Mike Meyer

Growing up on his familys ranch in Texas, Mike Meyer is what some might call a progressive farmer. His ranch, which has been in his familys possession since the 1850s, employs various sustainable techniques. We dont disc or plow on that range, ever, he says. Weve been doing this sort of conservation and good stewardship on the ranch for over 30 years. Mike shares an appreciation for the ranch with his daughter Megan, who currently lives on the range as a wrangler. 

If you said that I was a student of agriculture, that is absolutely accurate, Mike says. Following his passions, he studied Agriculture at Texas A&M University. After graduating in 82, he worked for a small agriculture company before settling into the Feeding America network. In the early days of the pandemic, Mike shared a call with James Kanoff (Farmlinks former co-CEO). They spoke about the disruptions happening across the agricultural space that called for urgent action from organizations like The Farmlink Project. Mike grew interested in our youth-powered mission, saying: I thought that what they were doing was great. It was fantastic. The rest is history, so to speak. After nearly ten years in the Feeding America network, Mike joined The Farmlink Project as Head of Farmer Advocacy last fall. 

From day to day, Mikes role comes down to a lot of outreach. Farmers, I dont know if were interesting or not, but were peculiar, he says. You only get less than 20 seconds on your initial discussion with a farmer and thats it, theyre going to move on. Right? Its like, who is farming? You know, theres two million farmers in the United States. Theres 49,000 PAC entities. Those are perishable agriculture, commodity agriculture entities that are licensed to trade produce in the United States. And were trying to reach them all.

Looking to the future of agriculture, Mike stresses about the mistakes his generation has made for the younger generations to fix. I am the last of the Baby Boomers. Without a doubt, the Baby Boomers are the worst generation this country has produced. We are leaving yall such a polluted planet. We are leaving yall with such horrific tendencies. And we are leaving yall with incredible debt. 

Weve not made as much progress as we should have made on racial equality. Theres been some horrific things that have occurred in agriculture. And we have displaced hundreds of thousands of black farmers with just the lending practices of the USDA and how that was controlled. We did not reverse that.  

However, Mike strongly believes that the younger generations have the power to repair these damages. I actually believe that yall will solve hunger. And I believe that yall will reverse the direction. I think you will heal this planet, he says.