Keynote Speakers

Troy & Stacy Hadrick

Advocates for Ag

Troy and Stacy Hadrick are passionate about agriculture. They both grew up on farming and ranching operations in South Dakota and have roots in American agriculture that go back several generations.

In 1998, they graduated from South Dakota State University, Stacy with a B.S. in Ag Econ and Ag Business degrees and Troy with a B.S. in Animal Science. They returned to ranch with Stacy’s family in western South Dakota on a cow/calf operation.

Troy and Stacy realized right off the bat that the best way to combat negativity toward agriculture was to stand up and tell your own story. No one can dispute your story. It is yours. But for too long, those of us in agriculture have been letting someone else do the talking for us. They also realized that they can’t do it all themselves.

In 2006, Troy and Stacy decided that they needed to share the importance of standing up and telling the story of agriculture with producers. What started out as a 25 minute speech at the South Dakota Women in Agriculture Conference has evolved into Advocates for Agriculture. Word traveled fast about this young couple in South Dakota and soon they were being asked to speak at locations across the United States.

Troy and Stacy know first hand how busy producers are, so every presentation gives them tools they can use on a daily basis and the motivation to stand up and tell their own story. Although there is a long fight ahead of us, those who are using Troy and Stacy's techniques are seeing amazing results and having fun doing it! Troy and Stacy

Al Kluis

Trader, Analyst, Chartist, Writer

Alan Kluis has been a commodity advisor and broker since 1976. He is president and managing partner of Kluis Commodities in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Alan is one of two approved Cargill Pro-Pricing Grain managers and is an introducing broker with R.J.O'Brien.

Alan is also a writer. He writes a column, Your Profit, which appears in every issue of Successful Farming magazine. Before that, Al was an expert columnist for Corn and Soybean Digest for 13 years; the magazine featured his Marketing Strategies column in every issue. Alan has published two books on commodities trading. His co-author on the first book, Loren Kruse, is now Editor-in-Chief of Successful Farming magazine. Alan is commonly quoted in major publications including the Wall Street Journal, and is a featured speaker at commodity conferences nationwide. He is a frequent market analyst for the Linder Farm Radio News Network. Alan was co-author of the weekly AgInvestor Newsletter for 12 years, and is now the author of the new weekly commodity advisory newsletter, The Al Kluis Report.

Alan, a Minnesota farmboy, was awarded his degree in Ag Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1974, after which he was executive director of the Minnesota Soybean Association before entering the markets full-time. Alan still owns a farm in southwest Minnesota and enjoys helping with fieldwork when the markets allow.