PORTLAND, OREGON, US — Galen Schmidt has been promoted to director of agronomy for North Dakota and Minnesota at Columbia Grain International, LLC (CGI), a subsidiary of Marubeni Corp.

In his new role, Schmidt will be responsible for oversight of CGI’s Ag retail locations in Climax, Minnesota, US, and Arvilla, North Dakota, US. He will work with suppliers and internal teams to make sure the company is positioned to serve farmers. He also will be responsible for the development of agronomy plans and will focus on achieving maximum sales growth through new sales enablement while maintaining long-term retail and grower relationships. He previously spent three years managing CGI’s location in Climax.

Schmidt grew up on a farm in south central North Dakota, where his family primarily raised spring wheat, soybeans, sunflowers and corn, and occasionally grew flax, field peas, barley, canola, alfalfa and winter wheat.