Free Ag & Estate Planning Seminar on March 27, 2024

Join us for this free, educational opportunity! Our third annual Ag & Estate planning seminar, SEEDS OF SUCCESS, will have something for farmers and entrepreneurs at all stages in their career. Learn about up-to-date information on the industry and planning for a healthy financial future. A light breakfast, lunch and door prizes will be included.

Check out our blog for 3 reasons why you can't miss this event!

The RSVP deadline has past.  View additional details about the agenda, topics and speakers below.

AGENDA & TOPICS

SPEAKER BIOS

MIKE DOWNEY
Mike Downey grew up on his family’s farm in west-central Illinois, near Roseville. He received his Ag degree from the University of Illinois in 2000 and began his career in the farm management and real estate industry responsible for a 7-county area in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. He has since joined Farm Financial Strategies to pursue his interest in helping farm families and landowners with their estate planning and strategies for passing their family farm to the next generation. He is also co-owner of Next Gen Ag Advocates, which was founded in 2018 to help match retiring farmers and landowners who don’t have a successor to like-minded producers that will carry on their farm operation. He and his family own and operate a small 100-acre farm near Lisbon, Iowa and he enjoys helping on his wife’s family farm in Cedar County, Iowa.

CHAD HART
Chad Hart is a professor in economics and extension economist with Iowa State University. His areas of specialization include grain marketing, crop and livestock insurance, USDA commodity program, crop economics, global agriculture and renewable energy. Chad was born and raised in southwest Missouri and his parents raised a few cattle and operated a small meat locker. Chad received a B.S. in economics with minors in mathematics, history, and astronomy from Southwest Missouri State University in 1991. He moved to Iowa in the summer of 1991 to pursue graduate education and received a Ph.D. in economics and statistics in 1999 from Iowa State University.

RON HANSON
Ron holds the title of Harlan Agribusiness Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska. Professor Hanson accomplished a 46-year agribusiness teaching and student advising career that earned 31 national award recognitions. Ron was selected as the Outstanding Ag College Instructor, received the John Deere Agribusiness Teaching Award of Excellence, and was named the University Educator of the Year. Ron was raised on an Illinois family farm and earned his undergraduate degree from Western Illinois University and his graduate degrees from the University of Illinois. He has counseled with Nebraska families for more than 40 years to achieve stronger family farming relationships by embracing better communications. His efforts are now directed at transition planning strategies to enable farm ownership succession success.  His mission is to keep farming operations in the family for future generations.  He has been honored multiple times his dedicated service to both rural youth and farm families.

BLAKE KERNS
With a sprouting idea and the determination to provide fresher produce, at the age of 15, Blake rented two acres of abandoned cropland, borrowed a planter, and seeded sweet corn.  His innovative spirit led him to study management and entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa.  During this time, Blake was able to continue his produce business while receiving a first-class education in entrepreneurship.  After graduating, Blake invested himself full-time in his corn stand business.  Now with 2,000 acres of field corn and soybeans and over 60 acres of produce, Blake is the owner of Kerns Homegrown with products sold in over 50 grocery stores in Iowa and at festivals, schools, and other retail locations.  He resides in Oelwein, IA with his family.

JULIE VERSLUIS
Julie Versluis is Vice President, Trust Officer at Fidelity Bank & Trust and is a Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA).  She is a graduate of Cannon Trust School, Cannon Financial Institute, and a graduate of Schools of Banking Trust School, in Topeka, Kansas. Julie graduated from Kirkwood Community College with an associate of arts degree in Legal Assistant/Paralegal Studies. Julie has 26 years of trust experience with expertise in areas of Estate & Trust Administration, Portfolio Management and Financial and Estate Planning. She is a member of the Institute of Certified Bankers, CTFA, a member of the Iowa Association of Paralegals, a past member of Black Hawk County Estate Planning Council, a past president and current board member of the Iowa Trust Association, and a past member of Substitute Decision Maker Task Force of the State of Iowa (2012).

Not FDIC insured | Not Bank guaranteed | May lose value | Not a bank deposit | Not insured by any federal government agency.