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Mary K. Corp has been an Area Agronomist for Oregon State University in the inland wheat producing region of the Pacific Northwest for the past 12 years. She holds an Associate Professor appointment in the Oregon State University Crop and Soil Science Department and splits her time between research and extension education. Mary’s career in agriculture spans over 30 years and she is a recognized expert in dryland production systems, weed science, agronomy, and farm business management. Mary has a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Oregon University and a Masters in Business Administration from Portland State University. She is a member of the American Society of Agronomy. She has just completed a 4 year study comparing various types of fallow systems and their impacts to water storage, weeds and economics. Her current research is in organic cereal production, new variety selection, and insects impacting cereal crops such as the Wheathead Armyworm. Research results and newsletters can be found at her website www.cerealcentral.com. When not chasing the latest problem facing wheat farmers, Mary pursues her artistic side with her watercolor paintings. Her love of the rural lifestyle and agriculture can be seen in her paintings of local rodeos, horses, and landscapes. To view her paintings visit her gallery www.kaycsartcollectible.com/artgallery .

A seasoned ag communications professional, Rick Purnell is passionate about the positive impact farms and agribusiness have in rural and urban communities. Rick is even more passionate about how a farm or ag operation can develop a true identity within its community. Engaging today’s media, public forums, local government and civic organizations is just one aspect of strengthening relationships with rural and in-town neighbors. I’m active in initiatives to build community support for the professionals who grow our food. I can demonstrate communications approaches for individual operations that create short- and long-term community, zoning and legislative support. Find out more at www.rprcompany.com.

This blog is all about celebrating America’s farm families and learning more about what America’s farmers provide for us every day.

Even at an early age, Cheryl Day was a passionate and practical advocate for agriculture. As a young child, Day convinced her father that raising Angus Cattle was more than just a hobby but a chosen career path. She followed the footsteps of eight generations before her, as an agriculture producer. The need to tell her agriculture story had become a priority for Cheryl. As a teenager Day encountered many attempts from anti-agriculture groups to erode the business of agriculture. During her college years, Cheryl was a powerful voice for keeping her college’s agriculture program alive when politicians threatened to end the program. On a campus in the heart of Illinois farmland, Day quickly realized that her fellow college students had no idea where their food came from and the fight to keep the program open became a stage for educating. After earning her degree in Ag-Business from Illinois State University, she returned to farm. Day, along with her husband and two children, raises corn, soybeans, and registered Angus Cattle in Illinois. As an accent to her agriculture enterprise, Cheryl freelances as an agriculture communicator and public relations consultant. In addition to her work experience, Day has dedicated countless volunteer efforts to speaking out for agriculture and organizing grassroots efforts to protect the science of producing agriculture products for the next generation to come.

Specialized ag input supplier. Our company’s goal is to serve the professional production row crop farmer who wants to be a good steward of his resources of time, money, and land.

Charlie O’Brien is the Vice President, Agricultural Services at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), where he oversees efforts on behalf of AEM members that manufacture Ag equipment. He oversees and coordinates working groups, committees and is the chief staff liaison to the AEM Board of Directors for agriculture issues. O’Brien is AEM’s primary liaison with Ag organizations, customer groups and government agencies. He also leads AEM initiatives related to the forestry sector as well as renewable energy. O’Brien has been in agriculture his entire life. He was raised on a dairy farm outside of Madison, Wisconsin, and after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a BS in Agriculture, he joined John Deere Credit, and later earned an MBA from Drake University in Des Moines. Before joining AEM, O’Brien served as President and CEO of FPC Financial, as well as Farm Plan & AgLine (Canada) Product Manager and Sales Manager for John Deere Credit, part of Deere & Company’s Worldwide Credit Operations. He has also served as Branch Manager and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Deere Credit’s England operations and held Deere Credit management positions in sales, market and business development and risk management. AEM is the North American-based international trade group representing the off-road equipment manufacturing industry. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Beijing and a European presence in Brussels. It represents more than 800 companies in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors.

Carrie and David are students at Cal Poly University and the editors of Ag Circle Magazine.

Kent Wagoner grew up on a central Iowa century family farm. After college, he made the difficult decision to move out west where his wife’s family is centered. A stint working on the irrigated farms of the Treasure Valley of southwest Idaho led to a number of years in the vegetable seed industry. Spending over 10 years in the University of Idaho Agricultural Research and Extension Service has taught him about not only the difficulties of ag research, but also some of the hurdles of making the connection from research to production agriculture. He is married (30 years!) with two grown sons, and enjoys singing with a local southern gospel quartet. If you would like to contact him privately, you can email him at kwagoner@mail.com.

Andy Zenk is an Agribusiness Consultant with AgCountry Farm Credit Services, specializing in succession and retirement planning. In this position, he helps families work through the complex issues of farm transition, estate planning and business planning. He serves as a guide to help mentor and monitor the process of planning for retirement, constructing detailed plans based on the goals and needs of each person. He helps families design and implements necessary estate planning instruments. He also helps farmers with business entity formation and continuation plans, dissolutions and any other business planning issues they may have. Andy has a legal background as an attorney, and is currently licensed to practice law in Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado. He holds a law degree with a business concentration from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. Before joining AgCountry Farm Credit Services, he practiced law in Colorado in the areas of estate planning, asset protection, real estate and business planning. Andy lives with his wife Laurie and their four children in west-central Minnesota. He enjoys spending time at the lake, walleye fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities. Although, most of his time is spent chasing his four children around (ages 8, 6, 4 and 1), which is his favorite thing by far.