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Friday, January 9, 2026 will be next year’s conference. If you’re not already on our mailing list, please subscribe to receive updates.

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What You Missed >>

Save the 2026 Date

Friday, January 9, 2026 will be next year’s conference. If you’re not already on our mailing list, please subscribe to receive updates.

Subscribe for updates

Top Farmer Conference 2025

Overview Agenda Slides + Resources Presented Photos + Recap

Overview

Take part in one of the most successful and longest-running management programs geared specifically for farmers — the Purdue Top Farmer Conference, featuring faculty and staff experts from Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. Surrounded by farm management, farm policy, agricultural finance and marketing experts, and a group of your peers, the conference will stimulate your thinking about agriculture’s future and how you can position your farm to be successful in the years ahead.

This year’s conference featured sessions focused on navigating economic and policy changes; land acquisition and machinery management; using AI and extracting value from new technologies; insight into the farmland market; and strategies to reduce cost per bushel. The conference concluded with a Q&A panel discussion. Conference video recordings and slide deck presentations are only available to those that registered.

Registration for next year’s conference which will be held at Purdue’s Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette on Friday, January 9, 2026, will open in late 2025. If you can’t attend in-person, you can still join us remotely for one of the best conferences of the winter meeting season. Subscribe to the Center’s newsletter to stay up to date on future programs.

Thank you to our Conference Sponsor:

View details on the past 2024 Purdue Top Farmer Conference >>

Agenda

Download agenda (pdf)

Friday, January 10, 2025
8:00 a.m. (EST)	Light Breakfast Join us to network with colleagues over a light breakfast
9:00 a.m. (EST)	Welcome & Insights Into What U.S. Farmers Are Telling Us About the Ag Economy Michael Langemeier, Director & Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
9:15 a.m. (EST)	Navigating Economic & Policy Changes: A New Year with a New Congress & Administration Matt Erickson, Ag Economic & Policy Advisor, Farm Credit Services of America Prior to joining Farm Credit, Matt was Chief Economist at the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. He'll share insights into how the 2024 election results will shape economic and agricultural policy when the new administration takes office in 2025.
10:15 a.m. (EST)	Networking Break
10:30 a.m. (EST)	Reset: Land Acquisition & Machinery Management Strategies For The Next Decade Gary Schnitkey, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural & Consumer Economics; Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategies, University of Illinois One of the leaders of the University of Illinois' farmdoc team, Dr. Schnitkey will focus on what's ahead for crop producers in the upcoming decade and help you identify strategies for success in what could be a challenging economic environment.
11:30 a.m. (EST)	Using AI to Seamlessly Improve Your Financial Management Chad Fiechter, Ph.D., Research Director, Center for Commercial Agriculture & Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University Do you find it challenging to compute key financial ratios and metrics for your farm? Dr. Fiechter will introduce an alternative to the spreadsheet – an app that prompts users to create a balance sheet and upload an anonymized Form 1040 Schedule F for the computation of various farm management financial ratios and metrics. The app will demonstrate how AI tools can be used to simplify farm management tasks.
11:45 a.m. (EST)	Networking Over Lunch
12:45 p.m. (EST)	Data-Driven Farmland Markets Todd Kuethe, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural Economics & Schrader Endowed Chair in Farmland Economics, Purdue University; Aaron Shew, Vice President of Product and Data at Acres Farmland is the largest asset on most farm balance sheets. Farmland markets are evolving rapidly with widespread availability of tract specific information about land use, productivity, and weather. What does this shift in information availability mean for farmland markets and for you as a farmland owner or farmland buyer? Aaron Shew from Acres, a land value data analytics company, will join Purdue's Todd Kuethe to discuss how data analytics are changing farmland markets.
1:45 p.m. (EST)	Networking Break
2:00 p.m. (EST)	Extracting Value for Your Farm from New Technologies Chad Fiechter, Ph.D., Research Director, Center for Commercial Agriculture & Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University The amount of new technology available for agricultural production is staggering. This presentation looks back at farm level returns to precision ag technologies, demonstrates a tool to extract value from current precision agricultural technologies, and looks forward to explore the potential returns to autonomy. As an added bonus, this presentation features a legacy Purdue Ag Econ application – the PC/LP model.
3:00 p.m. (EST)	Strategies to Reduce Your Cost Per Bushel in 2025 Shaun Casteel, Ph.D., Professor of Agronomy & Soybean Production, Small Grains Extension Specialist, Purdue University; Bill Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Botany & Plant Pathology, Wallace Chair of Crop Sciences, Purdue University; & Michael Langemeier, Ph.D., Center for Commercial Agriculture Director & Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University Reducing costs without reducing productivity is a challenge every farm will face in 2025. Purdue agronomy and weed science specialists will share key tips from their research and work with growers to reduce your cost per bushel while Michael Langemeier will highlight key management strategies you should consider implementing.
4:00 p.m. (EST)	Conference Concludes Thanks for joining us!

Friday, January 10, 2025

8:00 a.m. (EST)

Light Breakfast

Join us to network with colleagues over a light breakfast

9:00 a.m. (EST)

Welcome & Insights Into What U.S. Farmers Are Telling Us About the Ag Economy
Michael Langemeier, Director & Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

9:15 a.m. (EST)

Navigating Economic & Policy Changes: A New Year with a New Congress & Administration
Matt Erickson, Ag Economic & Policy Advisor, Farm Credit Services of America

Prior to joining Farm Credit, Matt was Chief Economist at the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. He'll share insights into how the 2024 election results will shape economic and agricultural policy when the new administration takes office in 2025.

10:15 a.m. (EST)

Networking Break

10:30 a.m. (EST)

Reset: Land Acquisition & Machinery Management Strategies For The Next Decade
Gary Schnitkey, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural & Consumer Economics; Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategies, University of Illinois

One of the leaders of the University of Illinois' farmdoc team, Dr. Schnitkey will focus on what's ahead for crop producers in the upcoming decade and help you identify strategies for success in what could be a challenging economic environment.

11:30 a.m. (EST)

Using AI to Seamlessly Improve Your Financial Management
Chad Fiechter, Ph.D., Research Director, Center for Commercial Agriculture & Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Do you find it challenging to compute key financial ratios and metrics for your farm? Dr. Fiechter will introduce an alternative to the spreadsheet – an app that prompts users to create a balance sheet and upload an anonymized Form 1040 Schedule F for the computation of various farm management financial ratios and metrics. The app will demonstrate how AI tools can be used to simplify farm management tasks.

11:45 a.m. (EST)

Networking Over Lunch

12:45 p.m. (EST)

Data-Driven Farmland Markets
Todd Kuethe, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural Economics & Schrader Endowed Chair in Farmland Economics, Purdue University; Aaron Shew, Vice President of Product and Data at Acres

Farmland is the largest asset on most farm balance sheets. Farmland markets are evolving rapidly with widespread availability of tract specific information about land use, productivity, and weather. What does this shift in information availability mean for farmland markets and for you as a farmland owner or farmland buyer? Aaron Shew from Acres, a land value data analytics company, will join Purdue's Todd Kuethe to discuss how data analytics are changing farmland markets.

1:45 p.m. (EST)

Networking Break

2:00 p.m. (EST)

Extracting Value for Your Farm from New Technologies
Chad Fiechter, Ph.D., Research Director, Center for Commercial Agriculture & Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

The amount of new technology available for agricultural production is staggering. This presentation looks back at farm level returns to precision ag technologies, demonstrates a tool to extract value from current precision agricultural technologies, and looks forward to explore the potential returns to autonomy. As an added bonus, this presentation features a legacy Purdue Ag Econ application – the PC/LP model.

3:00 p.m. (EST)

Strategies to Reduce Your Cost Per Bushel in 2025
Shaun Casteel, Ph.D., Professor of Agronomy & Soybean Production, Small Grains Extension Specialist, Purdue University; Bill Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Botany & Plant Pathology, Wallace Chair of Crop Sciences, Purdue University; & Michael Langemeier, Ph.D., Center for Commercial Agriculture Director & Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Reducing costs without reducing productivity is a challenge every farm will face in 2025. Purdue agronomy and weed science specialists will share key tips from their research and work with growers to reduce your cost per bushel while Michael Langemeier will highlight key management strategies you should consider implementing.

4:00 p.m. (EST)

Conference Concludes

Thanks for joining us!

Thank you to our Conference Sponsor:

Slides + Resources Presented

Photos + Recap