Agricultural Economics
2025 Top Farmer Conference provides economic, policy and tech strategies for farmers
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Registration is now open for Purdue University’s annual Top Farmer Conference. Hosted by Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture, the 2025 conference will take place 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 10 at Purdue’s Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette. When registering for the conference, individuals have the option to attend in person or join remotely via Zoom.
As one of the most successful and longest-running management programs specifically crafted for farmers, the Purdue Top Farmer Conference is a one-day event for agricultural producers and agribusiness professionals looking to navigate the complexities of today’s agricultural landscape. Participants will have the opportunity to network with peers and hear from farm management experts and agricultural economists from Purdue; Farm Credit Services of America; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and Acres, a land-value data analytics company.
“The Top Farmer Conference has always been about equipping producers and agribusiness professionals alike with the tools and insights they need to adapt and thrive,” said James Mintert, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University. “As the agricultural environment faces new economic, policy and technological changes, our goal this year is to provide attendees with practical and efficient approaches to strengthen their operations and make informed decisions to position their farms for long-term success.”
Sessions at the 2025 Purdue Top Farmer Conference will cover various critical topics in farm management, policy and technology. Gary Schnitkey, Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will share strategies for optimizing land acquisition and machinery management to help producers prepare for the next decade’s economic landscape.
Matt Erickson, an agricultural economic and policy advisor with Farm Credit Services of America and former chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, will explore how the latest election results and the incoming administration could reshape economic and agricultural policy in the years ahead.
Chad Fiechter will demonstrate the Center for Commercial Agriculture’s new app, which uses AI to streamline farm financial management. The app helps farmers simplify calculations for financial ratios and metrics. Fiechter will also discuss ways to capture the value of emerging precision agriculture technologies.
Throughout the day, additional sessions will provide insights into farmland market trends, including a presentation from Purdue’s Todd Kuethe and Aaron Shew from Acres, offering practical data-driven strategies to evaluate farmland values. The conference will close with an expert panel featuring Purdue specialists Shaun Casteel, Bill Johnson and Michael Langemeier, who will provide actionable strategies to help reduce costs per bushel in 2025 without compromising productivity.
Session topics and presenters:
- “Welcome and Barometer Overview,” Langemeier, professor and associate director, Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture
- “Navigating Economic and Policy Changes: A New Year With a New Congress and Administration,” Erickson, agricultural economic and policy advisor, Farm Credit Services of America
- “Reset: Land Acquisition and Machinery Management Strategies for the Next Decade,” Schnitkey, professor and Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategy, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- “Using AI To Seamlessly Improve Your Financial Management,” Fiechter, assistant professor, Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics; and students
- “Farmland Markets,” Kuethe, professor and Schrader Endowed Chair in Farmland Economics, Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics; and Shew, vice president of product and data, Acres
- “Extracting Value for Your Farm from New Technologies,” Fiechter
- “Strategies To Reduce Your Cost Per Bushel in 2025,” Casteel, professor, Purdue’s Department of Agronomy; Johnson, professor and Wallace Named Chair, Purdue’s Department of Botany and Plant Pathology; and Langemeier
The conference will conclude with a Q&A panel discussion with Casteel, Johnson and Langemeier.
Registration costs $150. For full agenda details and to register, visit purdue.ag/topfarmer. Conference recordings and slide deck presentations will be available only to registered participants.
The event is sponsored by Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and Farm Credit Mid-America.
About the Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture
The Center for Commercial Agriculture was founded in 2011 to provide professional development and educational programs for farmers. Housed within Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics, the center's faculty and staff develop and execute research and educational programs that address the different needs of managing in today’s business environment.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.
Writer: Morgan French, mmfrench@purdue.edu
Media contact: Devyn Ashlea Raver, draver@purdue.edu
Sources: James Mintert, jmintert@purdue.edu, 765-494-7004; Sarah Zahn, comagctr@purdue.edu, 765-494-7004
Agricultural Communications: Maureen Manier, mmanier@purdue.edu, 765-494-8415
