Agriculture is at the heart of Indiana’s economy, and developing leaders for this essential, complex industry starts with people stepping forward to advance their skills . Twenty-eight promising industry members have been selected to participate in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program (ALP), sponsored by AgrIInstitute, to further develop their leadership capacity. During the two-year program, ALP class members will attend 12 seminars held throughout Indiana, travel to Washington D.C. to meet with national leaders, and spend two weeks in a foreign country studying international issues.
This group represents the 16th class of the program, which has been building leadership ability for more than 30 years with more than 440 program graduates. A wide variety of agricultural interests and industries are represented in the new class members who went through an extensive application and interview process to be selected for this highly acclaimed professional development opportunity.
Class members include:
- Tamara Benjamin, Purdue University, West Lafayette
- Brian Blackford, Indiana State Fair Commission, Indianapolis
- David Briel, Bayer Crop Science, Valparaiso
- Matthew Casner, Maple Leaf Farms, Leesburg
- Dale Crabtree, National FFA Organization, Indianapolis
- Maria Cooper, IN State Board of Animal Health, Indianapolis
- Brent Ditmars, Farm Credit of Mid-America, Columbus
- Michael Dunn, IN Soybean Alliance/IN Corn, Indianapolis
- Amir Faghih, Dow AgroSciences, Westfield
- Gary Fischer, Cardinal Ethanol, Union City
- Drew Garretson, Winfield Solutions, Vincennes
- Laura Gentis, Farm Credit of Mid-America, Bluffton
- James Gentry, Cargill, Linden
- Aaron Goedde, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield
- Seth Harden, Indiana Farm Bureau, Salem
- Paul Hodgen, Hodgen Farms, Roachdale
- Joe Horstman, Farm Bureau Ins./Horstman Cattle, Fowler
- Adam Kline, Bose McKinney & Evans, Indianapolis
- Tyler Kroeger, Perdue Farms, Vincennes
- Megan Kuhn, IN Soybean Alliance/IN Corn, Indianapolis
- Joshua Miller, Richard Smith Farms, Anderson
- Amanda Mosiman, Purdue Extension/Warrick Co., Boonville
- Brad Nicholson, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield
- Christy Randolph, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis
- Patty Reding, Langeland Farms, Greensburg
- Guy Schafer, Lamb Farms, Lebanon
- Jennifer Stewart-Burton, Purdue University/College of Ag, West Lafayette
- Troy Walker, Ceres Solutions, Perrysville