Regional Extension educator in ag business management set to retire – The Globe

WORTHINGTON — After 26 years with University of Minnesota Extension, with the past 20 years being based at the Extension Regional Office in Worthington, Ag Business Management Educator David Bau is retiring at the end of February.

During his career, Bau traveled across Minnesota to present workshops to ag land owners and renters about farmland rental rates, presented hundreds of ag marketing programs and worked with dozens of farmers in the southwest Minnesota adult farm management program.

Now, he is looking forward to putting his knowledge to use in his own farm business.

“I bought the family farm. That was my lifetime goal,” Bau shared, noting that the rural Redfield, South Dakota land — in family ownership since 1902 — was owned by his siblings. The farm his mother grew up on remains intact, and he now owns the farm land around the homestead where his dad grew up.

While Bau doesn’t plan to do the farming himself — he’s intending to be a landlord — he is excited to have the land and keep it in the family.

“My granddaughter is the sixth generation,” he said.

Bau, who grew up just down the road (Interstate 90) to the east in Truman, said his family farmed land in both Minnesota and South Dakota. The South Dakota property was farmed by the family until his junior year in high school, and then another man stepped in and rented the land for the next 48 years. That’s the property Bau now owns.

Bau earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in ag economics from South Dakota State University in Brookings. He’d initially considered being an ag loan officer and living on a farm, but his career took a few different turns.

He worked as an ag statistician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington state for two years before moving back to the Midwest and serving as a loan officer for a bank in dairy country for nine years. When the bank was in the process of being sold, Bau applied for a position with University of Minnesota Extension.

“There was an opening in Slayton and Buffalo,” he said. “Buffalo was close to where I lived, but Slayton … offered me the job.”

He and his wife, Sue, relocated to Slayton and still reside there today.

Bau worked from the Extension office in Slayton until the regional office opened in Worthington in 2004. A good share of his time, though, was spent presenting workshops around the state.

“I really do enjoy doing the workshops,” he said. “I’ve been doing over 100 workshops a year and I’ve been working with marketing groups since 1999. It helps me keep aware of the economics in true life by working with all those groups.

“In Extension, I’m out for the public’s good — it’s a lot different dynamics (than banking),” he added. “I enjoy the time working with the public.”

In mid-January, Bau was heading back to southwest Minnesota after leading a workshop in Carlton, 20 miles south of Duluth.

“I used to (cover) the whole state, but we have someone now in Brainerd and Moorhead who has been doing the northern part for two years,” said Bau, adding that the additional ag business management educator reduced his workshop travel to the southern two-thirds of Minnesota.

“I’m the marketing person though, so when they want marketing, I get to go wherever,” he added.

During those workshops, Bau primarily talked to producers and landowners about farm transfers and farmland rents. The programs were well-attended, and the information valuable to producers.

Each year, Bau also produced a Farm Resource Guide for the public — his last one just completed a week ago.

With Bau’s retirement, U of M Extension plans to fill the position. However, there’s no guarantee the person will be officed in Worthington, he said.

Having wrapped up his last marketing meeting earlier this month, Bau spoke briefly about the current economics for farmers related to corn and soybean production.

“We can really see a 10-year pattern in pricing for corn and beans,” he said.

Going back to 2011, prices rose for three consecutive years, followed by seven consecutive years of price declines. They rose again in 2020 and 2021, reaching record levels in 2023, and then began a decline again in 2024.

“It would be the next seven years it won’t be a very good time for pricing,” Bau said. “The prediction is $10 beans and $4 corn for many years into the future — not profitable years.”

Government aid will help farmers weather the prices for the 2024 crop year, and Bau noted that President Donald Trump gave money back to farmers in 2018. Whether that will happen again is unknown.

“Right now the outlook is pretty poor for farmers on the corn and bean rotation,” Bau said, adding that if they kept capital from the good years to make sure they survive the next low cycle, they should make it through.

What’s changed is that the world markets are at play now more than ever, with Ukraine as the third largest exporter of corn, and South American countries ranked second and third.

“It’s not just the United States and what happens to our prices,” he said.

Despite the bleak forecast for corn and soybean production, Bau has invested in land and is ready to make the lifestyle change.

His wife retired a year ago from Murray County Central, where she was a high school science teacher. They have three grown children — a son who works as a physical therapist in Sioux Falls and is married with a daughter, a son who teaches social studies at the Worthington Learning Center, and a daughter who is completing her residency in New Hampshire to become a doctor. She and her husband are expecting their first baby in April, which means Bau and his wife will be making a trip there in the spring.

“It’s been a pleasure working with farmers and the community,” Bau said of his career in Extension. He will retain ties with the University, continuing to serve southwest Minnesota and Murray County as a Master Gardener.