b'TOP 10 NEXT GEN LEADERSBRANDI PAYNEBrandi Payne, research technology lead at Becks Hybrids, grew up central Illinois loving to show animals and projects at the county fairs during the summer with 4-H. However, it wasnt until high school that Payne realized she could combine two of her loves: science and agriculture. She began taking a class called Biological Sciences Applied in Agriculture, which was the catalyst for exploring her career in agricultural sciences. In college, Payne quickly fell in love with conservation. My focus shifted from production agriculture and biology to chem-istry and environmental issues, she says. Unfortunately, real-izing that conservation jobs were few and far between during the 2009 recession, she fell into the seed industry by first joining the Dow corn breeding research station in Sidney, Ill., which was where she truly fell in love with the industry . I am a firm believer that science and technology is the driving force of improvement in the world, Payne says. Payne joined Becks in late 2019. We have growing excite-ment about how new or novel technology use can change or improve the way we breed corn, its fast paced, and exciting which makes going to the office everyday fun,she says.Payne cant wait to see what the future of farming looks likeeven if she wont live long enough to see it! I dream about a fully automated and interactive farm of the future, she says. I can imagine a farm that is ran so precisely that you can narrow the management down to individual plant needs. One where,In her spare time, Payne can be found in the woods train-the field environment is monitored by drones, robots, and IoTing for ultra marathonsshe says, Humans are capable of so remote sensing devices driving AI predictive models to helpmuch more than we think! I have completed several 100- and farmers make better in-season management decisionsIt50-mile marathons, and I love spending my extra time running might be a dream, but I really enjoy imagining the possibilities! on the trails with friends. JEFF SKEMP Skemp mentions although hes worked on Jeff Skemp, client operations manager for Gromany teams, including a basketball and football Alliance, grew up in rural Wisconsin, where heteam, there are moments he has to reverse his worked for neighbors and friends farms milkingathletic mindset when working in the business cows, baling hay and hauling silage. And thats whatworld. Ive had to learn that my mentality and he thought a farming job was! It wasnt until I wasmindset is not always the same as my co-workers introduced to Jim Schweigert that I got a broaderand teammates, he says, comparing it to days on understanding of agriculture, he says. Whenthe basketball team. We are all working for our we met, he explained what Gro Alliance did, thecustomers and their needs, yet each individuals different facets of the business and shared that theybackground and reasons for working at Gro were hiring. With a few additional conversations, IAlliance are different. decided to join the Gro Alliance team. To anyone breaking into the industry, Skemp Today, he works with all Gro Alliance locationscautions to have an open mind, always consider and customers on their needs in both corn andthe broader picture and make sure to analyze and soybeans. But what really caught his passion of theevaluate your work. We often get caught up in the seed industry? The connections he formed. Beingday-to-day, working to get through the project at an extrovert, my passion has always been driven byhand and move on to the next oneIts important connection and relationship with others, Skempto evaluate at both the micro and macro-level says. When I found that connection amongstwhen reviewing performance at the end of a given those in the seed industry, I knew this is where I wasseason. meant to be.40/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2020'