From Farm Lending to the Tractor Seat

Terry Jaspers’ resume is well-rounded for leadership. After serving the FFA as a state officer, his education at South Dakota State University prepared him to be a farm lender. That didn’t keep him from farming at aSisseton, South Dakota, whose citizens he serves as mayor. At the time of this interview for the Soybean Pod, Jaspers was a few months into his first term on the South Dakota Soybean Checkoff board and was waiting patiently for his farmland to become fit to work and plant. (He completed planting a couple of weeks after our visit.) On this edition of the Soybean Pod, Jaspers talks about his farm, about the 2026 planting season and about what it’s like to work the upper reaches of the Coteau des Prairies.