Look Who’s Talking: Latest Additions to the Speakers’ Roster

Details continue to take shape for the 2016 Marketing & Distribution Convention. We’re thrilled to say a bit more about what you’ll hear in San Diego and from whom you will hear it.

Attorney Trent Johnson –
Product Distribution Law

Trent M. Johnson is a partner and litigation attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP. He has concentrated on product distribution law since the beginning of his career at Foley and now devotes the vast majority of his practice to counseling manufacturing clients (many of whom are farm equipment manufacturers) on their relationships with distributors. Johnson provides free consultations to Association companies as a benefit of their membership.

In San Diego, Johnson will present “A Year In Review: The Seven Most Common Legal Questions Asked By Members, And My Answers.” (Don’t worry, Johnson promises not to reveal any attorney-client privileged information!)

In addition to this rundown to questions on members’ minds, Johnson will discuss Deere & Company, et. al v. State of New Hampshire, the major’s challenge to New Hampshire’s new equipment dealer statute, which is currently before the U. S. Supreme Court. He will provide insight on the case and discuss the potential effects of a high court ruling on legislation.

Darren Goebel
Agronomist – AGCO

The Tillage Council has invited AGCO’s Darren Goebel to speak to members. He is an agronomist and the director of global commercial crop care at AGCO with marketing responsibility for tillage, seeding, and application equipment.

Goebel has a unique combination of technical agronomy, sales, marketing, and business experience, which he gained through extensive study and work for three Fortune 500 companies. He has led tillage marketing through good and bad times at two of those companies.

His work as a crop consultant and agronomist has spanned virtually all crops and geographies, including time in Southeast Asia, China, India, Eastern Europe, Mexico, U.S. and Canada. He has spent extensive time consulting on precision agriculture and holds degrees in agronomy, agricultural economics and business.

He is still involved in the family grain, livestock, and specialty produce farm in southwest Indiana, which keeps him grounded. Goebel will discuss the state of the tillage industry, barriers, and growth opportunities. His talk is 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31.

Scott Cedarquist, ASABE

Cedarquist is a familiar face at Association meetings. He is director of standards and technical activities for ASABE and an outstanding resource to members.

Cedarquist works to maintain and strengthen ASABE’s 100-year-old standards program for agricultural, food and biological systems. He has been instrumental in streamlining the standardization procedures, expanding the role of the society in international standardization, and implementing the use of collaborative software for standards development. He also actively participates in the American National Standards Institute and the Canadian Standards Association.

Cedarquist will join John Fisher, chairman of the Standards Awareness Council (1:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31), for a session on what members need to know to stay current on standards. He also will take part in the Towed Implement Product Council meeting (3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2) to discuss the new rule governing lighting and marking for agriculture equipment.