Four Colorado State University agriculture leaders are being honored by the Denver Business Journal and the Colorado Farm Bureau for their innovative work within the industry.
CSU Director of AgNext and Professor of Animal Science Kim Stackhouse-Lawson; Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics Gregory Graff; Temple Grandin Equine Center Director of Administration Adam Daurio, Esq.; and CSU Human Development and Family Studies Professor and Extension Specialist Emeritus and Co-Project Director of the Colorado AgrAbility Project Robert Fetsch are among the Who’s Who in Agriculture honorees for 2022.
Honoring those impacting Colorado agriculture
The DBJ Who’s Who in Agriculture program highlights leaders within the industry. List makers come from a variety of fields that impact Colorado’s food economy, including crop and livestock production, water, biotech, agribusiness and food/nutrition.
“We are so proud to see four members of the Colorado State University community — Kim, Gregory, Adam and Robert — named in the Who’s Who in Agriculture,” President Joyce McConnell said. “Their expertise and leadership in their fields illustrates our University commitment to agriculture, in our communities, across the state and around the world. And I am excited that CSU’s commitment to agriculture is also written into our Courageous Strategic Transformation goals of a thriving planet and flourishing humanity.”
Fellow CSU list makers from previous years include former Department Head for Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Jessica Davis, recently retired Western Regional Extension Director C.J. Mucklow and Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station James Pritchett.
This is DBJ’s fourth Who’s Who in Agriculture report. Honorees will be celebrated at a March 31 networking reception at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House & Denver Performing Arts Complex. Tickets are available through the Denver Business Journal.
CSU’s honorees
Kim Stackhouse-Lawson
In addition to being a professor of animal science, Stackhouse-Lawson is director of CSU’s AgNext. The collaborative was launched in 2019 to find sustainable solutions in animal agriculture needed to meet the increasing global demand by the year 2100. Currently, she is working on issues related to climate change, including improving livestock emissions technology to establish more accurate baseline emissions data. Prior to her time at CSU, Stackhouse-Lawson was the Director of Sustainability for JBS USA where she was responsible for coordinating the North American sustainability program, inclusive of the company’s beef, pork, poultry, case ready, transportation and branded product business. Prior to that she was the Executive Director of Global Sustainability at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association where she developed the industry’s sustainability program. She received her Ph.D. in animal science from the University of California, Davis and was a postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Beef Cattle Institute.
Gregory Graff
Graff is a professor of the economics of innovation and entrepreneurship in CSU’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Raised in Cincinnati in a family that had four generations in the food and oils business of Procter & Gamble, he internalized the principles of science-based innovation with a strong consumer focus. Graff’s work today looks at the economics and public policy of technological innovation and entrepreneurship across the agricultural and food industries globally. He writes about intellectual property rights, technology transfer, venture capital, startups and other aspects of the innovation ecosystem, with particular expertise in the role of patents in biological innovation. He is widely published in economics literature, as well as in leading scientific journals. Over the last decade, Graff has contributed to a series of reports, put out by CSU, on the value chain or blueprint of agriculture and food, and the industry’s contribution to innovation and economic development within Colorado. He is currently working with colleagues to launch the University’s new Masters of Agribusiness and Food Innovation Management at CSU’s Spur campus, located at the National Western Center in Denver. Designed for professionals from a variety of academic, business and personal backgrounds, this intensive program will develop the suite of creative and business skills needed to drive innovation and development of new enterprises in today’s agricultural and food industries. Graff received his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Cornell University in 1992, a master’s from Ohio State University in 1995 and a Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. Graff and his family own and operate Laughing Buck Farm on the outskirts of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Adam Daurio, Esq.
Daurio is an accomplished executive director and attorney, with experience in, knowledge of and passion for the equestrian, livestock and agricultural industries. Under Daurio’s guidance, the Temple Grandin Equine Center was built and opened its flagship facility in Fort Collins in 2021, and a second location at the CSU Spur campus at the National Western Center in early 2022. From 2010 to 2014, he was the executive director of a public charity that provided equine-assisted services and other educational experiences to individuals with special needs. From 2004 to 2010, Daurio’s legal practice included agricultural law, real estate and business law, general contracts, nonprofit organizations and western lifestyle consultation. His philanthropic work includes volunteering as a board or committee member for PATH International, the Colorado State Fair Foundation, the Western Stock Show Association and the American Quarter Horse Foundation. Daurio received undergraduate degrees in agricultural extension and event management, and agricultural economics from Colorado State University, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming Law School.
Robert Fetsch
For 40 years, Fetsch has devoted himself to understanding how to use the latest family life research to assist those looking to improve their well-being and quality of life. Since retiring from CSU in 2011, he has worked with farm and ranch families on managing issues including stress, anger, depression and suicidal thinking, as well as publishing articles on the topics. Fetsch is known for providing research-based knowledge and educational programs that strengthen the social well-being of adults and families in communication, problem-solving, anger/conflict management and estate transfers. As co-project director of the Colorado AgrAbility Project, he works to promote success in agriculture for people with disabilities or other physical and psychological challenges. Colorado AgrAbility is part of a nationwide network of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture programs designed to inform, educate and assist farmers, ranchers, farm workers and their families with disabilities, so that they can continue to have successful careers in agriculture.
