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MBA FoodCon
2023
Cultivating The Future
FEB 16,2023
RALEIGH, NC
About FoodCon
About the Conference
The Business Sustainability Collaborative is proud to host the 9th annual MBA FoodCon Conference. Bringing together a diverse group of over 250 students, community members, business leaders and industry experts annually, FoodCon aims to increase the awareness and understanding of the sustainable food industry.
Beginning in 2014 at UNC-Chapel Hill, FoodCon has rotated annually between UNC’s Kenan-Flagler, Duke’s Fuqua, and NC State’s Jenkins MBA programs in the years since. This year’s edition will be the third time NC State has hosted the conference and we are excited to continue the FoodCon tradition while also highlighting NC State’s unique perspective and expertise.
Agenda
FEB 16
9:30am
Registration & Breakfast
10:00am
Opening Keynote: Karl Binns Jr., Cargill Inc.
Mountains Ballroom
11:00am
Room 3210
Room 3285
Room 4280
Panels:
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Entrepreneurship For Sustainable Food
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Eric Hallman - Piedmont Food Processing Center
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Tami Schwerin - The Plant
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Garrett Corwin - Piedmont Microgreens (Founder & Farmer)
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Lisa Grele Barrie - Raleigh City Farm
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Jacob Boehm - Snap Pea
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Farm to Fork: Creating Sustainable Supply Chains to Your Table
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Shraddha Rathod - Freshspire
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Lankford Ruffin - Butterball
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Jason Massey - Ndustrial
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Lyle Estill - Fair Game Beverage Company
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Cultivate the soil: Sustainable soil & tech solutions
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Graham Givens - FoodBuy
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Maria Williford - Raleigh City Farm
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Matthew Reinhart - Bayer Life Sciences
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12:00pm
Lunch Provided
1:15pm
Room 3210
Room 3285
Panels:
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Growing the future (plant based protein, lab grown protein, farm grown protein)
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Dr Kitt Payn - Terviva
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Michelle Egger - BioMilq (CEO)
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Rachel Gray - Grayhouse Farm
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Rob Schutte - Jellatech
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Sponsored by The Dairy Alliance
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Cultivating equity in food, food production, and food security
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Demetrius Hunter - Black Farmers Hub
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Sana Hadley - Sinnovatek
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Andrew Gravens - A Place at the Table
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Renee Smith - Plant Based Foods Institute
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Bill Baker - Butterball
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2:30pm
Closing Keynote: Matt Tripp, John Deere
Mountains Ballroom
3:30pm
Mountains Ballroom
Networking & Howling Cow Ice Cream Sponsored by The Dairy Alliance
Keynote Speakers
FEATURED INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Karl Binns
01
Morning Keynote
Black Farmer Equity Manager - Cargill, Inc.
Karl Binns is a nationally recognized advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion and currently serving as the Black Farmer Equity Manager for Cargill. In his role he leads a cross-functional team creating bespoke supply chains and new market opportunities for black farmers, ranchers, and producers.
In the past, Karl served as the Future Talent & DEI partnerships lead for Merck Animal Health and has held leadership roles at the Penn State University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Karl is a former national officer for Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), and founder of both the World Food Prize- Maryland Youth Institute and the Maryland Junior MANRRS Leadership Institute.
Mr. Binns is a proud HBCU graduate, a LEAD Maryland Class X Fellow, Herrsching International Seminar Fellow and a Climate Reality Action Fellow.
FOLLOW
Matt Tripp
Division Business Manager - John Deere
Matt is responsible for leading the dealer strategy and sales execution for the southeastern United States. Matt’s support of our dealers to help encourage the adoption of new equipment technologies by our customers. These technologies are helping to make their operations more profitable and sustainable, both of which are key to ensuring they can feed a growing world population.
Since joining John Deere in 2002, Matt has worked in positions of increasing responsibility including strategic marketing, product marketing in Europe, future product development and dealer product support. Matt was also a board member for the Ag Retailers Association.
Matt is still an active member of his family farm where they raise chickens, pigs, corn, and soybeans. The family farm is where he learned at a young age the importance of sustainable food production.
02
Afternoon Keynote
FOLLOW
The Venue
2610 Cates Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27606
Talley Student Union is the hub of student life on campus. The facility features a grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,200 guests; a wide variety of dining, lounge and meeting venues; recreational areas; student organization and government offices, a 2-level flagship NC State Store location; a great lawn; and advanced technology.
Named after former vice-chancellor of student affairs Banks C. Talley. Talley was instrumental in merging NC States agricultural and engineering history with the arts. Find parking directions here.
01
22
250
DAY
SPEAKERS
PARTICIPANTS
Our Sponsors
LEADING IN THE INDUSTRY
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