AEM’s Ag Sector Board of Directors met in-person last week in Aventura, Florida where they discussed several important industry issues. The agenda also featured updates from AEM staff regarding the association’s service areas and ongoing initiatives, including advocacy, leadership groups, and industry events.
Ag Sector Board Chair Greg Petras, president and COO of Kuhn, called the meeting to order and welcomed directors to the first meeting of 2026.
Crop Life America- Industry Alignment
Directors were joined by Alexandra Dunn, president and CEO of CropLife America, who provided an update on the crop protection industry, including CLA’s pillars of focus, and shared an overview of collaboration between AEM and CropLife America.
Ag Leadership Groups
Adam Barlow from Deere & Company, chair of AEM’s Sprayer Leadership Group, then provided directors with an update on the group’s ongoing engagement with the Environmental Protection Agency and CropLife America related to modernizing product labels and relevant regulations to enable targeted spray and support precision agriculture. Along with this, there was a discussion on AEM’s Sprayer Leadership Group’s efforts on ASABE X665, along with launching an industry task force to provide a forum for industry collaboration and data sharing to address regulatory concerns.
AEM Senior Director of Agricultural Services Austin Gellings then discussed other ongoing initiatives from other AEM Ag Leadership Groups. This included the Ag Technology Leadership Group’s focus on interoperability and AI, along with the Water Management Leadership Group’s discussions around water use efficiency and uniformity.
Advocacy
AEM Vice President of Federal Affairs Kate Fox Wood shared an update of AEM’s federal advocacy efforts, including a legislative framework for critical industry issues. Directors then received a state advocacy update from AEM Director of State Affairs Nick Rudowich for activities in several states with ongoing legislative challenges.
Industry Events
Directors then discussed a resuming on the mall activities with another potential Celebration of Agriculture on the National Mall event in 2027. This was then followed by a conversation on AEM potentially hosting a 2027 Agrievolution Summit in the United States. Finally, directors received an update on the success of the latest Commodity Classic that was held in San Antonio at the end of February.
The meeting then concluded with an open forum to discuss perspectives from customers and key issues facing the agricultural economy as a whole that were observed during the winter farm show season.
The next meetings of the AEM Board of Directors, CE Sector Board, and Ag Sector Board are scheduled for Aug. 5, 2026, for a virtual Year in Review. For more information about the Ag Sector Board, contact AEM’s Curt Blades at cblades@aem.org.
