Healthcare field to corn field: Racine farmer to serve on MCR&PC

Patty Geerdes, a farmer in Racine, Minn., was recently appointed to serve on the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council (MCR&PC).

Geerdes is also a Masters Prepared Registered Nurse who has worked at the transplant center in the Mayo Clinic and recently retired and will be working supplemental. She took over the family farm after her husband, David, died in 2011. Patty and David farmed together for over 20 years.

Today, along with a great team, Patty grows corn, soybeans and sweet corn and looks forward to using her combined experience in healthcare and agriculture to improve corn farming in Minnesota while serving on the 11-member MCR&PC.

“Serving on the MCR&PC will be a new and rewarding experience for me,” said Geerdes, who has two daughters and a granddaughter. “I’m looking forward to learning and sharing many aspects of farming and agriculture. I hope with my experience and background, I’ll be able to assist others in assessing their own farm operations for improvement.”

Geerdes would like to bring her expertise in healthcare regulation and quality to assist agriculture with its own challenges and opportunities when facing ongoing new rules and regulations. She would like to be a part of the revitalization of the agriculture.

Another area where Geerdes’ healthcare background will serve her well on the MCR&PC is research. Through Minnesota’s corn check-off – a voluntary 1-cent “fee” on every bushel of corn sold to market – corn farmers invest $4 million annually in third-party research projects that seek to help farmers protect land, soil and water resources while boosting yields and increasing efficiency.

“There are a lot of challenges in agriculture today, but also plenty of opportunity,” Geerdes said. “I’m looking forward to serving on the MCR&PC.”

Geerdes will represent District 9. She replaces Marty Amundson, a Zumbrota farmer who served on the MCR&PC since 2008 and recently stepped down to spend more time with his family.