About

My passion for BECA goes way back...

My roots are from Sandsprings and Worthington, Iowa. My dad wanted to raise a family on a diversified farming operation that maximized crop rotations, livestock grazing, chickens for eggs and butchering—the farm he grew up on. His dream was to minimize inputs and overhead to maximize the land's production. Unfortunately, he never got that opportunity. His father used the proceeds from the farm's sale to move into the town of Worthington. My grandpa observed too many family feuds over family farm parcing out so he decided not to do that. Dad saw the writing on the wall, you have to own the land to do what you want on it. Like me, he mustered up the COURAGE to reinvent himself (we did this multiple times over our lifetimes). He earned an Electronics degree from Devry Institute of Technology and moved to Cedar Rapids to work for Rockwell International. He always had a sales side hustle to support five kids. Eventually sales became his full-time career.

In Cedar Rapids, Dad always grew a family garden and even rented garden plots from the City. Many summers we would pick up a side of beef from the locker in Cascade. My Granpda who was also my Godfather on my Mom's side raised the beef we ate. Looking back, we had the healthiest, chemical-free food a person could have, and my mom was an amazing cook too. 

I learned gardening from Dad and am trying to pass it on to my 26 yr old son.

I remember how upset Dad got when he watched BIG ag ruin family farming, especially when only a handful of 25+ cousins who grew up on farms didn't take up farming because of big Ag. He didn't blame them given the hand they were dealt. These are some outcomes from my relatives who pushed on despite BIG ag:

• A large dariy farmer in Petersburg died of colon cancer in his 50s. One of five surviving children took over the operation the rest do not farm. My aunt remarried but lost her second spouse too

• An Aunt who grew up in Sandsprings and later ran a daycare in Cascade died from cognitive decline

• A hog and grain farmer from Bernrd died of Parkinsons and a range of cognitive decline. The farm was sold. One of his daughters is a breast cancer survivor

• A hog and grain farmer's oldest son lives on the farm and leases the land to travel for his Ag career

• Two aunts who grew up near my grandpa's farm in Sandsprings are breast cancer survivors

• My grandparents farms are no longer in the family

My hero (Dad) was diagnosed with glioblastoma four years ago, out of the blue. He had surgery in August, chemo then died in November. The year before he hiked and biked with me and my now 26 yr old son almost weekly. Just before he passed, he said to me, "Don, you need to find a career where you are getting people using renewable energy, that has been your passion for too long not to be doing that. Life is too short to shy away from your dreams."

My Godmother (Dad's mom) was a Catholic school teacher in Worthington, IA. Her Franciscan nun sister was an influence too. My birthday and Chirstmas gifts would include books about ecology and real native American history. 

I have undergraduate degrees in Microbiology (Iowa) and in Business (Mt. Mercy University)

I had a 15 yr career in Software Quality Assurance before I got into organizational coaching which eventually lead to launching https://www.agilityscience.llc/. I also served on the Board of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association from 2008-2018.

I am currently a member of Practical Farmers of Iowa and the Iowa Faith and Climate Network. With my memberships in these organizations in mind, if you are a decision maker, please review your ordinances then ask these questions:

• Do our ordinances drive agricultural practices that are best for the land and the people who reside near the agricultural land?

• Do our ordinances maximize our fiduciary responsibility to ALL County residents and businesses?

• Do our ordinances impact residents and businesses (who get their electricity from the main utility for the County) in the most positive way possible?

• Spiritually, did we consider ALL residents and businesses with open hearts when we passed our ordinances?

I invite you to a one-on-one interview regarding your views when you passed your ordinances and your current views on those ordinances. I want to video these interviews for my News Channels. I feel ALL your voters deserve to hear what you considered when you made your decisions back then compared to what you know now and what you plan to do in the near future.