Mark Koehn is nearing the end of his second career as an agricultural appraiser for Stearns County in central Minnesota. Koehn started farming right out of high school in 1973. Low prices, bad weather and medical bills combined to be a big challenge. “Like most guys when things get tough, our first instinct is to work harder so instead of 12-to-14 hour days, I was working 18-plus hours a day.” Koehn said the family was struggling financially, emotionally and physically. As a result, the fourth-generation farmer reluctantly sat down with his 96-year old grandfather and explained the situation. Grandpa understood. “He said, Mark, if your horse is dead, get off it; it is not going to get you to town.” In the mid-90s, Koehn left the farm to work as an ag appraiser. “There can be actual rewarding second careers. Some may be in the ag community and some may be outside of it.” Koehn is now seeing farmers under stress and encourages them to keep their lines of communication open with family and friends. Hear more from Koehn in this episode of TransFARMation.
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