Beth Ford made history in July when the Land O’Lakes board promoted her to CEO, becoming the first woman to lead the agricultural cooperative, which reached $13.7 billion in sales in 2017. She’s also the first openly gay woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. Reporting second-quarter results, she noted, “We face significant headwinds across the agricultural economy.” Farmers are under financial strain, and consumer food choices are evolving. Ford is factoring those changes and other variables into the business model as she looks to expand the mega-cooperative.