AgGateway’s Annual Conference To Feature Speakers

2017 Press Releases

AgGateway’s Annual Conference To Feature Speakers on Inventory Management, “Design Thinking” and Farm Data Challenges
November 6-9 in San Diego, California


Washington, D.C., October 15, 2017— Attendees at next month’s AgGateway Annual Conference will be able to explore current challenges and trends in agriculture, hear and share the best strategies for improving efficiency through electronic connections, and network with leading companies who are part of the current agriculture revolution in eConnectivity. The 2017 conference, “Efficiency-Opportunity–Profitability,” will be held November 6-9 at the Hilton Resort & Spa, in San Diego, Calif.

Featured general session speakers this year include:

  • Conference keynote Chase Sowden, Supply Chain Architect with Barcoding Inc., will address the state of automatic identification technology and implementation in agriculture. Sowden will touch on advances in logistics, inventory management, sales support and back office operations.
  • Marc Bolick, DesignThinkers Group, will discuss how to focus on the customer need and experience in product design and development, and how agricultural organizations can improve through “design thinking”. Organizations that implement design thinking tools and principles report higher customer engagement and satisfaction. 
  • Larkin Martin of Martin Farms, a family farm operation in northern Alabama, will consider data capture and usage as she shares success stories and calls for innovations to help growers in their daily operations.

Other highlights include a three-hour, pre-conference workshop, "Think Like A Startup”, run by Bolick of DesignThinkers Group. Bolick will lead participants in using elements of design thinking, and agile and lean startup, to learn how to better align team values, organizational culture, product offerings, and business models with customer needs and goals.

In addition, a half-day “Seed Quick Connect” session offers face-to-face meetings to help foster electronic connections between ag retailers, and seed distributors and manufacturers. Another session will focus on emerging technologies such as blockchain technology and how it will impact agriculture. Working sessions will advance implementation of new connectivity resources for ag retail, crop protection, crop nutrition, seed, grain, feed, precision ag and specialty chemical.

Companies can take advantage of prime sponsorship opportunities, which can be found on the conference webpage at www.AgGateway.org, or by contacting Sponsorship@AgGateway.org.

“This is the best meeting of the year to learn about and take part in connectivity activities that are changing the way trading partners in the agricultural supply chain will do business in the years ahead, from making order-to-invoice processes more powerful and cost efficient, to advances in precision agriculture," said AgGateway Executive Vice President and COO Brent Kemp. “It’s an ideal forum to bring colleagues and trading partners to learn about the substantial benefits ag companies are gaining through eConnectivity.”

The program is especially geared to ag retailers, distributors, manufacturers of ag inputs (e.g., seed, crop nutrition, crop protection), and software and data service providers, as well as professionals in precision ag, academia, agricultural organizations, students and ag media.

Details are available on the 2017 Annual Conference webpage, found under “Events” at www.AgGateway.org.

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AgGateway is a non-profit consortium of businesses serving the agriculture industry which helps member companies improve their profitability and productivity by promoting, enabling and expanding eBusiness in agriculture. www.AgGateway.org