To our board members and all the members of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA), I am seeking the position of Vice President of MSGA.

I have been a part of the Association state board for six years and am ready to step forward and lead by example. Within the past 20 years, I have held leadership roles throughout many of the organizations I have been involved with, including the Nobles County Corn and Soybean board, Minnesota Corn Growers, National Corn Growers, Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (MARL) program board, and I also am currently the chairman on the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) board. Each of these positions has instilled in me new leadership qualities and given me firsthand experience on how to be an effective board. For that, I am truly grateful.

Even though I have held numerous leadership roles on other boards, I am ready and eager to join the MSGA executive team. I have the fire in my belly to help lead one of the top commodity groups in Minnesota by working with other agricultural groups, bringing in new ideas and being willing to fight when it comes to legislative issues and regulations. Being a voice for agriculture is a collaborative effort, and I hope to encourage this within a leadership role.

Being involved in agriculture and seeing our successes has kept me engaged. I have learned to enjoy and celebrate our successes when they come, but am ready to speak up, take action and stay proactive when it comes to setbacks. I want to leave agriculture in a way that the next generation can build on our accomplishments.

I am proud of the strides we have made as an organization and hope I can help continue to make a difference as your MSGA Vice President. I am asking for your vote.

Ron Obermoller is a 900-acre corn and soybean farmer near Brewster, Minnesota. He currently sits on the New Uses and Marketing Communications action teams at Minnesota Soybean.