Director Spotlight: Glen Crawford

May 20, 2021


Glen Crawford farms with his wife, Heidi; son, Garrett; daughter, Claire; mother, Marie; brother, Todd; and Todd’s wife, Lana; and brother, Leon.  Together they grow corn and soybeans, operate a machine shop, welding repair business and truck dealership.  Glen and Heidi also own Brown County Choppers, LLC, a tree belt clearing and land reclamation operation outside of Aberdeen.

Glen has served on a board of directors for the past 13 years. “My dad was on the board and had to step down due to his health. I felt he wanted one of his sons to run for his seat on the board. Since neither of my brothers would wear a suit and tie (which we had to do back then). I decided to run for the remainder of his term to honor him. I enjoyed it more than I thought and realized why he felt it was important to have a voice in our cooperative and so I continue to serve."

Being able to see behind the scenes of Agtegra and seeing how hard the team works for our patrons from bottom to top is something Glen enjoys about being involved in the governance of Agtegra Cooperative. Glen serves as the First Vice President of the Agtegra Board of Directors.  He also serves on the Executive Committee, the Risk Committee and as a member of the Strategic Outlook and Government Affairs Committee. He enjoys the smaller groups because directors can speak up and have deeper conversations about the inter-workings of Agtegra. 

He also serves on the Consolidated Ag Solutions Board.  Glen served three years on the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Great Plains Advisory Council and his last year as Chairman.  Glen is a SDARL (Class IV) graduate; in addition, he has completed FCC Services’ Advanced Governance Series Training I and II and was the former president of the Federal Reserve Advisory Council. He was also honored to be a Farming Father of the Year recipient, presented by the Aberdeen American News/Farm Forum.

“What I love most about agriculture is that it’s not a job, it’s a way of life. I really enjoy seeing multiple generations working together, whether it is on our farm or someone else’s,” states Glen. 

Some advice that Glen shares about getting involved within your co-op, is don’t wait until you have enough time to do it, because you never will have enough time.  Make the time to make it a priority now and you will be rewarded.
           
This past year Glen realized how important Zoom has been to keep some sense of moving forward. However, it will never replace face-to-face and human contact. “I believe it works well, because of our strong relationships we built in the past. But we need to continue building relationships for the future, which is much more challenging in a Zoom world,” remarks Glen. A job well done and a happy customer when it comes to Agtegra Cooperative, and his own business is how Glen defines success.

When asked what Glen’s vision for Agtegra is for the future, “There is only one constant in the future and that we have learned is “change."  In this ever-changing world we must make sure we are in alignment with our core values.  We as board members must continue to make sound decisions for your cooperative that will enable Agtegra to be the best partner in production we can be.  We must push ourselves to be on the leading edge of technology, production, profitability and safety as a company and a partner, while measuring each decision against our values to ensure we have your best interest in focus.  We must strive to stay financially strong to maintain and add assets, so they bring our patrons the level of service they expect.”

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