Speakers

Richard Brock

Richard Brock is Owner and President of Brock Associates, an agricultural marketing advisory service, and publisher of The Brock Report, a 20-page weekly fundamental and technical newsletter. Brock's firm, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, now has seven offices, manages grain sales on more than 800,000 acres throughout the U.S. and is an advisor on purchasing strategies for many large poultry, pork, dairy and food companies. Brock is on retainer with several agri-business firms for his input on strategic planning. Brock writes a monthly column for Delta Farm Press and Feedstuffs magazines and speaks at more than 50 conventions and conferences per year. Brock grew up on the family grain and pork farm in central Indiana. Brock received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue University and a master’s degree from Cornell University. Brock and his wife, Cathy, have three grown children and eight grandchildren.

Constance Cullman 

Constance Cullman is the American Feed Industry Association’s president and CEO. Cullman also serves as the president of AFIA’s public charity the Institute for Feed Education and Research and represents AFIA on international issues, including serving on the International Feed Industry Federation’s board of directors and executive committee, as well as the Global Feed LCA Institute’s board of directors. Cullman previously served as the president and CEO of Farm Foundation. Prior to that role, Cullman served as the U.S. government affairs leader for Dow AgroSciences; senior director of regulatory, technical and international affairs at the Corn Refiners Association; associate administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service; vice president of agricultural ecology at the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; and extension associate at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Cullman has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and a master’s degree in agricultural economics with an emphasis on international trade and agricultural policy from The Ohio State University. Cullman hails from Marysville, Ohio, where her family owned and operated a cow/calf farm. 

Cassandra Jones

Dr. Cassandra (Cassie) Jones is the Undergraduate Research Coordinator in the Department of Animal Sciences & Industry at Kansas State University. Jones coordinates undergraduate students interested in research projects across disciplines and species. Jones teaches ASI 561: Undergraduate Research in Animal Sciences & Industry and ASI 318: Fundamentals of Nutrition. Jones research efforts include evaluating the effects of ingredients or feed processing technologies on feed safety and animal nutrition. Jones is originally from Beulah, N.D., where her family raised Rambouillet sheep. Jones is formally trained as an applied swine nutritionist. Jones and her husband, Spencer, have three children, Ty, Hayden, and Hadley, and raise Angus cattle near Wamego.

Joseph Kerns

Joseph Kerns, President of Kerns and Associates, has 25 years’ experience working with producers, suppliers and mills to support agricultural operations. Kerns and his team assist clients with procurement and risk management activities related to hedging, ingredient purchase, optimizing relationships with mills, developing programs to assist in feed quality control, cost effective diet formulation, operational benchmarking, livestock marketing, generational transition and business development. In his current enterprise as a risk management consultant, Kerns and his team work with livestock producers and suppliers in 13 states. Clients include packers, producers, veterinarians, researchers, mill operators and feed ingredient suppliers. Team members have also served as keynote speakers for international agricultural agencies and suppliers, providing context about commodity markets, nutritional factors impacting production, and operational sustainability, leadership and ownership. Prior to this consulting venture, Kerns directed risk management activities for industry leaders such as ADM, Premium Standard Farms, Continental Grain and Iowa Select Farms.

Jayson Lusk 

Dr. Jayson Lusk currently serves as Distinguished Professor and Head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University.  After earning a B.S. in Food Technology from Texas Tech University in 1997, Lusk received a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 2000.  Lusk's first job out of graduate school was as an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, where he stayed for three years before moving to Purdue University as an Associate Professor.  In 2005, Lusk moved to Oklahoma State University where he served as Regents Professor and held the Willard Sparks Endowed Chair.  In 2011, Lusk and his family lived in Paris while he served as a visiting researcher at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and worked on a research fellowship awarded by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.  Lusk currently lives in West Lafayette, Indiana with his wife and two sons.