A look at the people behind the numbers in area business:
DAVID BLACK CHS Inc.
Title: senior vice president, chief Âinformation officer
Age: 48
CHS Inc. chief information officer David Black, who's working to expand the use of technology in farming, has been named one of the top 100 CIO leaders in science, technology engineering and math (STEM) by STEMconnector, a national consortium that promotes STEM education.
Black also is making STEM students aware of opportunities to work on the technology trends that he sees transforming agriculture, including cloud computing, data Âanalytics, the commercialization of technology and the increasing use of mobile technology on farms.
"This recognition continues to validate that CHS is a progressive company in the agriculture space," Black said. "It also helps bring visibility to a set of skills that CHS is going to need. CHS is beginning to be seen as not just my Âgrandfather's cooperative."
Black said he is working to develop relationships with the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Business and other institutions to recruit students. CHS has a business analyst team program in which recent MBA graduates work with a specific business unit to solve business problems.
Black, who joined CHS a year ago, leads the global technology organization for the Inver Grove Heights-based Fortune 100 company, the nation's biggest farm cooperative and largest fertilizer wholesaler. He joined the company after 20 years at Monsanto Co., where he was vice president of information technology. Black has a computer science degree from Tarkio College.
Q: How is technology affecting agriculture?
A: I think of agriculture in three phases. The first was the mechanization that occurred in the '50s. Then within the last 20 years, has been the entrance of biotechnology. The third wave is this notion of precision agriculture, or data and information powering better decisions to improve yield and reduce input costs. Agriculture, to get to this third phase, has an absolute need for the sciences.
Q: How is CHS delivering precision agriculture services to its members?
A: That's part of the challenge. Today, our farmer-owners may be dealing with precision agriculture in all sorts of different levels. We have a portfolio of products to help farmers, and we have a retail network that we can connect with our farmers. How do we leverage those things to help them? We're trying to drive that agenda for CHS.
Q: What led you to pursue a STEM career in agriculture?
A: I am only one generation off the farm and have family who continue to farm. Being an (information technology) person and having a bit of agriculture in my blood already and working in an agriculture company was all very, very natural.
Todd Nelson
