OFI 1281: How Multi-Level Marketing Is Saving Farms | Corey Strothman | Conklin Company

Our guest today is a 4th generation farmer, and he is trying to reclaim a farming operation that was lost in his family so that the operation can go into the 5th and 6th generations and beyond. Corey Strothman has an interesting story of growing up on his families farm and then his father having to stop farming independently and lease out their ground when Corey was ten years of age.  For about 22 years Corey's father actually farmed the family ground for another farmer who was leasing it from them.  Then, around the time that Corey was in his early 30's the opportunity arose for he and father to partner and start farming independently again. This was not as simple as it sounds.  The land was there, but the equipment was not.  So, a lot of outside income was going to be required to get things up and running and return the operation to the productivity that it once had.  This required Corey to produce off-farm income.  Today, Corey's wife works in town, he is a John Deere mechanic full-time, and he is an independent distributor of agricultural and automotive products for a company called Conklin Co. Conklin sells products that people in agriculture can use, and that Corey uses himself.  This gives him the confidence to market these products and to stand behind them.  Conklin also operates as a multi-level marketing firm in their business model.  It has been this model that has allowed Corey to produce enough income to increase his percentage stake in the partnership with his father on the farm.  And it is this model that Corey states has saved other people in the U.S. from losing their farms. In today's episode Corey will talk about the business model, how he got involved and we will even address some of the stigma associated with multi-level marketing. Contact Information For Corey: Telephone: (319) 931-6338 Facebook: LINK Instagram: LINK More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald: