Value Ag Affiliates.
Ira Altman, PhD works as a consultant to Value Ag LLC and is an Assistant Professor in Rural and Regional Economics, Department of Agribusiness Economics at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Dr. Altman’s background is in agricultural economics and especially organizational economics and rural and regional growth and development.
Lance A. Burditt, BS is a consultant to the agricultural industry. Lance received his BS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1997. He previously worked at Monsanto Company for eight years. Lance is currently employed by Osborn and Barr Communications as an associate director.
Mark Butz graduated from Iowa State in 1981 with a BS in Dairy Science. He worked for Purina Mills, Inc. from 1982-1999 in various positions such as Territory Manager, District Manager and Divisional Sales Manager. In 1999 he resigned to start Dairy Consulting Services. Since starting, the business has grown to encompass over 30,000 cows and over $4 million in sales with four consultants.
Dr. Monty Kerley, PhD, works as a consultant to Value Ag, LLC and is a professor of animal science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Monty Kerley received a B.S. from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and a M.S. and Ph.D. (1987) from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Through an active graduate student training program, Dr. Kerley's laboratory has actively researched coproduct feeds, nutrition of grazing animals, exotic animal nutrition, silvopastoral grazing practices, nutritional impacts on gut-level fermentation, and protein/energy nutrition of beef cattle.
Dr. Henry T. Nguyen is professor in the Division of Plant Sciences and director of the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology. He has authored nearly 200 scientific publications, generated in excess of $25 million of external research funding, and supervised several graduate students and post-doctoral research associates. His research focuses on molecular genetics and functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance and value-added seed composition, and the application of genomics and biotechnology to soybean improvement. Dr. Nguyen has a long standing experience in working with the biotechnology industry, public funding agencies and commodity groups, including the National Grain Sorghum Producers and Texas Corn Growers Association.
Dr. Dave Patterson, Extension Associate in Animal Science at the University of Missouri. He received the B.S. degree in Agriculture Science and MS degree in Animal Science from Montana State University in Bozeman, and the PhD in Animal Science from Kansas State University. Dr. Patterson’s Outreach & Extension program in Missouri is directed toward the development of a progressive state-wide educational program in cow-calf production with emphasis on reproduction and management of beef heifers and cows. Dr. Patterson’s research program supports his extension programming efforts by providing a continuum of relevant research that has immediate application in the field.
Robert A. Pierce II, PhD is an Extension Assistant Professor within the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at the University of Missouri – Columbia and provides statewide leadership for Extension fisheries and wildlife programs. Robert received his BS in Biology/Agriculture from Southern Arkansas University, his MS in Wildlife Ecology from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Missouri.
Amy Schmidt, M.S., P.E. works as a consultant to Value Ag, LLC and is a Research Associate III in the Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering at Mississippi State University. Ms. Schmidt’s background is in manure management, livestock production, and agricultural air quality including odor measurement and abatement technologies. Ms. Schmidt spent six years as a state extension engineer with the University of Missouri Commercial Agriculture Program prior to assuming her current position at Mississippi State University.
Ted Schroeder is a University Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University. He has a B.S. from University of Nebraska and Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He has been on the faculty in Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University since 1986 teaching and conducting research. Ted has done extensive research in livestock market risk management, beef demand, cattle and beef marketing, and price discovery with more than 80 published journal articles and more than 200 other publications.