Candidate · CoBank Board of Directors · Central Region
CEO of Jorgensen Land & Cattle, a fourth-generation farm and cattle business in Ideal, South Dakota, recognized as the largest seedstock producer in the United States. Former Board Chair of Farm Credit Services of America. Asking for your vote.
CoBank exists to serve the cooperatives and rural businesses that keep rural America running: the electric lines, the water systems, the broadband, the elevators and the processors. I've spent my career on both sides of that relationship, as a borrower running a family ag business and as a director of a Farm Credit association.
I want to bring that view to the CoBank board: a voice that knows what a margin call at harvest feels like, what it costs to serve a rural customer at the end of a long line, and what a board owes the members who own the institution.
I also understand rural cooperatives from the customer side. My operation buys inputs from and sells grain to agricultural cooperatives, and we depend on our local electric, water and telecommunications cooperatives every day. As former chair of Farm Credit Services of America, I also understand how CoBank's lending partners work and where agriculture and rural America are headed. I want to help CoBank serve all of its customers well as that change comes.
Rural lines and substations cost far more per customer than in town, and loads keep growing. Electric cooperatives need long-term, affordable capital to keep rates fair and service reliable.
Our feedyard and grain operations run on power from Rosebud Electric, so I see those costs from the member's side.
Rural water systems are expensive to build and slow to pay back. They need a lender that understands long timelines and small customer bases.
My grandfather, Martin Jorgensen, helped start Tripp County's rural water system, and a Jorgensen has served on its board ever since. My dad serves today.
Broadband is now as basic as power and water. Rural providers building it out across long distances need patient financing.
Our operation runs on connected software, from cattle and genomic records to equipment and field data. None of it works without strong rural broadband.
Elevator margin calls, working capital in volatile markets, and the rail and storage that move grain to market. Ag cooperatives and processors need a lender that knows these cycles.
I live these on my own operation. Early in my career I did the economic analysis for a project that secured funding to rebuild 42 miles of rail line in south central South Dakota. Two grain shuttle loaders now run on that line.
Director of Farm Credit Services of America since 2016, serving as Vice Chair and then Board Chair. As Chair, led the joint management agreement between FCSAmerica, AgCountry Farm Credit Services and Frontier Farm Credit, which took effect in April 2024. Currently a Board-Appointed Stockholder Director.
CEO of Jorgensen Land & Cattle since 2019, a fourth-generation operation homesteaded near Ideal in 1909 and recognized as the largest seedstock producer in the United States. Also leads Ideal Soil Solutions and Lazy J Sporting Club.
Did the economic analysis for a project that secured funding to rebuild 42 miles of rail line for grain shipping in south central South Dakota. The line now serves two grain shuttle loaders. Third generation of a family that helped found and has served on the board of Tripp County's rural water system.
Jorgensen Land & Cattle received South Dakota's Leopold Conservation Award in 2015 and was a regional winner of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Environmental Stewardship Award Program in 2022.
Former director, South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, where I presented the proposal to the Legislature for a precision agriculture center at SDSU.
B.S. in Agricultural Business, minor in Agricultural Marketing, South Dakota State University, 2013
M.S. in Economics, South Dakota State University, 2014
MBA, Dakota Wesleyan University, 2016
Premier Governance Series, the Farm Credit System's director development program (nearing completion)
These are the family businesses I run day to day. They're where my view of rural lending, cooperatives and rural infrastructure comes from.
A fourth-generation farm and cattle business near Ideal, homesteaded in 1909, and recognized as the largest seedstock producer in the United States. We raise Angus seedstock, run a feedyard and farm crop ground, and lease or sell more than 6,500 bulls a year to cattle producers.
jorgensenfarms.comAn agronomy business serving farmers in our area with soil testing, fertility recommendations and crop inputs.
idealsoilsolutions.comKnown for decades for guided pheasant hunting on family land, the Lazy J brings hunters, visitors and business to rural Tripp County.
lazyjclub.com
I live near Ideal, South Dakota, with my wife, Ashley, and our five kids: Hayes, Porter, twins Harvey and Walker, and Scottie. Our kids stay busy with sports, music and helping Ashley in the garden, and I coach their baseball teams. We're active at the Winner Methodist Church, where I serve on the finance committee.
If you have questions about where I stand or what your organization needs from CoBank, call or email me directly.