Justin Minnaert
SD Corn Utilization Council
Secretary/Treasurer • District 2
Justin Minnaert of Madison joined the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council board of directors in 2018.
The Chester High School graduate earned a degree in ag business from Lake Area Technical Institute. He grows corn and soybeans with his dad, Kevin. Like many farm kids, he developed a natural interest in farming at a young age.
“I started farming when my legs were long enough to reach the pedals on the tractor,” he says. “I always wanted to farm and was fortunate enough to return to my family’s farm right out of college in 2013 as my Grandpa Ron began to slow down.”
He chose farming as a profession because it is constantly changing. “I enjoy that every year brings new challenges and possibilities to improve on the past.”
Minnaert says the most important issue facing today’s farmers is the disconnect between growers and consumers, which continues to widen. Consumer misconceptions of why farmers grow crops the way they do is casting farmers in a negative light. He says we need to shrink the gap in order for new technologies to be met with less public resistance.