This article was first published in the November-December 2025 issue of Soybean Business. Click here to read the digital version.

Allen Blankers might be a newcomer to the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, having joined MSGA at the 2025 Farmfest, but he’s a veteran farmer and community leader. Blankers grew up on a farm north of Lake Wilson and has been actively farming near Holland, Minn., for the past 15 years, raising soybeans and corn with his dad. 

Like many farmers, Blankers is involved with multiple organizations. Off the farm, he has a full-time job as a market president at MinnWest bank in Marshall, and is actively involved in his community of Woodstock, recognizing that the farm economy is intertwined with his community’s economic health.  

“We are going to build a new community center,” Blankers said. “It’s pretty exciting, considering the population of Woodstock isn’t even 150 people.” 

As a longtime farmer and banker, Blankers knows that building new markets, both internationally and here at home, is more critical than ever. By joining MSGA, he’s lending his voice to a group that has a nearly 65-year history advocating for trade and value-added uses. 

“With everything going on with the tariff wars, we need more markets to replace the 20 percent we were sending to China annually. We need a voice, essentially, to help break the barriers down.” Blankers said. “The new products are always a huge benefit – that’s the thing that’s got me excited.”

Click here to join MSGA.