Get to Know the Growers: Jim Kanten
The Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA), the state’s grassroots organization for corn farmers, is led by 18 board members with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. In our new “Get to Know the Growers” interview series, we’ll learn about their farms, work with Minnesota Corn, and thoughts on agriculture. Interviews for the project are by Jonathan Eisenthal.
Jim Kanten, MCGA First Vice President
Milan, Minnesota
Tell us about your farm: Where is it, what do you grow, how long have you farmed, who do you farm with, how long has your family farmed this land?
I farm in Milan, Minnesota, with my dad and my brother. We farm mostly corn, and we run a custom manure business. I’m the fifth generation on the farm.
What do you like about farming? What do you find to be the most challenging aspects of it?
The thing I enjoy the most is that the tasks change from day to day, and I enjoy getting to see how the crops change over the season. The hardest thing, for me, is the labor situation, just finding people. We have five seasonal workers on the H-2A visa program who travel from South Africa to work with us, and they come for planting and stay through the fall. Unemployment is very high in South Africa, so it is difficult for them to find a job at home, and that’s why they are willing to come work here. Some have a farm background, and some don’t. But even with H-2A, it can be difficult to find people to work on our farm.
Why is it important to you to participate in the Minnesota Corn Growers Association?
I feel that it is important to be involved with the development of farm policy, so that we can keep farming in the future.
Do you have particular issues or goals that interest you as a grower-leader?
Personally, I want to work on the H-2A program, to make it work more smoothly, more efficiently. At times, there is a lot of red tape to get through, to get employees here. There has to be a way to make it work better for everyone, for the farmers and for the people who want to come and work.
Who has inspired you by their example? What did you find inspiring about them?
My grandmother, Anne Kanten, was involved in ag for as long as I remember. At one point in the late 1980s, early 1990s—when I was 5 or 6—she was a deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Later I remember going out to Washington, D.C., with my grandparents. We were out there when NAFTA (the North America Free Trade Agreement) was getting passed. My grandmother was outgoing and outspoken, and she was intense in her pursuit of her goals, which were almost always about helping Minnesota farmers.
[Read more: Kanten talks about how his grandma inspired his career in farming]
How do you like to spend free time? Do you have hobbies? Play a sport? Like to travel?
I fly. I like to get into the airplane and fly and take my wife and kids flying when I have some free time. I have a Cessna 172, a small four-seater. We fly around the area and take a look at the crops. I got my license about 20 years ago, when I was in college.
What do you think is something about farming that might be surprising to the average consumer?
The technology used in farming today might surprise a lot of people. The tractors, the seed technology, all the precision tech with the planter—just seeing how precisely we can get every seed planted. Each seed is exactly so many inches apart, and we have precise control of the plant population numbers and the depth of the seeds.
