Robert Orsten and Gene Brownfield

Contact: Lara Durben
Phone: (763) 682-2171
E-mail: lara@minnesotaturkey.com

MN Turkey Council Board Election Results Announced

Directors Hail from Little Falls, Redwood Falls, Roseau and Willmar
(Buffalo, MN)…Five people have been elected to the 16-member Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council board according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), the agency responsible for conducting and certifying agricultural promotion council elections. The election was conducted by mail-in ballot in January.

The newly elected directors are:

Region 1 Kent Meschke, Little Falls

Region 2 Kim Gorans, Willmar

At-Large Growers Gene Brownfield, Redwood Falls
Duane Jaenicke, Roseau

At-Large Breeder Robert Orsten, Willmar

Of the five newly elected board members, three are incumbents – Kim Gorans, Duane Jaenicke and Kent Meschke. Gene Brownfield and Robert Orsten are newcomers to the Board. The newly elected board members will serve three-year terms and all assumed their seats on March 1. These directors will also serve on the Board of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
The board meets about eight times per year to guide the promotion council’s activities. Board members also serve as advocates for Minnesota’s turkey industry. Turkey producers pay a percentage of their sale proceeds to the council, which uses those funds to pay for promotion, communication and research activities aimed at increasing producer profitability.

Elected directors are listed alphabetically below, along with biographical information:

Gene Brownfield
Gene Brownfield, Winter Creek Farms Inc. of Redwood Falls, raises 215,000 toms and 636,000 hens and has been in the turkey business for 47 years. His son manages the cropping operation, which includes corn, soybeans, peas and sugar beets.

Gene is a volunteer speaker with the MTGA’s Get To Know Us (GTKU) speakers bureau, is a director for Prairie Fire Ministries and Redwood Area Christian Radio, and is also the treasurer of the Cornerstone Mens Ministry.

He is serving his first term on the MTGA-MTRPC Board. Issues he feels are particularly important are escalating health insurance premiums, effects of volatile commodity prices, and availability of production information for small producers.

He and his wife, Janette, have a son, Dean, and daughter, Jayne as well as two grandsons. Gene’s hobbies include fishing on Mille Lacs Lake and remaining very active in church activities, especially mens’ programming.

Kim Gorans
Kim Gorans raises turkeys with Gorans Brothers near Willmar. He is a 2nd generation grower on the farm started by his father and two uncles in the 1940s. Kim came back full-time in 1977 after attending four years of college. Gorans Brothers presently consists of 20 family members plus additional employees. They raise 44 million pounds of further processed toms and also have 3,700 acres of corn and soybeans. In addition, they market and spread 30,000 tons of turkey manure over 7,000 acres, and manufacture 65,000 tons of feed per year for their own turkeys.

Kim has been a member of the MTGA Board since 1999. He is co-chair of the Avian Pnuemovirus Task Force, and has been an industry representative on the Pneumo Tri-Lateral and Pneumo Eradication Committees. He also is active on the Research Funding Committee. He has been treasurer and council president at Svea Lutheran Church.

Issues that are particularly important to Kim include keeping independent producers strong and viable, turkey health diseases, and being involved with a current University of Minnesota research project on land application of turkey manure.

Kim and his wife, Patsy, have two children: Valor and Liz. He enjoys motorcycling, golf and water activities.

Duane Jaenicke
Duane Jaenicke, Roseau, runs P & J Farms in Roseau along with his son, Scott. The operation raises approximately 100,000 to 130,000 hens for Northern Pride Coo

perative.

The turkey business runs in the Jaenicke family – when he was growing up, Duane remembers the small flocks of turkeys his father raised, and today, Duane’s brother also raises turkeys. Duane began his P & J Farms venture in 1992.

For many years, Duane has taught management education courses at Northland Community and Technical College and was named the 2001 Outstanding Ag Educator by the state association of management and ag eductors in Minnesota. He retired from teaching in June 2005.

This is Duane’s 2nd term on the MTGA-MTRPC Board. Issues of particular importance to Duane include the need of the industry to promote consumption more heavily, right-to-farm issues, and keeping industry groups (especially with increased vertical integration of the industry) working together.

Duane is active in his local church, has served on the church board, and currently is in charge of the cemetery. He and his wife, Bev, have three sons. In his spare time, Duane enjoys fishing and camping.

Kent Meschke

Kent Meschke, Little Falls, owns and operates Meschke Poultry, which produces around 700,000 light hens per year that are marketed through Jennie-O Turkey Store. The operation consists of brood and grow out facilities and a feed manufacturing facility in Little Falls.

Kent completed a degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and after college, worked for several years in finance. He returned to the farm in 1985 to work with his father (Garth) and brother (Scott). With the injury of his brother and the retirement of his father, he became the sole proprietor of the business. He has experience in all areas of turkey production, from brooding to nutrition.

This is Kent’s 2nd term on the MTGA-MTRPC Board and he also is a member of Jennie-O Turkey Store’s Grower Council. Issues that are important to him include the future role of the independent turkey producer in turkey production and the economic impact of turkey health diseases on the ability of Minnesota’s turkey industry to remain competitive.

One of Kent’s favorite hobbies is to go flying. He also enjoys hot rods, computers and photography. He is the current secretary/treasurer for the Little Falls Pilots Association, a local flying club. Kent and his wife, Lynn, have two daughters in college: Tanya and Katie.

Robert Orsten
Robert Orsten of Orsten Turkeys in Willmar has been in the turkey business for 17 years. Currently Orsten Turkeys raises 70,000 breeders and also has a cropping operation of corn, beans and hay.

Robert currently serves as Board President of the Community Christian School. This is his first term on the MTGA-MTRPC Board.

Issues that are particularly important to him include turkey promotion, turkey consumption and disease research.

He and his wife, Rochelle, have five children: Talia, Autumn, RJ, Brady and James. His hobbies include boating, camping, spending time with family and friends, raising Hereford cattle, and attending his children’s sporting events.