hormel Foods before joining Southern States as an Agronomy Sales Manager. He transitioned from sales into retail operations as an Assistant General Manager and quickly advanced to the District General Manager role he holds today. Brandon’s ability to successfully navigate both sales and operations is a unique and valuable trait in his current leadership role.

Collin Householder Account Manager, The McGregor Company Kennewick, Washington Collin Householder has been involved in agriculture all his life. After graduating from Washington State University, he accepted a position as an account manager in the fast-track program. In this position, Householder has worked with a variety of crops on both dry and irrigated operations. In his current role, he fulfills the roles of both account and service manager for the horse heaven region. He isn’t afraid to jump in wherever he is needed – hopping behind the wheel of a truck or lending a hand in any situation.

Kara Jackson Director, Marketing, Simplot Grower Solutions Boise, Idaho As the Director of Marketing for Simplot Grower Solutions, Kara leads the marketing team to develop and execute all promotional marketing.

Edgard Jauregui Desert Agronomist, Helena Agri-Enterprises Fresno, California Edgard currently serves as the Desert Agronomist of Helena Agri Enterprises. In this role, Edgard covers a territory that stretches from Central AZ to SE CA and is characterized by tremendous crop variety and challenges. A few of these challenges include: poor water quality, saline/sodic soils, and low organic matter soil. To manage these challenges, Edgard turns to a battery of tests that cover water quality, tissue samples, and soil tests. Previously, Edgard served as the Sr. Manager Ag Science - LATAM at Heliae where he helped launch new biotech products into Central and South America. In this role, Edgard oversaw R & D trials, ag retail and grower training, and served as the point person for biostimulant agronomy.

Andy Killian Retail Manager, BRANDT Lexington, Illinois Andy manages all day-to-day operations at his location, including sales efforts. He is 37 years old and clearly a future leader of the organization.

Andrew Lambert Technology Services Manager, Centra Sota Cooperative Buffalo, Minnesota Andrew’s current role at Centra Sota focuses on advising farmers and a team of agronomists on the best management practices for their fields by incorporating ag technology. Today, Andrew has also been instrumental in progressing Centra Sota’s digital business enablement strategy. This is a cross-departmental effort that includes multiple business units at Centra Sota

Judson Limmer Crop Advisor, Simplot Grower Solutions Carmine, Texas Judson started his career in agriculture as a location manager for a coop. He later made the move to Simplot as a location manager for two stores, Brazos Bottom and Holland. Judson is currently a Crop Advisor for Central Texas.

Will Mangen Services Adoption Manager, WinField United Arden Hills, Minnesota As a WinField United Services Adoption Manager, Will is responsible for positioning, marketing and selling service-based products and solutions, including digital and ag tech tools, crop inputs financing, yield and price risk management solutions, equipment sales, sustainability solutions to retailers, growers and the WinField United commercial sales team.

George Madison Agronomy Specialist, Co-Alliance Cooperative Indianapolis, Indiana As a YieldPro Specialist, George works with growers to maximize yields thru a whole acre approach. This includes from dry fertilizer and seed to in season disease management and everything in between. His prior role was a DSM position for a national brand seed company.

Grant Mason Sales Manager, Wheeler Brothers Grain Co. Watonga, Oklahoma Grant is transitioning into the sales manager position over a team of 5 sales people. Prior to that Grant was a member of the sales team and also an Asst Location Manager.

Josh Mathis Crop Advisor, Simplot Grower Solutions Boise, Idaho Josh has worked in agriculture his entire life . He started showing steers as a child in 4H and helping plant his Dad's orchard. Josh has many experiences in agriculture from stacking hay to changing handlines for growers before he started his professional career in retail ag. Josh worked for just one ag retailer before his career started at Simplot five years ago.

Andrea Mowers Director, Communications & Member Experience, Agricultural Retailers Association Arlington, Virginia Andrea joined ARA in 2019 as Manager of Communications and Member Engagement. She quickly demonstrated skill and passion for ARA's social media work and connecting employees of member companies with ways to participate in ARA. She oversees and executes ARA's Rising Stars program. In 2022 she was promoted to Director of Communications & Member Experience in recognition of new responsibilities and continuing professional development.

Jason Nelson Services Adoption Manager Team Lead, WinField United Arden Hills, Minnesota Jason has worked at Winfield United for the past 14 years and is currently responsible for the execution of financial and risk management services across four business units in six states. He is also a team lead within the New Markets Development group, which partners with retailers to identify new and emerging market opportunities for farmers. Prior to this role, Jason held Seed District Manager positions in Southern Minnesota and served as the Marketing Manager for the Winfield United seed treatment business. Prior to his time at Winfield United, Jason worked in operations roles at Federated Co-op and Cargill.

Abby Reiner Marketing Manager, Heartland AG Systems Hutchinson, Minnesota Abby Reiner is currently the Marketing Manager at Heartland AG Systems, the largest Case IH Application Distributor in North America. Previous to becoming the Marketing Manager, Abby interned with many ag-related companies including, University of Minnesota Extension, Hutchinson Co-Op, Ag Partners, and Heartland AG Systems. Although her experiences in ag retail may be short, she has had a large impact on not only Heartland AG Systems, but its customers as well.

Joseph Rickard Crop Protection Product Manager, WinField United Arden Hills, Minnesota Joseph is the Crop Protection Product Manager that covers a vast geography from Illinois to Maine and from the North Shore to the Mason Dixon Line. He is responsible for the training and education of internal and retail staff on Seed Treatment, Adjuvants, Fertility products and agronomic practices within the cooperative system.

Keyaira Smith Client Success Representative, CommoditAg Brownsburg, Indiana Keyaira is a key member of CommoditAg's client success team. She is always willing to lend a helping hand to other members of CommoditAg's small but growing team.

Jackson Stansell CEO and Founder, Sentinel Fertigation Lincoln, Nebraska Jackson graduated with a degree in Bioenvironmental Engineering at Harvard University then earned his masters in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His masters research included utilizing aerial and satellite imagery along with calibrations strips in corn fields to create accurate fertigation recommendations. He then founded Sentinel Fertigation to put his research into practice.

Adam Steinbauer Agronomy Regional Manager, Co-Alliance Cooperative Indianapolis, Indiana He is responsible for managing the team within his region driving the sales and operations toward profitability and great partnerships with the customers they serve. He has been a tremendous leader within various projects within the organization including the launch of their digital platform Co-Alliance Connect. He has had a large impact on the Co-Alliance team when it comes to marketing asset utilization and optimization, dispatch implementation to the field team, and margin enhancement through his experience in the industry.

Alex Stivers Vice President of Agronomy, Ag Plus Inc. South Whitley, Indiana Alex started with Ag Plus as their Vice President of Agronomy just recently, August 15, 2022. He will be leading all aspects of the division, Crop Nutrients/Crop Protection/Seed/Ag Tech. Prior to Ag Plus, Alex spent 8 years with CHS as their Crop Nutrients East Region Strategic Account Manager.

Michael Vail Manager, Carolina Eastern-Vail Inc. Salem, New York Michael graduated from University of Vermont in 2014 with a degree in agricultural economics. After graduation, he went to work for Stutsman Agricultural Retailers in Iowa before coming back home to work for CaroVail as an agronomist. Since then, he has moved to the location in Central NY where he has helped shape the location and make major improvements. He is now a lead custom applicator for that location, participates in sales, and aids in management.

John Wells Crop Advisor, Simplot Grower Solutions Yazoo City, Mississippi John Wells is currently a Crop Advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions in Mississippi. He has been a trusted Crop Advisor for close to 10 years now.

Court White Crop Specialist, Logan Agri-Service Inc. Winchester, Illinois Court White serves as primary crop specialist for Logan Ag from the Winchester facility. Additionally, Court is the retail sales team supervisor for all Logan Ag locations.

Eryn Wingate Agronomist, Tri-Tech Ag Products Camarillo, California Eryn Wingate has always loved learning about the natural sciences. From her first biology class, Eryn wanted to know more about how evolution works, how organisms interact, and how ecosystems develop. After studying at Pasadena City College, Eryn transferred to the University of California, Davis where she majored in Environmental Science and Management with a focus in Soil Science. Eryn starting working for Tri-Tech in July, 2015 shortly after graduating from UC Davis. Eryn has now been at Tri Tech for 7 years and has developed into an impressive coastal crop agronomist where she influences and guides local growers on soil fertility, water quality, and nutrient management needs.

Karl Wyant Director of Agronomy, Nutrien Tempe, Arizona The scale of Dr. Karl Wyant’s different industry roles have grown with his advancement into distinct leadership positions within the ag retail supply chain. Karl served as the Desert Agronomist for Helena Agri-Enterprises where he regularly advised growers on agronomy issues (2014-2017). From late 2019-Spring 2022, Karl was involved with a biotech startup, Heliae Agriculture, as the Vice President of Ag Science.