Director Spotlight: Wallace Knock
Jun 16, 2025
.png?lang=en-US&width=350&height=241&ext=.png "Wallace Knock")
Wallace Knock and his wife, Kathy, farm with their son, Jared, and his wife, Kati, and their daughter, Jennifer, and her husband, Joe. Together, they run a diversified crop and livestock farm where he grows corn, soybeans and hay, runs cow/calf pairs, custom feeds pigs and lambs out ewes.
Wallace attended South Dakota State University, completed Leadership Education Program courses through the South Dakota Association of Cooperatives and was a member of Class III of South Dakota Agricultural and Rural Leadership (SDARL).
In addition to being an active member of South Dakota’s Cattlemen’s, Pork Producers, and Corn Growers organizations, Wallace served for 19 years on his local school board and 31 years on other local cooperative boards, including the Dakotaland Feeds Board of Governors and South Dakota Value-Added Center Board of Directors.
He has served on Agtegra Cooperative and its legacy cooperative’s board for 23 years and is currently a Clark County commissioner.
Wallace's vision for Agtegra is to keep it relevant far into the future, both in the industry's eyes and in the eyes of its member-owners. This will require acquiring and retaining the best talent available, prudent use of the balance sheet to purchase assets and technology that benefit our member-owners and reinforcing the culture that cooperatives exist for the benefit of their member-owners. Wallace believes that the real litmus test for decisions in the board room is not what's best for Agtegra but what will benefit all its member-owners most.
"No other business model combines customer, owner, and governance into one person. As a customer, I do business with the co-op. As an owner, I share in the profits and help capitalize on the business. I have oversight responsibilities for governance, and I help direct strategy and policy for the business. Without governance, these do not exist. I see this opportunity as a chance to make this co-op as relevant to future generations as it has been to me," says Wallace.
Wallace attended South Dakota State University, completed Leadership Education Program courses through the South Dakota Association of Cooperatives and was a member of Class III of South Dakota Agricultural and Rural Leadership (SDARL).
In addition to being an active member of South Dakota’s Cattlemen’s, Pork Producers, and Corn Growers organizations, Wallace served for 19 years on his local school board and 31 years on other local cooperative boards, including the Dakotaland Feeds Board of Governors and South Dakota Value-Added Center Board of Directors.
He has served on Agtegra Cooperative and its legacy cooperative’s board for 23 years and is currently a Clark County commissioner.
Wallace's vision for Agtegra is to keep it relevant far into the future, both in the industry's eyes and in the eyes of its member-owners. This will require acquiring and retaining the best talent available, prudent use of the balance sheet to purchase assets and technology that benefit our member-owners and reinforcing the culture that cooperatives exist for the benefit of their member-owners. Wallace believes that the real litmus test for decisions in the board room is not what's best for Agtegra but what will benefit all its member-owners most.
"No other business model combines customer, owner, and governance into one person. As a customer, I do business with the co-op. As an owner, I share in the profits and help capitalize on the business. I have oversight responsibilities for governance, and I help direct strategy and policy for the business. Without governance, these do not exist. I see this opportunity as a chance to make this co-op as relevant to future generations as it has been to me," says Wallace.