Gary Overgaard and his mezzo-soprano wife, Emily.

The Minnesota Corn Growers Association launched its “Minnesota Farm Team” campaign last week to highlight how corn farmers take care of our land, water and soil. MinnesotaCornerstone.com will profile a different member of the Farm Team every day this week.

Gary Overgaard’s seed customers know about his passion for farming. They know he’s into technology that makes farming more productive and more sustainable. Not all of them know he’s married to an opera singer.

Gary farms in Magnolia, where he got started as a 23-year-old in 1975. A South Dakota State University grad with a degree in animal science, Gary cobbled together off-farm jobs like county extension agent and vo-tec teacher to make a go of it. Now in his 40th year farming, he has sold his hog barn to a younger farmer, investing in the success of the next generation.

Gary uses a variable-rate planter that plants more seed in higher fertility soil (and soil with higher water-holding capacity) and less seed in lighter soils. This technology is one of many that helps farmers today grow more food using fewer resources.

Magnolia, in Southwest Minnesota, might seem like an unlikely spot for an opera career, but Emily Lodine Overgaard has been making harmony with Gary since 1992. They met on a plane to London. She was on her way to sing a mezzo-soprano opera role, he was headed to Copenhagen to Hardi International.

Teaching is a major focus for Emily, especially at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. She has performed under the direction of world class conductors like James Levine and Hugh Wolff. She also has an interesting sideline doing impressions of Julia Child.

You can hear Emily perform the Flower Duet from the opera Lakme on May 2 in Marshall. You can also hear her performances on nine CDs as a member of the Grammy-nominated choral ensemble, Conspirare, who perform everything from Bach to Annie Lennox.

Thank you Gary for being the modern-farm equipment expert on Minnesota’s Farm Team, and thank you, Emily, for giving the team a powerful voice.

To learn more about the Minnesota Farm Team, visit MNFarmteam.com. You can register to serve as groundskeeper for a day at a Minnesota Twins game and win other great prizes. You can listen to all four Minnesota Farm Team radio commercials below.