Amundson reflects on 7 years on MN Corn Research & Promotion Council
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
Marty Amundson, 36, who joined the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council (MCR&PC) in 2008 and served as chairman for a year starting in 2012, has resigned in order to be closer to home for his young family.
Marty and Kelly Amundson have two daughters, Violet, 3, and three-week-old Winnie.
Amundson believes the role Minnesota’s corn organizations — the MCR&PC as well as the Minnesota Corn Growers Association — is more important to the success of farmers as time goes on, especially young farmers like himself. He also expresses gratitude for the experiences afforded by joining the leadership of these groups.
“I had a great experience serving on the Council,” Amundson says. “I met a lot of great people who do the same thing that I do — people who have a passion for farming and a passion for growing food for the world.”
A big part of the leadership experience comes in the form of attending seminars, training sessions and conferences. Amundson believes the confidence and leadership skills will benefit him in his professional life for a long time to come.
“Meeting great people, going to places around the country I’ve never been before, and learning from other farmers — to me personally, these are really valuable experiences. That’s the thing about farming, it’s a business where you have to learn every day, because it’s always changing. You have to be able to adapt.”
Some of these experiences focused on bringing farmers together with their customers, to communicate, and learn what customers really want from farmers.
“One of the recent changes we’ve made is adding some non-GMO corn to our production,” Amundson said. Amundson farms independently, but trades services with his brother-in-law, father-in-law and another local farmer. “It’s not something we would have done four years ago, but there is a demand in our area for non-GMO corn and so we’re growing it.”
In addition to taking on custom harvesting work, Amundson has diversified by starting his own lawn care service. As a Council member Amundson has tried to highlight the needs of young and start-up farmers.
“Capital, operating funds are a key concern for young farmers,” Amundon says, “Having access to money to function, that’s huge. I look around at the successful farmers in my area and what they have done is diversify. That’s what many farmers do to stay in business and keep their employees around. The young guy is going to have to have that job in town, as an electrical contractor or a plumber or whatever, to give them a boost, or provide living costs while they get their farm operation launched. In the end it depends on goals. Who do they want to be in life? Do they want to own 1,000 acres by the time they retire? Do they want to just run 20 acres and raise organic vegetables? It just depends where they want to be. If you have ambition, and you have goals, you’re going to do just fine in farming.”
As he departs from his leadership role, Amundson feels several key issues will continue to be important for some time to come.
“One of my biggest concerns is the same concern I had when I got on the Council in 2008 — it’s the disconnect between the people in town and what happens on the farm,” Amundson says. “There are many people who don’t know much about how their food is raised. Dealing with the perceptions of non-ag folks, it’s important that we don’t get put into a position where people who don’t have all the information are dictating how we should farm.“
And Amundson still feels that expanding the uses of farm products can result in broad prosperity, for rural America and Mainstreet, in the country and the city.
“We still need to see more ethanol being used,” Amundson believes. “It’s good for our environment, it’s good for our local economy. Mainstreet America seems to be suffering right now because there isn’t as much money being generated in the ag sector, or it doesn’t stay here in the countryside. More local growth with livestock producers, trying to expand the export of meat — I see that as a potential growth market for us. Selling to China, Japan, perhaps India, say 10 years down the road. Those are the things I look forward to happening that would really boost the rural economy.”
All of us at Minnesota Corn would like to thank Marty for his service on the MCR&PC and his dedication to Minnesota agriculture.
Recently, Marty also took the time to welcome a camera crew on his farm for a quick story on the 2015 harvest. That video can be viewed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp2c4aVZzBo&feature=youtu.be
