Speakers include Steve Forbes, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Forbes; Bill Even, CEO, National Pork Board; Mike Federle, CEO, Forbes; Sara Menker, Founder & CEO, Gro Intelligence; Jeff Simmons, CEO, Elanco Animal Health; Jim Sutter, CEO, U.S. Soybean Export Council, and many more

Indianapolis, IN – September 5, 2019 – Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb today joins an impressive lineup of speakers at Forbes’ second Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis, taking place Sept. 18-19. This event will convene global agriculture leaders and entrepreneurs who will explore solutions to the critical challenges affecting the world’s food supply and continue the conversation around the “future of food.” The Summit will bring together changemakers in technology and global agriculture with a special focus on animal health, protein and crops like soybeans which are produced in the Midwest.

Other new speakers joining the lineup at the event include:

• Bryce Anderson, Senior Ag Meteorologist, DTN
• Janette Barnard, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, DecisionNext
• Michelle Braun, Soy Nutrition Institute President & Research Scientist, DuPont Nutrition & Health
• Kyle Bridgeforth, Partner & Account Manager, Bridgeforth Farms and Fifth-Generation Farmer
• Bill Even, CEO, National Pork Board
• Mike Federle, Chief Executive Officer, Forbes
• Taryn Goodman, Principal—Food & Agriculture Sector Lead, The Rise Fund
• Dan Harburg, Senior Director of Innovation, Indigo
• Eric J. Holcomb, Governor of Indiana
• Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Ph.D., Administrator, USDA Agricultural Research Service & Acting Chief Scientist, USDA
• Meagan Kaiser, Executive Committee Member, United Soybean Board
• Sara Menker, Founder & CEO, Gro Intelligence
• Alexandra Talty, Senior Contributor, Forbes
• Ernest Sanders, Vice President, Product Development, Pivot Bio
• Jeff Simmons, CEO, Elanco Animal Health
• Brynne Stanton, Cofounder & Head of Microbial Engineering, Joyn Bio
• Jim Sutter, CEO, U.S. Soybean Export Council
• Steven Valencsin, Founder & CEO, Growers
• Jay Watson, Sourcing Sustainability Engagement Manager, General Mills
• Paul Zorner, Ph.D., CEO, Locus Agricultural Solutions

Summit attendees will have the opportunity to share diverse perspectives and foster valuable networking opportunities within these industries. The Summit kicks off with a tour of advanced farming technologies at one of Indiana’s leading companies. It will also include a Forbes/THRIVE Midwest Challenge. The five startups, selected from a pool of nearly 100 applicants from 26 countries, will pitch and compete for a chance to win investment from SVG Ventures, secure a place in the THRIVE VI Accelerator Program, plus an advertisement in an upcoming issue of Forbes magazine and the opportunity to present at Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in October. These emerging technology companies are creating cutting-edge innovations that are solving the biggest challenges in the food and agriculture spaces. The startups include: Bruce Caldwell, Founder & CEO, 3Bar Biologics; Joy Drach, President & CEO, Advanced Animal Diagnostics (AAD); Patrick Henry, CEO, GroGuru; Matthew Rooda, President & CEO, SwineTech; and Randall Schwartzentruber, Cofounder & CEO, BinSentry.

“The food industry is undergoing a complete transformation in the way we grow, develop, process and consume food,” said Sherry Phillips, Senior Vice President of ForbesLIVE. “The agricultural sector touches more lives than any other industry and with cutting-edge developments in agricultural biotechnology, we can create food more sustainably than ever before.”

“This has been an unprecedented year for Indiana farmers,” said Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb. “The Forbes AgTech Summit here in Indiana is important to our state and to farmers everywhere as we look to share ideas, nurture relationships, spur innovation and work toward solutions to tackle the world’s most critical challenges to our food supply.”

AgriNovus Indiana and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) are the Host Partners. Elanco Animal Health and Corteva Agriscience are the Presenting Sponsors. WinField United is the Partner Sponsor. National Pork Board and Purdue University are the Supporting Sponsors. Growers is the Business Leader Sponsor. SVG Ventures and its THRIVE Accelerator is the Founding Partner.

For more information, please visit the Forbes AgTech website.

Follow the conversation on Twitter via #ForbesAgTech.