Focus on Ag: The long history of Farmfest forums

Many times people wonder about the history of the educational forums at Farmfest. Actually, 2025 will mark the thirty-eighth anniversary of educational forums at Farmfest. The forums actually started in 1988, when Farmfest was held near Lake Crystal, which was a year of a major drought in Minnesota and the Midwest. Current Farmfest Forum Coordinator Kent Thiesse worked with the late Marlyn Buss, former owner and manager of Farmfest, to bring in crop and weather specialists from the University of Minnesota, as well as other crop consultants and grain marketing specialists, to discuss various topics related to the drought that year. After a successful first year, the forums have continued in every year since 1988, including for five years at Austin, MN (1990-1994) and at the current site nea