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The SmartAction framework is adaptable to any farm. Both online and offline data collection are features that add tremendous flexibility in poor connectivity situations. We have had 100% connectivity in Midwest customer locations.
Ed's roots in row crop and livestock agriculture date back to the late 1800s when the Bahler family settled in Northwest Indiana. In 1958, Ed's father started a post-frame construction company to meet local farmers' equipment storage and livestock facility needs, seizing the opportunity from the mechanization and specialization of agriculture that exploded in the 1950s-60s. He called it Farm Builder Inc. which was renamed FBi Buildings in 1986.
With an Agriculture Engineering from Purdue University, he helped build the family business with three siblings. In 2011, he then shifted to leading FBi Buildings and has grown it into five companies that design and build facilities primarily for large-scale agriculture production. In 2018, Ed launched Summit SmartFarms.
Jon Hoek was raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where his grandfather inspired him to pursue a career in agriculture. He earned a degree in Agricultural Production with a concentration in Swine Management.
For ten years, Jon and his family owned and operated a farrow-to-finish swine enterprise. Jon worked at Belstra Milling Company for 20 years in various roles, concluding as Vice President of Pig Production. In 2019, he co-founded Summit SmartFarms with Ed Bahler to service the protein industry as a people-centric innovation broker, developing and assembling technologies for result optimization.
Mike Navel was raised on a row crop farm northwest of Indianapolis. After attending Purdue University, he pursued a career in sales consulting. He was trained in adult learning, program design, and change management. At 28, he founded his own consulting group working with companies such as Eli Lilly, Guidant Corp, Ernst & Young, and Elanco Animal Health.
Elanco hired Mike to manage a large, global protein company and, years later, moved to Amarillo, Texas, to manage the feed yard business. During this span, he began to understand producers’ needs to know what is happening at the farm level today to direct their teams to prevent versus manage problems. This experience ultimately brought him to Summit SmartFarms.
Mike and his wife, Becky, live in Fishers, Indiana, with their son Connor and daughter Grace.
Darby grew up on the Gulf Coast, mainly in Texas and Louisiana. She's a proud graduate of Mississippi State University (B.S. in Animal Science) and North Carolina State University (M.S. in Animal Sciences). Her master's level work was under the direction of Dr. Billy Flowers, focusing on applied swine reproductive physiology.
Before, during, and after her studies, Darby has spent time in barns working with multipliers and commercial operations.
Darby is passionate about the swine industry, developing relationships with the people who feed the world and working together to improve.
Gage grew up in Noblesville, Indiana. At a young age, he gained a passion for technology and, with his father's mentoring, learned how to write code and develop software applications.
Later, Gage attended Purdue University and earned a B.S. in Computer and Information Technology.
Before Summit SmartFarms, Gage worked in the discrete manufacturing industry, building large-scale software applications to support and enhance production processes for various industries and customers.
Gage, his wife - Katie, and two sons - Finn and River, reside in Westfield, Indiana. He enjoys spending time with his family, doing anything outdoors, and working on a few nerdy projects here and there.
Scott Whitlock grew up on a 70-acre pig farm in rural southeast Indiana. The oldest of four farm boys, he learned a hard work ethic at a young age. Scott chose to attend Purdue University and use those early years as a springboard toward an engineering career.
In 1996, Scott founded Flexware Innovation, the go-to engineering firm for forward-thinking manufacturers that need to integrate their business and production systems to minimize their resources. Flexware is a prominent partner for Summit SmartFarms because of its orientation toward production, operations, technology, and continuous improvement.
