FRESNO, Calif. – Independence native Karl Klotzbach was recognized as an MVP at the 2023 Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference.
The conference is hosted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). ASABE is a global educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering for agricultural, food and biological systems.
“The AETC MVP award is given to an individual who has gone to exceptional lengths to make the annual conference a success,” said Dolores Landeck, ASABE. “Karl was honored for his years of contributions to the planning committee, his tireless service as an ambassador of the conference, and his assistance and guidance for this year’s event, which relocated for 2023 to Fresno, from its usual home of Louisville, Kentucky.”
The award is an engraved, scale-model Louisville Slugger bat, emblematic of the conference’s home location.
“Karl has advocated that the engineering conference be locally accessible to people all across the country,” said Eric B. Smith, P.E., 30-year ASABE member. “The 2023 conference was the first west of the Missouri River. While many contributors who regularly attend the Louisville conference were in attendance, the conference saw strong attendance by west coast equipment manufacturers.
“Karl was involved in all aspects of the conference. He hosted a session where the US Department of Commerce shared a global trade overview of farm equipment and the USDA/NRCS shared their efforts to replace tractors in California with ones meeting current emissions requirements. Later, Karl was an active participant in farm equipment safety standards discussions. Finally, Karl spent time with many of the attendees, working to ensure that they felt included, whether they were first-time attendees or annual speakers at the conference.”
Klotzbach is a Product Safety and Homologations Engineer with CNH Industrial America LLC. He is a licensed professional engineer (P Eng and PE) specializing in product safety and global standards development for agricultural machinery.
