Below are three of the speakers in the line-up for the 2022 Farm News Ag Show set for June 29-30 in Emmetsburg. The show will take place at the Palo Alto County Fairgrounds, 2101 Madison, in Emmetsburg. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.

Chris Kristufek, CMT, Director

Chris Kristufek is a director at Trilateral. Before joining the Trilateral team, Kristufek spent 15 years as a proprietary derivatives trader on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

During his tenure as a proprietary trader, Kristufek developed numerous trading strategies using various technical strategies, including relative volatility and market flow along with fundamental analysis. He also served as a member of the Pit and Settlement committees from 2002 to 2012 where he enforced exchange rules, oversaw and facilitated trading activity, and worked with brokers and exchange officials to calculate settlement prices.

Kristufek joined Trilateral in 2013, and achieved his Chartered Market Technician (CMT) certification in 2018. He helps Trilateral clients with monitoring and managing risk in grains, oils, softs, proteins, energy, dairy, and packaging. Kristufek uses his technical expertise combined with a strong understanding of market fundamentals for an encapsulating, multi-dimensional approach to market analysis. Kristufek’s ability to develop highly personalized financial models and market solutions for Trilateral’s clients by combining his analytical-based market approach with their respective market profiles has proved invaluable to the Trilateral team.

Kristufek was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, where he attended Fenwick High School. He went on to Lake Forest College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with a concentration minor in mathematics. He and his wife, Niamh, have three children, and his passions include being a father, learning and guitar.

Karen Schwaller

Freelance writer, author

Karen Schwaller is a freelance writer, author, speaker, farm wife/mother, and owner of “Schwaller Agri-Stories” from Milford. She has a degree in journalism and has written for newspapers in northwest and central Iowa on a full time and freelance basis for the last 40 years. She has been a freelance farm reporter and ag humor/inspirational columnist for the last 27 of those years. Her columns have appeared in several Midwestern newspapers and magazines, and are broadcast monthly on KICD Radio in Spencer.

Schwaller has written two non-fiction books — “The Dirt” and “I Married A City Boy,” collections of some of her favorite farm humor/inspirational columns she’s written over the years.

She also has a children’s book called, “What Should I Be?” a tribute to all that mothers do. More books are in the works for 2022, including a children’s book and another collection of farm humor and ag-based inspirational columns.

Schwaller was the director of religious education and youth ministry for her church in Milford for 14 years, and today often spends some of her Sunday mornings filling in the pulpit for small churches in the area when their pastors are gone for the morning. She and her husband farm in Dickinson County. They have three grown children, who are all involved in agriculture.

David Krus

Chairman of Commstock Investments

David Kruse is chairman of Commstock Investments, an agricultural risk management company that provides commodity brokerage, advisory services and crop insurance. With seven offices in six states, Commstock serves farmers from across the country.

In the past 35-plus years, he has produced The Commstock Report, an opinionated ag commentary and market analysis available daily on many radio stations covering the greater Midwest.

The Commstock Report has also been delivered electronically by email or through DTN subscription since 1985 to thousands of subscribers across the U.S. and Canada.

Additionally, The Commstock Report is a regular feature of many Midwestern newspapers. We estimate Kruse has authored more than 20,000 Commstock Reports advocating for American agriculture and the family farm.

Kruse has been actively engaged in production agriculture since 1973. He continues to manage his family’s corn/soybean farm in northwest Iowa. Kruse has also been an outspoken proponent of ethanol and has used his market advisory service as a platform to advocate for the biofuel industry and is a frequent keynote speaker at major U.S. agricultural conferences.