Oilseed and grain conference highlights sustainable sourcing, new developments

David Hightower, commodities and global economics expert, will headline the speaker lineup at this year’s Unconventional Ag conference to be held December 12-13 in Dallas.

Speaking to key region trade flows, Hightower will provide a detailed overview of the ever-changing global trade conditions, regulations and flows in the oilseed and grain sector, including the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on agriculture and policy issues.

Hightower is the founding principal of The Hightower Report, a commodity research and information firm specializing in high-quality futures research and analysis for individual investors, brokers, commercial producers, farmers and end users. The Hightower Report, a comprehensive commodity wire provides daily market coverage, hedge strategy and trading advice to four global commodity exchanges, six governmental agencies, 45 brokerage firms and three quote/news vendors.

HighQuest Partners

Joining Hightower at the podium at Unconventional Ag, which convenes top stakeholders and industry experts from across the entire ag value chain to bring awareness to the advances, developments and value-added opportunities affecting the oilseed and grain sector, is David Brown, senior VP and chief procurement officer with Post Holdings. In his own anticipated session, Brown will address “Procurement Moneyball”, illustrating how to assess the value and impact of a food company’s suppliers with analytics like sports organizations employ. This is seen through a fresh, post-Covid examination of a company’s supply bases to determine their relative risk to the organization’s daily operations and overall success.

Pulling from his three decades of experience in leading procurement at notable CPG companies, such as Mondelez, ConAgra and Sara Lee, Brown will discuss commodities risk and food ingredients, packaging, contract manufacturing and indirect procurement.

Attendees also will benefit from a pre-event workshop: Roadmap for Sustainable Sourcing Success presented by Jessie Deelo, founder and CEO of The Climate Source.

Deelo designs and executes strategies for agricultural systems change fueled by her experience as a commercial farmer with experience in dairy, grains and oilseeds, and organic and regenerative agriculture. Her instruction in this workshop will focus on helping companies strike the balance between meeting goals for regenerative agriculture and low carbon inputs, while maintaining cost efficiencies, negotiating power with suppliers and sustaining a healthy bottom line.

Other topics to be addressed at Unconventional Ag include regenerative ag demand trends; paths toward efficient monetizing structures to incentivize supply chain stakeholders to prioritize sustainable practices from farm to retail shelf; and challenges and opportunities in transportation and logistics in the grain sector.

See the full agenda and learn more at unconventionalag.com.

Unconventional Ag is hosted by HighQuest Partners, a global ag event, media and advisory firm, and is the source to discover and gain intelligence on the future of sustainable sourcing and production in the oilseed and grain sector.