Advocating for Growth: Bridging Science and Society in Plant Research 2025
Thom Petersen Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Agriculture, Government and Advocacy in Minnesota
Kathryn Anderson Union of Concerned Scientists From Science to Action: Advancing Agricultural Policy for a Sustainable Future
Kevin Folta University of Florida Public Engagement in Uncertain Times: We Must Control Academic Ag’s Narrative
David Bubeck Corteva Agriscience Plant Breeding Without Boundaries and Inspirations for Advocacy

Past Speakers

Harvesting Synergies: Elevating Plant Sciences Through Interdisciplinarity 2024
Jianming Yu Director of the Raymon F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding - Iowa State University
Magdalena Julkowska Assistant Professor - Boyce Thompson Institute
Elison Blancaflor Senior Scientist - NASA Kennedy Space Center
Emily Ziemke Portfolio Lead at Farming Solutions & Digital Group - Corteva Agriscience
Salvador A. Gezan Statistical Genetics Consultant - VSNI International
The International Impact of Plant Science 2023
Alison Bentley Director of CIMMYT's Global Wheat Program
Allen Van Deynze Director of the Seed Biotechnology Center and Associate Director of the Plant Breeding Center - University of California, Davis
Megan Bowman Director of Research Operations - Ball Horticultural
Vara Prasad Distinguished Professor, R.O. Kruse Endowed Professor and Director - Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab
Tabare Abadie Senior Research Manager and Distinguished Laureate - Corteva Agriscience
Growing Solutions for a Changing Climate 2022
Aubrey Streit-Krug Director of Ecosphere Studies - The Land Institute
Steve Knapp Director of the Strawberry Breeding Program - University of California Davis
Andrzej Kilian Founder and Director (President) of Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd (DArT)
Molly Jahn Program Manager - Defense Sciences Office at DARPA
Jon Massman Soybean Technology Lead - Corteva
Plant Science in a Rapidly Changing World 2021
Adam Famoso Associate Professor - Louisiana State University
Ari Novy President and CEO - San Diego Botanic Garden
Cathie Martin John Innes Centre - East Anglia University
Ariana Torres Horticulture Business - Purdue University
Philip Crain Corteva Research Scientist - Predictive Agriculture R&D
International Perspectives on Global Hunger: Feeding the World Through Innovation, Collaboration, and Communication 2019
Abebe Menkir International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Paul Porter Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, UMN
Sandra Milach Global Leader for Systems and Innovations for Breeding - Corteva Agriscience
Sayed Azam-Ali Chief Executive Officer of the Crops For Future Research Centre (CFFRC)
From Markers to Markets: Breeding for End Use Quality 2018
Amy Jacobson DuPont Pionneer - Discovery Breeder
Jim Kirkwood Former General Mills - Chief Science and Technology Development Officer and Vice President, GTECH; (General Mills’ Global Center for Technology Creation)
Natalia Dudareva Distinguished Professor - Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University
Tom Clement Professor of Biotechnology - University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vance Whitaker Strawberry Breeding Program - University of Florida
Domestication and Contemporary Plant Breeding 2017
Alisson Miller Associate Professor - Department of Biology at Saint Louis University
Brianna Gross Assistant Professor of Biology - University of Minnesota, Duluth
John Burke Professor of Plant Biology - University of Georgia in the Department of Plant Biology
John Doebley Quantitative Genetics of Maize-Teosinte Evolution - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Michael Purugganan Dean for Science and Silver Professor of Biology - New York University
Plant Breeding: Rooted in Education 2016
Bruce Walsh Professor in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Public Health, Plant Sciences - BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona
Eric Watkins Associate Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science - University of Minnesota
Fred Bliss Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Plant Sciences - University of California, Davis
Gary Atlin Crop Productivity Functional Team Lead in Agricultural R&D - Gates Foundation
Liz Lee Professor in Plant Agriculture - University of Guelph
Breeding Crops for Alternative Systems and Environments 2015
John Arbuckle Vice President of Crop Genetics Research & Development - DuPont Pioneer
Kevin Murphy Assistant Professor of Barley and Alternative Crop Breeding - Washington State University
Julie Dawson Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticulture - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lee Dehann The Land Institute - Kansas
Marc Albertsen DuPont Fellow and Leader of the Research for Enhanced Adaptation and Crop Hybridization (REACH)
Jim Orf Professor - University of Minnesota in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Breeding Today for Tomorrow’s Problems 2014
Amy Lezzoni Project Director, RosBREED - Michigan State University
Bill Dolezal Research Plant Pathologist - Pioneer Union City, TN, Corn Research Center
Chris Richards Population Geneticist - USDA-ARS National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado
Dan Voytas Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Development - University of Minnesota
Major Goodman William Neal Reynolds and Distinguished University Professor - North Carolina State University in the Department of Crop Science