Brian Larsen | Northwest District Incumbent

Eric Henry| Northwest District Candidate

1. Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
 As the agriculture industry continues to change and evolve, members must have confidence that their cooperative is ready and able to excel through it all. It is important to me that the member-owners have a voice in how their cooperative decides to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

 2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• Increase member business through improved competitiveness on product and service offerings.
• Continued development in leadership and retention of Key’s next generation personnel.
• Embrace change as the industry continues to consolidate, margins continue to tighten, and innovation continues to disrupt traditional business practices. Key Cooperative must be ready and able to adapt to the changes that lie ahead.

John Koop | Northwest District Candidate

John is from Kamrar where he and his wife, Carrie, live a couple miles east of town. They have a have an 8-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. John farms in Hamilton County with his father and brother. He graduated from Iowa State University in 2007, worked in retail for 10 years at New Century FS, then came home in 2016 to farm full-time. His operation consists of row crop corn and soybeans, custom fed hogs and a cow calf herd as well. John also operates and manages a seed and precision Ag business. He serves as a Hamilton County Fair foundation member and is a Farm Bureau member.

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
To make sure our local needs are shared and addressed for the benefit of the members.

• Find good employees and train them before the current generation of employees retire (Applicators) to ensure the level of service is maintained for our members.
• Ensure we retain our best employees.
• Focus on our fringe areas as our competitors are as well.

Tim Shanks| Northwest District Candidate

Tim and his wife, Cindy, live in Roland with their family farm just south of town. They have two teenage children. Tim grew up on a 100-head dairy cow operation in northern IL which grew to 300 when he was in college. In 2012, he and Cindy decided to move back to Iowa to be around her family. Tim spent the first seven years helping his father-in-law and his brother with the crops while working in the precision ag industry. In 2019, he officially started farming all the land and currently cash rents the 860 acres of corn and soybeans from his family. In addition to farming, Tim works at one of the largest dairy genetics companies and focuses on activity monitoring and parlor identification systems. Tim serves on the Salem Lutheran Church Council and is a 4-H Rabbit Superintendent at the Story County Fair.

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
I want to help provide a voice to the younger and beginning farmers. Being a "beginning" farmer myself, I feel it's important that every group has a voice! I also want to make sure that our members are receiving the best pricing possible for their inputs.

2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• Ensure members are treated equitably no matter what size their operation is.
• Prioritize current member's interests over prospective new customers.
• Deliver the best input costs and storage costs to our members.

Brian Lowry | Southeast District Candidate

Brian and his wife, Carrie, live east of Searsboro with their farm operation located just a mile north of their home. Brian and Carrie have one son and two daughters. Brian started farming full time in 2020 after retiring from 19 years in the agriculture education classroom. He is grateful to have the opportunity to farm with his father, Terry and brother, Jason. Their operation includes corn, soybeans and alfalfa as well as a cow-calf herd. Jason and Brian are proud to be third generation farmers. Brian and his family attends Grinnell Christian Church where he and Carrie taught Sunday School for several years. Brian is also a member of the Lynnville-Sully FFA Alumni Association. Brian has served the past two years as an associate director for the Key Cooperative board.

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
Checks and balances are important for any effective business setting. It is important to me to represent the cooperative membership in a way which benefits all members. I want to operate and make decisions by putting the cooperative business model into practice.

 2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• Maintain a healthy financial position in the midst of the current uncertain & volatile climate.
• Continue to grow our membership by serving our members efficiently and effectively while offering a multitude of services. I believe there are a number of ways that Key can continue to be an essential business partner.
• Show integrity and transparency in the way Key carries out business. We should strive to be a cooperative that uses bargaining power to benefit all members.

Chad Hafkey | Southeast District Incumbent

Chad and his wife, Trish, live seven miles northeast of Grinnell with their 9-year old son and 5-year old daughter. He is a fifth-generation farmer whose operation includes corn and soybean production with a small cow/calf herd. Chad has served as a Key Cooperative director for the past six years and as an associate director two years prior to that.

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
It is important to me to serve as a director so I may represent the cooperative member's best interests in the company's strategic planning and long-term goal setting. Shaping the direction and vision of the company plays a vital role in creating opportunities for success of the members and our company.

 2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• Establishing access to the Key customer portal (My Account).
• Employee retention, acquisition and development. 
• Searching for opportunities internally and externally to provide benefits to its members.

Chris Davidson | Southeast District Candidate

Chris and his wife LaFonda, have two children Brendan and Lily and live in Pella. Chris has been part of the Pella community for over 30 years. His farming operation is based out of Brooklyn and includes the areas of Grinnell & Barnes City. Chris farms primarily corn and soybeans with some local custom harvesting. Over the years he’s expanded his operation through the purchase of land and working with good landowners. Working alongside his uncle and cousin in their operation has allowed him to stay in touch with the livestock side of farming. Additionally, Chris has built a home construction business which specializes in custom homes. Chris has taken several mission trips to La Mission, Mexico to help build homes for families. Teaching Sunday school and being on city advisory boards are also among other activities that Chris has enjoyed volunteering for.

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
Having the support and knowledge to help work through the ever-changing environment of agriculture has been vital to my operation. In the end, it’s everyone’s decision on how they want to run their operation, but in the realm of agriculture, most decisions affect the outcome of the entire year. Having a co-op that can support its members with knowledge concerning technology, inputs, marketing and decisions farmers make daily is beneficial not only to the members, but also to the co-op’s success.

 2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• In today’s world of volatility, inputs and market decision making has become as challenging as ever. I believe that one of the things that Key has done well is to present customers with the knowledge and resources to help make decisions easier. Continuing to improve upon this type of relationship with producers of every size is important. This type of relationship is what brings in new customers and members and in turn, strengthens the co-op. 
• We also need to continue to explore new markets for producers to sell their products. Offering diverse options for growers to market is vital for the success and survival of farming operations as well as the co-op.  
• I believe that public education and awareness is becoming more and more important to the success of everyone involved in agriculture. As a society, we’re becoming less connected with where and how our food is put on our tables. Disconnect creates misunderstanding and concern of how our food is being produced, which in turn, makes it more challenging for everyone in the Ag world. We’re constantly changing how we grow our crops and raise our livestock and we need to inform the public how these changes are beneficial to everyone. 

Megan Veldboom | Southeast District Incumbent

Megan and her husband, Lance, returned to the family farm in 2011 where she grew up (north of Grinnell) and operate Raffety Farms. They grow corn, soybeans, and a little alfalfa. They have four adult daughters, with the youngest one in college, and three grandchildren.  Megan serves on the Board of 100+ People Who Care - Grinnell, is a newly appointed Trustee on the Campbell Fund (a Grinnell charitable farm) and directs the Awana children’s program at her church. Megan has served as a director for Key Cooperative for the past three years. 

1.  Why is it important to you to serve the cooperative members?
Key Co-op provides vital services to area farmers and is an essential business partner. In these challenging days, a healthy co-op is an immeasurable asset to its members. There is strength in numbers and I believe it’s important for our local farmers to work together in this way. Serving on the Board has been both interesting and challenging to me personally. I would like to continue to learn and contribute to the future of Key Co-op as well as strive to care for its members.

 2.  What should Key Cooperative’s top three priorities be in the next two years?

• Continued excellent customer service - how can we help our members produce their best?  
• Be at the forefront of new technology such as applications for drones and precision ag.
• Consider Key’s environmental impact both as a company as well as how we’re assisting members operate sustainably and responsibly.