Location: Mayo Clinic Health Systems Event Center – 1 Civic Center Plaza, Mankato, MN 56001
Date: September 11-12, 2024
The Midwest’s largest crop insurance conference
The Minnesota Crop Insurance Conference is one of the largest continuing education conferences for crop insurance agents in the Midwest. Attendees will hear industry speakers address topics directly relevant to crop insurance agents and interact with over 600 other crop insurance professionals.
Virtual and In-Person registration fees:
On or before August 30: $190
LATE REGISTRATION – After August 30: $250
You should receive an e-receipt shortly after registering. If you do not receive this email or have changes to your registration, please email katiec@umn.edu.
Cancellation and transfer policy:
Registration cancellations will be refunded through Friday, August 30 and are subject to a $25 handling fee; no refunds will be given after this date.
After August 30, any requests to change a registration from in-person to virtual or virtual to in-person will result in being charged the late registration fee via a $60 “Administrative Fee” add-on within the registration system. A registrant may change their registration from in-person to virtual or virtual to in-person until Monday, September 9.
Lodging
- Room blocks have been reserved at nearby hotels under the name “MN Crop Insurance Conference.”
- Arch and Cable: Use promo code MNCrop to receive a 15% discount on the nightly room rate.
- County Inn and Suites: $129.00 (Make reservations by August 12, 2024 to receive room block rate)
- Hilton Garden Inn: $131.00 (Room block is full.)
- Holiday Inn Express: $139.99 (Under “Rate Preference,” select “Group Rate” and enter code “INS”. Make reservations by August 10, 2024 to receive room block rate)
The conference offers continuing education credits in the following states:
- Iowa: Approved (6 general credits, 2 ethics credits)
- Minnesota: Approved (6 general credits, 2 ethics credits)
- North Dakota: Approved (6 general credits, 2 ethics credits)
- South Dakota: Approved (6 crop credits, 2 general credits)
- Wisconsin: Approved (6 general credits, 2 ethics credits)
Agenda
Check-in for the conference will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday and at 7:15 a.m. on Thursday. Agents seeking continuing education credit must check-in at the start of both days, as well as sign the signature page circulated during the event to receive credit.
Speakers
Marcia Bunger
On November 15, 2021, Marcia Bunger was named Administrator for the Risk Management Agency. She joins USDA after serving as a County Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) for 18 years. In total, she has over 25 years of experience working for USDA in the Farm Service Agency. In her role as County Executive Director, Bunger worked closely with Oglala Lakota Nation leaders and personnel to administer FSA programs on the second largest land based Indian Reservation in the U.S. She served 15 years on the South Dakota Advisory Council to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and previously held positions at Farm Credit Services of America, including Crop Insurance Specialist and Crop Insurance Officer.
Stephen Frerichs
Stephen Frerichs owns and operates his own consulting company, AgVantage LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. Stephen specializes in budget, agricultural and credit issues and has over 30 years of agricultural policy experience. Prior to forming his company, Stephen was the manager of the American Association of Crop Insurers (AACI). He represented crop insurance companies and agents in Washington D.C. He actively lobbied both Congress and the Administration. Stephen also has extensive experience in the Executive Branch. Stephen was a senior program examiner and Deputy Branch Chief in the Agriculture Branch with the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President for nearly eight years.
Marianne Jennings
Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies in business from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She was named professor of the year in the College of Business in 1981, 1987, 2000, and 2010 and was the recipient of a Burlington Northern teaching excellence award in 1985. She served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at ASU from 1995-1999. From 2006-2007, she served as the faculty director for the MBA Executive Program. She took emeritus status in 2015, but continues to teach graduate courses in business ethics and ethical culture at ASU and other colleges around the country. She is an instructor and mentor for Wiley’s CPAExcel review course.
Alejandro Plastina
Dr. Alejandro Plastina is an Associate Professor and Director of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center (RaFF) at the University of Missouri. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy and is a faculty member of Gamma Sigma Delta (the Honor Society of Agriculture). His area of specialization is Agricultural Finance, with an emphasis on agricultural production and conservation practices. Prior to joining the University of Missouri in 2024, he was Associate Professor and Extension Economist at Iowa State University (ISU), where he served as Co-Director of the ISU-Iowa Bankers Association Agricultural Credit School, Advisor to the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation, Chair of the ISU Farm Financial Stress Task Force, and Chair of the North Central Farm Management Extension Committee.
Matt Roberts
Car salesman turned commodity broker turned professor turned entrepreneur, Dr. Matt Roberts has shared his outlook on grain, energy and macro markets over 600 times around the country since starting at Ohio State in 2001. After leaving Ohio State in 2016, he started his consulting company, The Kernmantle Group.
Dr. Roberts’ energy is matched only by his ability to break down the complex issues of the day and communicate them in an engaging and memorable manner that your audience won’t forget. When it comes to controversial topics, you’ll be amazed at Dr. Roberts’ ability to challenge your audience’s thinking in a friendly and non-confrontational way, honed by 15 years in front of farmers from around the world, talking about everything from the impacts of biofuels to the economics of cap-and-trade to the challenges we face as a society in providing health care. Dr. Roberts’ presentations combine the passion of the Baptist preachers of his youth with the knowledge of a Land Grant Agricultural Economist and the wisdom of accumulated over 25 years as a salesman, broker, trader, dad, grandpa, and husband.
Eric Snodgrass
Eric SnodgrassEric Snodgrass is a Science Fellow and Principal Atmospheric Scientist for Nutrien Ag Solutions, where he develops predictive, analytical software solutions to manage weather risk for global production agriculture. He provides frequent weather updates that focus on how high-impact weather events influence global agriculture productivity. His current research uses machine learning to better understand field-level weather impacts on yields in the US and to increase confidence in long-range weather prediction. He presents his research as a featured speaker at over 120 conferences annually where he provides logistical guidance and solutions to weather sensitive financial institutions, farmers, commodity traders, and other stakeholders. Snodgrass is a co-founder of Global Weather and Climate Logistic, LLC and Agrible, Inc which were both acquired by Nutrien Ag Solutions in 2018.
Ed Usset
Edward Usset serves as a Grain Marketing Economist for the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota, the developers of FINPACK software. Working with colleagues at CFFM and in extension, Ed developed several workshops including “Winning the Game” and “How to get $4 Corn.” He manages Commodity Challenge, an online marketing education game that uses real-time cash and futures data. Ed also teaches “Commodity Markets” at the University and is a regular contributor for Corn and Soybean Digest and Farm Futures. The 2nd Edition of his book, “Grain Marketing is Simple (it’s just not easy)” was released in 2015.
Pauline Van Nurden
Pauline Van NurdenPauline Van Nurden is an Extension Economist at the Center for Farm Financial Management in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. She has more than 15 year’s experience in farm management and credit analysis related careers. Pauline has a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Economics and a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Education, both from the University of Minnesota. Professionally she has been an agricultural education teacher, a farm business management instructor, an agricultural lender, and now an extension economist with the center. Pauline’s interests include farm business analysis and financial management, benchmarking, and other topics related to assisting farmers to meet their operational and personal goals. She contributes to the ongoing development and teaching related to FINPACK, FINBIN, and many other tools available from the Center for Farm Financial Management. Pauline grew up on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota and now has a hobby farm with her family.
For More Details Visit: https://www.cffm.umn.edu/minnesota-crop-insurance-conference/
Source: https://www.cffm.umn.edu/