Russ and Kathy Goebel, Fort Dodge, far right, learn about AgroEco Power from Justin Hellickson, far left, and Martin Konopac, center left. Konopac arrived from the Czech Republic earlier this year to represent the company that has had a growing footprint across the United States for the last 10 years.

FORT DODGE — Men and women who make agriculture their business flocked to the Webster County Fairgrounds from near and far this weekend as the CJ Bio America Farm News Ag Show returned for its 22nd annual two-day run.

There were farmers from as near as Webster City, Gowrie and small towns throughout north central Iowa.

And there were even agri-business people from as far as the Czech Republic, demonstrating the true global scope of agriculture, even here in the heart of Iowa.

“We’re very pleased to see everyone turn out,” said Dana Lantz, advertising manager for Farm News, which organizes the event. Farm News is a sister publication to the Daily Freeman-Journal. “We have a great time putting this show together and giving exhibitors the opportunity to reach out to a broader customer base.”

Martin Konopac, sales manager for AgroEco Power, was the visitor who no doubt travelled the farthest to take part in this year’s show. Konopac arrived in the United States just four months ago from his home in the Czech Republic, a central European country bordered by Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Austria.

Konopac has a five-year assignment here in the United States, but would love to make this country his home for life, he said.

“I very much like the culture and the people, your lifestyle,” Konopac said. “The people are very open and I have received just a great welcome.”

As a manager with AgroEco Power, Konopac is based in Coralville. The company made Iowa its home base when it first established itself in the United States in 2014. In the last decade, it has grown to provide services across the nation, working in nearly all of the continental United States.

AgroEco Power offers software modifications to help farmers increase power and boost fuel economy in their existing farm equipment, without having to buy new, according to Konopac. The company was one of many exhibitors meeting with farmers to tell them how they can be of service on the farm.

As always, a full line up of speakers welcomed visitors to learn more about topics and challenges confronting agriculture today.

First up was Alexis Stevens, a former counterintelligence agent now serving as Farm Management Specialist for Iowa State University Extension. She addressed digital security concerns for farmers and ag business people.

“Assume you will have a data breach of some kind in the future,” Stevens urged the audience.

She encouraged farm business owners to have multiple back-up systems for their data. This can be a hard copy notebook, a thumb drive or Cloud back-up services.

“I like the Cloud,” Stevens said.

But just having the Cloud back-up isn’t always enough. Too often, once the Cloud is set up people never access it again and may not know how to retrieve the stored information when they need it. In other cases, they have not adequately updated the Cloud with new data as it is collected.

“Make sure you know how to access any of your back-up systems,” she encouraged.

Just as schools and businesses have regular fire drills, she encouraged farmers and ag business people to have regular cyber drills. Imagine losing access for a lengthy time to stored data and then work the plan.

To learn more about cyber security, Stevens recommended the Iowa Cyber Hub and the ISU Center for Cyber Security. Artificial Intelligence is another rapidly growing concern throughout the economy, including agriculture.

Stevens advises that there are thousands of AI tools out there working already. Possible uses in the future could range from smart barns, to monitoring animal health, and improving sustainability.

On the downside, the potential for misuse is also great with AI. Her recommendation on meeting AI concerns is an old adage that still works today: “Trust, but verify.”

For example, if you receive an invoice that doesn’t seem right, call or visit the company that it supposedly came from.

In today’s AI world, Stevens cautioned, it is incredibly easy to generate false information that looks legitimate.

Brian Janssen, business development officer for GNB Bank in Story City, appreciated Stevens’ presentation and said it built a strong case for the need to have good, local relationships with the people with whom you do business.

“I think it’s more important today than ever to have that relationship with local people that you know and trust,” Janssen said. “A personal relationship with a community banker can really mean a lot.”

One of the familiar faces at the Ag Show was Linda Cline, Webster County Extension coordinator. She had a great booth with plenty of information and popular posters from Iowa State, and was also out and about on the exhibit floor chatting with the public.

Visitors to the show also had the opportunity to hear from David Kruse, president of Commstock; Justin Helickson, AgroEco Power; Nathan Stein, Ag Strike; and Kapil Arora, ISU agriculture engineer.

“We’re grateful to all of our speakers,” Lantz said. “We always want to offer quality speakers addressing the topics that farmers want to hear about.”

Arora talked about soil compaction and protecting the soil both to capture top yields and to preserve it for the future.

Helickson explained more about the software modifications that AgroEco Power offers to boost equipment performance.

Stein was enthralling with explaining more about his business, Ag Strike, and Kruse is always popular as he confronts the challenging markets that farmers have had in the last year and what’s ahead next year.

“Farm News is really grateful to CJ Bio America for its support in the last three years as major sponsor,” Lantz concluded.

Looking ahead, the Farm News Ag Show will be back in 2025 for its 23rd run, sure to offer more exhibits and speakers to bring the men and women of agriculture together.