David Darr Email & Phone Number

Sustainability-focused consulting services for the food and agricultural sectors. Fractional leadership for early stage AgTech companies

Weston, Massachusetts, Us

Kansas City, Ks, Us

Provide leadership and strategic direction for leading national organization representing 7000 dairy farms and 10,000+ stakeholders, assisting farms in creation of viable, sustainable, cost-effective processes for their businesses. Collaborate with major partners, suppliers, and top tier customers to develop sustainable and fair trade certified supply chains and business strategies. Develop reporting and KPI metrics that connect cooperative and business unit strategy. Increase awareness of farm practices with brands to promote continuous improvement on animal care, environmental stewardship, farm labor, and farm safety. Lead group of 200 employees, including 7 direct reports. Manage budgets of 5 individual business units, $200M in farm inputs revenue, $100M in bank lending, and $125M in health insurance and worker’s compensation expenditure.

Kansas City, Ks, Us

Operational oversight for DFA Farm Service business units, totaling more than $200 million in annual sales. Responsibilities include:Insurance company that provides health, workers comp and P&C coverage to several thousand families and agricultural businesses.Financing company with real estate, property, and operating loans and leases across the U.S.Farm Supply business with sales of commodity feed and general farm supplies.Responsible for company efforts on animal care and wellness, including relationships with key customers. Management of internally developed data collection systems for farm evaluations.Maintained Vice President of sustainability position.

Kansas City, Ks, Us

Leading focus on sustainability through DFA’s 20 manufacturing facilities and 7 member governance Areas. Achieving success through sound communication and the ability to work cross functionally throughout a national organization. Establishing partnerships with customers to develop and implement initiatives that have financial and environmental attributes.Successes include: Establishing environmental benchmarking for electricity, natural gas and water within manufacturing facilities. Benchmarking is now being used to establish reduction goals. Incorporating sustainability metrics into corporate capital expenditure process.Creation of bio-energy business unit to serve energy efficiency and renewable energy generation projects.Creation of intensive grazing business unit to serve shareholders with an interest in producing milk with lower CO2 emissions.Leadership of industry efforts to coordinate sustainability metrics, and setting goals for 25% CO2 reductions for fluid milk by 2020.Instituting system for continuous improvement and operational efficiency across 7 member governance areas. Focus area include: member relations, leadership development, transportation, price determination, business planning and data analysis.Developed and implemented industry leading farm data collection and assessment program on animal care and environmental stewardship.Conducted national survey of shareholders where results are being used to drive federal policy.Creation of a strategic business development business unit to coordinate development of global supply chains for international customers.

Kansas City, Ks, Us

Operation HighlightsOversaw market research staff that produced analysis for all internal areas. Conducted supply and demand studies that led to acquisition and expansion of manufacturing facilities that resulted in cost savings in excess of $10 million per year.Partnered with CPG division to conduct research of retail pricing points and new market development based on overlap of shareholders and consumers. Developed transportation optimization system and reduced transportation costs by $8 million per year.Selected for 10 person strategic planning team that developed strategic initiatives for the organization.Shareholder & Government Relations HighlightsCreated industry leading quality assurance program for DFA’s dairy farmer-owners. Developed industry partnerships in the area of animal well-being and environmental stewardship. Led employee training and IT development of data collection system. Achieved adoption from more than 90% of DFA member-owners. Utilized data from more than 9,000 participants to conduct quantitative research on future milk supply and demand trends.Numerous opportunities to meet with federal and state government officials to work on policy development and administration.Expert witness at federal hearings on dairy policy. Writer of testimony for numerous Agricultural Committee, Trade Committee and Federal Trade Commission Hearings.Developed new web-based tools for shareholders to anticipate future revenue streams, and incorporated qualitative research to develop new strategies for risk management through futures markets.

Mba, Business

M.S., Agricultural Economics

B.S., Agricultural Economics