Trust in Food
Trust in Food

Meet the team

Bringing an authentic passion to every project

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Amy Skoczlas Cole

Amy

Skoczlas Cole

Executive Vice President

Over the course of a 25-year career spanning Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and foundations, Amy has worked to reimagine the systems that deliver sustainable food, clean water and low carbon energy to society. Amy has worked domestically and internationally at every point in the food-fuel-fiber value chain, advancing new paradigms for a healthy, thriving society and planet.
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Human dimensions of behavior change, carbon and water markets, the future of regenerative agriculture and livestock, bringing innovation to scale, cross-sector collaborations

Nate Birt

Nate

Birt

Vice President

Nate Birt is Vice President of Farm Journal’s Trust In Food. He leads the day-to-day operations of America’s Conservation Ag Movement, a national public-private partnership that empowers collaborators to leverage Farm Journal’s 145+ years of market trust and farmer-to-farmer networks to accelerate adoption of regenerative practices, products and technologies.
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Farmer-centered communication, carbon markets, biodiversity and wildlife habitat, state and federal conservation policy, conservation nonprofit landscape

Rebecca Bartels

Rebecca

Bartels

Director of Strategic Partnerships

Following a nearly decade long career dedicated to connecting the international crop input and technology supply chain, Rebecca joined Farm Journal in 2021. She serves on the leadership team of Trust in Food and America’s Conservation Ag Movement, one of the largest public-private partnerships focused on conservation in our nation’s history. As the Director of Strategic Partnerships, Rebecca focuses on helping clients activate universally beneficial change across the industry toward more sustainable, regenerative practices and helping companies get the intelligence they need to accelerate the resiliency of our agricultural production system.
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Strategically communicating, researching and promoting sustainable approaches to integrated pest management portfolios, biological and hybrid crop inputs, and precision application and traceability technology.

Ryan

Heiniger

Director of America's Conservation Ag Movement

Ryan Heiniger is Trust In Food’s director of America’s Conservation Ag Movement (ACAM), where he leads all aspects of its state and local projects. The program includes a growing portfolio of farmer-led learning communities and multi-stakeholder coalitions.
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Tractor seat perspective on the journey of conservation practice adoption, partnership building, Farm Bill conservation programs, conservation policy, ag tech for sustainability outcomes, wildlife habitat and landscape-level planning, and social media for sustainability story-telling

Drew Slattery

Drew

Slattery

Human Dimensions of Change Lead

Drew Slattery is the Human Dimensions of Change Lead for Farm Journal’s Trust In Food. He specializes in applying human dimensions theory to drive behavior change to empower agricultural producers in the U.S. to continuously improve their operations’ environmental, financial and social outcomes. His portfolio overlaps the research, strategy and activation practices of Trust In Food.
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Human dimensions of change; all things tech, software and tech adoption; ag comms; sustainable livestock production

Mo

Runzer

Client Success Manager

Monique (Mo) Runzer is a Midwest Regional Emmy Award winning Project Manager with 20+ years of experience managing B2B and B2C clients across the globe. Mo now serves as the Client Success Manager for Trust In Food.
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Providing a tailored experience for each client, managing diverse teams, and leading projects from concept to completion.

Ethan

White

Manager of Farmer Outreach & Engagement

Ethan White is the Manager of Farmer Outreach and Engagement for Farm Journal’s Trust In Food. A seasoned relationship- and network-builder, Ethan works to increase the resilience of food systems by increasing connections across the agri-food value chain and supporting triple-bottom-line management that improves the livelihoods of farmers. He works closely with agribusinesses, government agencies, conservation- and food-focused NGOs, and other industry partners to build a more robust agricultural value chain.
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Building unlikely partnerships, peer to peer farmer learning networks, rural networking, triple-bottom line community development

Emily Smith

Emily

Smith

Community Engagement Coordinator / Digital Producer

Emily Smith is the Community Engagement Coordinator/Digital Producer for Trust In Food. Focused on curating content that not only reaches food producers, but stakeholders across the sustainable agri-food value chain, Emily manages all external communications from the organization and for the USDA/NRCS partnership, America’s Conservation Ag Movement. She applies her experience building community to both help farmers celebrate their resource stewardship and share learnings with sustainability-focused organizations to advance their ability to assist agriculture on its conservation journey.
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Farmer insights, ag communications, building community within the ag industry, social media strategy and insights

Advisers

Jay Vroom

Jay Vroom chairs the America’s Conservation Ag Movement Board of Advisers, guiding the largest public-private conservation partnership in American agriculture. Jay is a long-trusted voice in agribusiness, having served 30 years as CEO of CropLife America, the trade association for companies that produce, sell and distribute crop protection and biotechnology products used by farmers, ranchers and landowners.

Jay served as chairman of the FFA Foundation’s Individual Giving Council and continues as a member of FFA’s President’s Advisory Council. Jay also sits on the boards of the Soil Health Institute and Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. He also has served in leadership positions on the U.S. Production Ag CEO Council, the Coalition to Advance Precision Agriculture, the Agricultural Retailers Association and Asmark Institute.

An agriculture honors graduate from the University of Illinois, Jay still owns the crop farming operation he grew up on in north-central Illinois.

Kirk Dupps

Kirk Dupps is an authority in retailing and the $1-trillion-plus retail food industry with more than 45 years of leadership in all aspects of food distribution. Kirk began his career with Kroger Food Stores and then helped Walmart increase its presence in retail food and served as head of Sam’s Wholesale Club’s $60-billion grocery business. While on the board of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), he teamed NFWF with Walmart to place 1 million acres of land in conservation over 10 years

Contact Us

Get in touch with Trust in Food to learn more about how we can help your organization meet its conservation and sustainability goals.

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