Teddy Bekele, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of Land O’Lakes, Inc.

Teddy Bekele, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of Land O’Lakes, Inc.

From Real Leadership by real-leadership

December 4, 2025 · 49 min · Episode 43

About this episode

Teddy Bekele discusses his journey and the role of technology in transforming agriculture while maintaining the essence of farming.

Before Teddy Bekele ever thought about AI or agricultural transformation, he watched his father lose the family farm overnight—a moment that stayed with him from Ethiopia to Italy to an engineering career in the U.S. That moment didn’t just change his life. It hardwired his obsession with resilience, ownership, and making sure the people who grow our food don’t get left behind in the next wave of “innovation.” Today, Teddy is Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes, a 100-year-old, farmer-owned cooperative that touches everything from seed and agronomy to animal feed, dairy, and the “invisible” ingredients in your favorite snacks. His job? Wire this massive, farm-to-fork system for an AI-powered future without losing the soul of the farm or the voice of the farmer. In this episode of Real Leadership, Teddy pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to evolve an iconic co-op —navigating democratic governance, global supply chains, and communities that still depend on rain, soil, and trust…in addition to technology. In this episode, we cover: How Land O’Lakes actually works as a farmer-owned, farm-to-fork cooperative—and why that ownership model changes every tech decision…

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