James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture

Schedule of Events

8:15 am - 9:15 am, 6th Floor of Krannert

Graduate Student Poster Competition and Judging

9:30 am - 11:00 am, Krannert Room 758

Department Awards and Panel Discussion with APEX Award winners

11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Krannert Room 758

Invited lunch with APEX Award winners

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm, Pfendler Hall, Dean's Auditorium, Room 241

Introduction of Rob Dongoski, Partner, Food and Agribusiness Leader at Kearney

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm, Leopold's Landing

Department Reception

ABOUT Rob Dongoski

Rob Dongoski joined Kearney in 2023 as a Partner to enhance the firm's expertise in food and agribusiness. At Kearney, he focuses on assisting companies in the longstanding agricultural sector and their value chain collaborators in navigating future challenges. This includes fostering sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices, leveraging digital and biotechnologies, and implementing innovative strategies and methods. Working extensively with Fortune 500, Global 1000, and private companies in consulting and transaction capacities within the food and agribusiness sector, he specializes in developing growth strategies, innovating business models, completing buy-side and sell-side transactions, and leading enterprise transformations.

Having previously led EY’s global agribusiness sector, he is recognized as a visionary in the industry, particularly regarding the evolution of the food system and strategies for capitalizing on opportunities and managing disruptive change. He has served a diverse client base, including Monsanto, Bayer Crop Sciences, Dupont/Corteva, Nutrien, Land O’ Lakes, CHS, Tyson Foods, ADM, Hillshire Brands, Kellogg, Cargill, Ingredion, The Andersons, Beam Global, and Kraft, making him a knowledge leader in global market strategies and industry innovation.

Rob’s love of learning and dedication to the food and agribusiness sector led him to earn his MS-MBA (an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and an MS in agricultural economics from Purdue University’s College of Agriculture) in 2017. With over 25 years of consulting experience, Rob’s expertise spans seeds, crop protection, livestock, dairy, grain processing, meat processing, food and beverage manufacturing, grocery, and restaurants. He previously built a Global Agribusiness Center at a Big 4 consultancy, a testament to his deep understanding and knowledge of the industry. Since joining Kearney in 2023, he has continued to demonstrate his unparalleled expertise and commitment to the sector.

James Joshua

Pei Xu

Sarah Stewart-Schultze

History of the Lecture

The James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture is the Department of Agricultural Economics’ signature event at Purdue University. The lectures were established in February 1975 as an appropriate memorial to a distinguished member of the faculty. Funds are contributed by friends and corporations who wish to encourage the continuation of Jim Snyder’s professional efforts during his brief but brilliant career. As a highlight, a top professional in agricultural business and economics, or related areas, is brought to the campus to give a lecture and interact with staff and students. The Memorial Lecture, of general interest to all Department professional staff and students, is the high point of the visit. The lecture is open to the public with selected professionals invited as special guests.​

Purpose

• • Stimulate the intellectual environment of the Department for more creative research, teaching, Extension, and international activities.
  • Recognize the professional contributions of Professor James Snyder in pioneering undergraduate curriculum in agricultural business management, and in the development and application of quantitative techniques for agribusiness research and training of graduates
  • Contribute to the Department’s efforts to enhance and motivate excellence in all of its mission areas by bringing to the Purdue campus individuals who can offer unique contributions
  • Broaden the perspective of students by exposing them to outstanding professionals from other institutions, and close interaction both within structured situations and informal settings.
  • Assist the faculty on specific assignments.

About James C. Snyder

This lecture series is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Dr. James C. Snyder, a Purdue Agricultural Economics graduate (M.S., 1956; Ph.D. 1962) and member of the faculty until his passing in 1974 at the age of 44 – much, much too soon.  Although his time with us was brief, James' brilliant career exemplified the very best of a land-grant faculty member.

Professor Snyder was a gifted researcher and his talent was recognized early on when he became the first Purdue student to receive the Ph.D. thesis award from the American Farm Economic Association (now Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).¹ He is primarily known for his work bringing sophisticated tools of quantitative analysis, especially operations research techniques, to the managerial problems of food and agribusiness firms. This work was wide-ranging and included applications from feed manufacturing (least cost formulation and inventory management) to ice cream and sausage production (cost and quality production control). 

In a 1958 review paper published in Operations Research, Snyder and his co-authors were prescient in their discussion of the growing size and complexity of management problems in rapidly expanding food and agribusiness firms and the equally dramatic expansion of data available to help solve such problems – perhaps even foreshadowing uses of artificial intelligence.²  These many contributions in the application of computing to address management problems led Purdue to name one of its high-performance computing clusters ‘Snyder’ in 2015 (the cluster was retired in 2021).

His work was not limited to research applications of quantitative tools and he had a robust Extension program.  Professor Snyder’s applied research and Extension publications encompassed such topics as cost analysis for small commercial banks, surveys on seed corn marketing practices, and in one extension publication, an important problem of food retailers at the time: what to do with empty bottles.³  Another dimension of his industry engagement was the consulting firm, Snyder Associates, that he owned and operated.  While deep relationships with industry were a hallmark of his research and Extension activities, Professor Snyder also made disciplinary and methodological contributions to the field with multiple Journal of Farm Economics/American Journal of Agricultural Economics articles and a contribution to Econometrica in 1970: “A Decomposition Algorithm for Solving the Multi-Facility Production Transportation Problem with Non-Linear Production Costs”.⁴  

Professor Snyder was widely recognized for his exceptional teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.  At the graduate level, under his personalized and rigorous mentorship, students revered him, excelled, and took leading positions in business, education, and government.¹  He was recognized as ‘teacher of the year’ for his outstanding undergraduate instruction in business management¹ and was deeply involved in developing the undergraduate curriculum in agribusiness management.  In a 1969 proceedings paper published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, “Trials, Errors, and Successes in Agribusiness Education at Purdue”, he defined the Department’s overall goals for an undergraduate curriculum in agribusiness:⁵ 

• A broad and liberal education in the social and natural sciences.
• Adequate professional emphasis to enhance student placement and performance with business firms upon graduation.
• Adequate academic emphasis to provide the foundation for graduate work in business management and/or economics.
• Adequate agribusiness emphasis to provide the student with special insights into the unique problems of agribusiness without becoming involved in specific trade practices and problems of any one activity.

One can easily argue these four goals should be the foundation for a curriculum in food and agribusiness management today.

Professor Snyder was an accomplished researcher, deeply involved with industry, a master teacher, and someone who fully leveraged his engagement in all three land-grant mission areas. He will always be remembered as a brilliant colleague whose work, standards and style are an inspiration to those following in his footsteps at Purdue University. We hope to encourage the legacy of farming, the importance of research and emerging technologies, as well as the networking of ideas and strategies with future James C. Snyder Memorial Lectures.

References

1. Snyder Biography: J.C. Snyder, snyder-james-c.pdf (purdue.edu).
2. French, C.E., M.M. Snodgrass, and J.C. Snyder. Application of Operations Research in Farm Operations and Agricultural Marketing. Operations Research, Vol. 6, No.5 (Sep-Oct 1958) pp. 766-77. https://www.jstor.org/stable/166901?sid=primo&seq=7.
3. Baker, G.L and J.C. Snyder, Bottle Returns. Mimeo EC, no. 187 (Aug. 1959) - Extension Mimeo EC (Purdue University. Agricultural Extension Service) - Purdue e-Archives.
4. Sharp, J. F.; Snyder, J.C.; and J.H. Greene. Econometrica, 1970, Vol.38 (3), p.490-506, A Decomposition Algorithm for Solving the Multifacility Production-Transportation Problem with Nonlinear Production Costs.
5. Snyder, J.C. Trials, Errors, and Successes in Agribusiness Education at Purdue. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol.51, No. 5 (Dec. 1969), pp 1218-1221. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1237991?sid=primo%3Fsid%3Dprimo.