FarmLink announced that Dave Gebhardt, Ph.D., has joined the company as Chief Strategy Officer – Data Products and Agronomy.
Formerly the Director of Agronomic Data & Technology for WinField, a Land O’Lakes company, Gebhardt will lead efforts at FarmLink to identify innovative data analytics products and solutions that help improve the profitability and sustainability of the food chain, from the field to grocery aisle. Combining his agronomic knowledge with FarmLink’s unique data set and powerful analytics platform, the company will broaden its investment in innovation and talent to expand the benefits of agriculture benchmarking, a technology category the company first established last year.
“As the 2015 planting season begins, FarmLink continues to demonstrate momentum across the agriculture industry, including attracting top leaders like Dave. We are excited to add Dave’s industry and scientific expertise to the outstanding FarmLink team,” said FarmLink Chairman and CEO Ron LeMay. “Dave will help us connect the dots between broad industry challenges and FarmLink’s unique ability to satisfy those needs by leveraging new technologies and approaches. My vision remains to help transform agriculture by bringing actionable data and new economic business models to increase profitability and sustainability across the food system. Dave will help us do that.”
In his previous role, Gebhardt was responsible for data analysis and insight development for WinField’s agronomic research program as well as the development of the company’s precision ag technology and data management solutions for the Land O’Lakes cooperative system.
“It is entrepreneurial companies like FarmLink that are going to innovate and revolutionize modern agriculture. I’m thrilled to be part of the team that will help shape the future based on data science and technology,” said Dave Gebhardt, Chief Strategy Officer – Data Products and Agronomy at FarmLink. “I’ve been fortunate to work on many technologies that delivered significant value to farmers. What’s exciting about FarmLink is that their benchmarking and advanced analytics enables the industry to measure and increase the true value and sustainability of new technologies in farmers’ fields, in R&D labs of the largest agribusinesses, and on the shelves of food retailers.”
In addition to his role at WinField, Gebhardt has spent more than 20 years in the agriculture industry in various plant genetics, agronomy, and technology roles at Coors Brewing Company, DuPont Pioneer, and GreenLeaf Genetics. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy at Iowa State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Minnesota. He grew up on his family farm in southeastern Minnesota that remains operational today.