Flinchbaugh Agricultural Policy Chair Advisory Council
Jay Armstrong Jay Armstrong is a a fourth-generation farmer near Muscotah, where he grows wheat, corn and soybeans. He served as a Kansas Wheat Commissioner from 2007-2015, and the Kansas Wheat Chairman in 2015-2016. Armstrong has also served as the Farm Foundation Chairman, U.S. Wheat Associates Board of Directors and Wheat Innovation Association, president of the Delaware watershed, a member of his local church board, president of the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership program, the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, and the Kansas State Fair Board. He completed his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. During his time at K-State, Armstrong was Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh’s second teaching assistant in 1972-1974. | |
Roger Cryan Dr. Roger Cryan serves as the Chief Economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, where he leads a team of economists providing agricultural market and policy analysis to AFBF’s decision makers: America’s farmers and ranchers. He represents Farm Bureau on the board of directors of Field to Market, the nation’s leading farm-to-shelf agricultural sustainability organization. Before joining Farm Bureau, Dr. Cryan served as the Director of the Economics Division for the Dairy Program in USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, where he directed an award-winning team of market reporters, economists, and marketing specialists across the country, and contributed to dairy purchasing and policy across USDA. He previously served as Vice President for Milk Marketing and Economics at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and as the Economist for the Federal Milk Market Administrator in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Cryan was raised in rural upstate New York, earned his Bachelor’s degree in International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, and his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida. | |
Gregg Dowd Gregg Doud is NMPF’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Before arriving at NMPF he served as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative from 2018 until 2021; before that, he served as the president of the Commodity Markets Council, representing commodities exchanges before Congress and federal agencies. He also has served as a staff member for the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where he helped draft the 2012 Farm Bill, and as chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Most recently, he worked at Aimpoint Research as its Vice President of Global Situational Awareness and Chief Economist. A native of Mankato, Kansas, where he grew up raising cattle, Doud earned a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science and a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Kansas State University Agriculture Alumni Association in 2012 and also received the Outstanding Alumnus award from the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State in 2017. He currently lives with his family on their horse farm in Lothian, MD. | |
Chelsea Good Chelsea Good is the Vice President of Government and Industry Affairs at Livestock Marketing Association. LMA is the Kansas City based trade organization representing livestock sales auctions across the United States. Chelsea represents these markets’ interests in federal, state, and industry policy meetings. Chelsea is a graduate of Washburn University School of Law. She also has a master’s degree in communications studies and bachelor’s degrees in agricultural communications and journalism, political science, and public relations, all from Kansas State University. Prior to joining LMA, Chelsea worked at the Kansas Department of Agriculture, first as the Communications Director and then as a Staff Attorney specializing in animal health law and policy. | |
Sophia Jorgenson | |
Nick Levandofsky Nick Levendofsky serves as the executive director for Kansas Farmers Union, a position he has held since June 2022. Nick previously served as the government relations director for Wisconsin Farmers Union from 2020-2022, director of external affairs for Rocky Mountain Farmers Union from 2018-2020, government relations associate for Wisconsin Farmers Union from 2016-2018, and as special projects coordinator for Kansas Farmers Union from 2011-2015. He grew up on a family farm in north central Kansas where his family still raises wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans and alfalfa, as well as beef cattle. He lives on the farm his great-great grandparents homesteaded in the early 1900s north of Courtland, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in agricultural communications and journalism in 2010. Nick serves on the board of the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, the North Central Kansas Healthcare Foundation, Republic County Historical Society Museum board, Republic County Economic Development Corporation board, Republic County Farmers Union President, and is a member of the Scandia, Kansas Lions Club. | |
Brad Lubben Brad Lubben is an Extension Associate Professor, Policy Specialist, and Director of the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has over 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and extension, focusing on agricultural policy and agricultural economics and working in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska. Brad's expertise includes federal farm policy, agricultural policy development, and agricultural risk management education. Brad grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Burr, southeast of Lincoln and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University. | |
Maggie Monast Maggie works with agriculture financial institutions, food and agriculture companies, land grant universities, farmers and more to create an agricultural system that generates climate stability and secure farmer livelihoods. Monast works to quantify the farm financial impacts of climate-smart practice adoption, collaborates with major financial institutions and food companies to develop financial products and other solutions, and identifies policy solutions to facilitate investment and risk management that supports climate-smart agriculture. Maggie has testified to Congress on the agriculture finance sector’s role in reducing climate-related financial risk and serves as co-chair of Field to Market’s Innovative Finance Committee. Read EDF’s reports and blogs on agriculture finance here: https://business.edf.org/farm-finance/. Maggie began working with EDF in 2011. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management with a focus on economics from Duke University and a Bachelors in Economics and Political Science from Tufts University. | |
John Newton Dr. Newton is the Republican Chief Economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry for Ranking Member John Boozman of Arkansas. With a robust foundation in agricultural economics, Dr. Newton focuses on conducting and communicating economic and policy analyses that inform critical decisions on policy issues affecting the food and agriculture sectors. Previously, as Chief Economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, Dr. Newton provided valuable economic insights and data-driven guidance to members and stakeholders that supported and empowered the Farm Bureau’s strategic direction and advocacy efforts. Newton has served agriculture for two decades including several roles within the U.S. Department of Agriculture and as a two-time award-winning faculty member at the University of Illinois. Newton is a native of Kentucky and holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. In 2021, Newton was awarded the Distinguished Alumni award from The Ohio State University. Newton, his wife, and daughter live in Washington, DC. | |
Riley Pagett | |
| Josh Roe Kansas Corn, CEO | |
Jake Wessel Jake Wessel serves as the State Agriculture Representative for U.S. Senator Jerry Moran. Jake joined Senator Moran’s staff in 2019 in Washington, D.C. where he worked on agriculture and related policy issues. In late 2021 Jake had the opportunity to move back to Kansas and take up his current role on Moran’s staff where he works as an open source of communication between Senator Moran and constituents working in the agricultural industry. Jake grew up on a farm and ranch operation in Cedar Point, Kansas and is a graduate of Kansas State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness. While at K-State, Jake served as Dr. Flinchbaugh’s teaching assistant from 2018 to 2020. |
