I was born and raised on a grain and livestock farm in NE Iowa, west of Reinbeck, where I still currently live. While attending Hawkeye Community College in the late 70’s, I also worked for John Deere as a machinist. I earned my degree in Tool & Die Making and because of the beginning of the farm crisis, I returned to the family farm in 1980. I farmed many years with my father and brothers, as we managed the farrow to finish hog operation, raised cattle, custom harvested seed corn, and produced soybeans, commercial corn and seed corn. In 2004 our family discontinued the hog operation after 128 years of being in the business. In 2003, I got my Series 3 license and began my career as a commodity broker. I have worked with customers since then to develop marketing plans, “talk shop” and to help them reach their marketing goals. Today, I am at the head of running our family farm, as we continue to raise soybeans, commercial corn and seed corn. I am a proud 5th generation farmer, and I have assembled and maintained a lot of family farm artifacts and memorabilia over the years. The nature of the business has changed dramatically over the last few decades, and I have used technology to help improve farm operations, as well as provide personalized service to my customers as a broker.