Our Story
Founded by agtech platform pioneers
Growing up on a dairy farm in the Netherlands, FarmTrace founder and CEO Chris van den Berg knew there was a disconnect between what he and his family did on the farm and their business partners, both the companies that the family sold to, and those that supplied the farm. He knew that the problem hurt every party involved. He also knew that the problem could be fixed.
His search for a solution led to Chris founding his first agtech company in 2012, a digital platform connecting cattle farms with food processors. After a few innovative years, and a successful sale, it was time for the next step in farm connection, and FarmTrace was born.
Chris then joined forces with FarmTrace COO Kelby Kleinsasser. Like Chris, Kelby grew up on a dairy farm in the US and previously founded and led multiple successful technology businesses. Together, Chris and Kelby bring 20 years+ of agtech platform experience, and with the rest of the FarmTrace team (a majority of whom come from farming communities), are committed to connecting the food value chain.
The FarmTrace Leadership Team
Chris van den Berg
CEOChris is a top global expert on food supply chains, technology and agriculture. Raised on a dairy farm in the Netherlands, Chris built a career in food processing technology, feed ingredient sales, and business development management, before founding two successful ag-tech companies in Europe and Asia, including the world’s first SaaS platform for cattle trading.
Kelby Kleinsasser
COOA serial entrepreneur, technology expert, and investor, Kelby has started and led multiple successful businesses both inside and outside of the ag technology industry. Most recently, since its launch in 2014, Kelby served on the management team at FBN, helping to lead the company’s unprecedented farmer technology adoption and revenue growth in the production agriculture sector.
Kim Conners
CFOAs a CFO, Kim has overseen several technology and SaaS companies they grew from seed stage ventures, to billion dollar-market leaders. He holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and is a certified public accountant.
Danny Turkovich
Head of ProductDanny was previously at Farmers Business Network for six years, where he was a member of the founding team and also head of product. He grew up on a farm in California and has previously operated his own agrofood businesses.
Johan Vloet
Senior Vice President of EngineeringPassionate about engineering and a true entrepreneur at heart, Johan has built companies and introduced technologies that are now widely used by farmers and various other businesses in the agrofood value chain.
Jannie Minnema
Managing Director of EU OperationsJannie brings senior leadership experience to FarmTrace from her time across the tech industry. Having served previously as CIO of MN Services, as well in various top roles at Oracle, Jannie is an expert in informational tech and international B2B growth.
Michiel Thuijs
VP of EngineeringMichiel brings senior-level experience in a range of software roles, including his most recent position as Head of Engineering at cybersecurity firm, Irdeto. Michiel also has backgrounds in electrical engineering and cloud computing, as well as expertise in scaling digital solutions.