Agriculture Keynote Speaker
Leadership From Inside the Industry
Keynote · Half-day workshop · 45 to 60 minutes
Tyler Dickerhoof · Author of The Things We Hide
He doesn't need the ag metaphors explained to him.
Tyler was a dairy nutritionist before he was a speaker. He grew up on the farm, and he lost his brother in an accident on it. Your members will know inside two minutes whether the guy on stage has been there. He has.
A straight answer on dates and fee. Not a brochure.
Measured in an ag room
242 people in the industry rated him. He averaged 4.5 out of 5.
At a global dairy genetics conference, attendees scored the keynote and the workshop. 88% said they would book him again. One of them wrote this without being asked:
- 4.5 / 5 average
- 242 evaluations
- 88% would rebook
- Keynote + breakout sessions
"One of the best keynotes I've heard, and loved that he had a connection to agriculture and dairy."
AttendeeGlobal dairy genetics conference
The keynote
Your members can spot an outsider before the second slide.
You've sat through it. A speaker flies in, opens with a line about how farmers are the backbone of America, works in a metaphor about planting seeds, and the room goes polite.
Polite is the worst outcome at an annual meeting. Polite means nobody was reached.
Tyler grew up on a farm. He worked as a dairy nutritionist. When he was fourteen, there was an accident on his family's place that killed his brother. He knows what the machinery sounds like, he knows what a bad year does to a marriage, and he knows exactly what it feels like to sit across from your father and not be able to say the thing.
That's not positioning. It's just where he's from.
The problem nobody names
You can't tell someone to set it down when they can't quit.
Most leadership content assumes an exit. Set boundaries. Take the vacation. Find balance. Leave the job that isn't serving you.
None of that translates to a room where the job is the land, the business partner is your dad, the succession plan is a conversation nobody's had in eleven years, and quitting means selling something four generations built.
So ag leaders do the only thing available. They endure. And endurance gets rewarded out here, which is exactly why it's dangerous. A man who can outwork a drought gets told his whole life that the answer is more work.
Then a bad stretch comes that work can't fix, and he has no other tool.
That's the room this talk is for.
The framework
Four walls, built out of good material.
Every leader builds something to protect himself. On a farm he builds it out of things that are actually virtues, which is what makes it so hard to see. One of them is running your members right now.
Intensity
He can work. That was never the question. The question is whether he can tell a season that needs it from a Tuesday that doesn't. His family knows which one he thinks it is.
Isolation
Out here it looks like independence, and independence is the point of the whole life. But there's a difference between not needing help and not being able to ask. Most guys crossed that line a decade ago and never noticed.
Insensitivity
He's traded feeling it for handling it. It's efficient. It's also why his son stopped telling him things.
Inactivity
He knows the succession conversation has to happen. He's known for eleven years. He calls it waiting for the right time. There is no right time.
The turn
The mirror lies. The window doesn't.
The mirror shows a man his intentions, and it lies every time, in his favor. He knows he did all of it for his family.
The window is what his family actually saw. A truck leaving before light and coming back after dark for thirty years.
Both things are true. Only one of them is what got received.
Tyler tells his own version of this, and he doesn't clean it up.
You will walk away with
What goes home in the truck.
Not inspiration. Things they can name, repeat, and act on before the drive home is over.
- ✅A name for the wall they've been building, in language that doesn't require them to think of themselves as soft
- ✅The mirror-and-window distinction, the single most useful thing a father in business with his kids can hear
- ✅The succession conversation, or whatever their version of it is, identified before they leave the room
- ✅Permission to still be the guy who outworks everybody, without that being the only thing he knows how to be
- ✅A reason to call somebody they haven't called
"Need to dial back on intensity so the next generation wants to learn and I can connect with them."
AttendeeDairy genetics company, Canada — written on the evaluation form, unprompted
Who this is for
Built for rooms with something real on the line.
The right room
- Co-op annual meetings and state farm bureau conventions
- Commodity association conferences — dairy, cattle, grain, produce
- Ag lender and farm credit leadership summits
- Equipment dealer and input supplier meetings
- Young farmer and rancher programs
- Family operations working through succession
Not the right room
- Anyone wanting motivation with no ask attached
- Boards who want the last year to sound fine
- Programs looking for a speaker to fill a slot, not reach a room
Who's actually in the seats: producers, co-op boards, ag business owners, farm managers, lenders, and the next generation sitting three rows behind their parents wondering when the conversation is going to happen.
What people say
From the people who booked him.
"Tyler spoke at our Global Conference as a keynote speaker and leader of breakout sessions for our sales team members. He was easy to work with, took the time to connect personally with numerous attendees, and engaged the audience with his personal story and insights around self-awareness and leadership."
Rebekah Mast KingsleyVP Global Talent Development, World Wide Sires & Select Sires Inc.
"Phenomenal speaker. Great message delivered in a manner very simple to relate to."
AttendeeGlobal dairy genetics conference
For your planning committee
Fast facts.
| Keynote | 45 to 60 minutes |
|---|---|
| Workshop | Half day. Works well for boards and family operations. |
| Audience size | 25 to 2,000+ |
| Travels from | Spokane, Washington |
| Lead time | 60 to 90 days. Annual meeting season books early. |
| AV needs | Lav or handheld mic, screen with HDMI, clicker |
| Customization | Pre-event call included |
| Books | Bulk copies of The Things We Hide available for events |
Before you ask
Questions planners ask.
Our members are not a soft crowd. Is this going to land?
Is this a mental health talk?
Can he speak to the succession issue specifically?
Does he know our industry, or just farming generally?
Keynote or workshop?
We're a small association with a small budget.
What time slot works best?
Check availability
Tell him about the room.
Your dates, the format you're considering, and what your membership is actually dealing with. You'll get a straight answer back, not a brochure.
Most inquiries answered within one business day.