Blaine Meek’s pivot from finance to farming was kickstarted, quite literally, by a cow. When a cow kicked Meek’s father on their family farm in Idaho, Meek wrapped up his finals and hurried home to help. As he dug into the work, he caught the vision of farming and never let go.
In addition to the testy bovine, there was a second kicker that put farming in Meek’s future: allergy shots. Even though Meek was raised on a farm, he never fully embraced the lifestyle due to severe allergies. “I loved tons of things about growing up on the farm, but I was sick all the time,” Meek recalls.
But that summer, with his allergies quelled by shots and his business senses awakened, Meek let the idea of a farming career take root. When he returned to BYU Marriott, Meek discovered AgReserves—the operating entity of the Church’s for-profit farms—and he has been with its family of farms ever since.
Through AgReserves, Meek interned in Elberta, Utah, where he grew corn, alfalfa, and wheat. This internship prepared him for a full-time job on another AgReserves farm after he finished his management degree with an emphasis in finance in 1997. Located in Monmouth, Oregon, this farm was where Meek mastered additional skills. “I was doing everything,” he recalls. “It was like having my own little farm.”
Meek entered AgReserves’s manager trainee program, which took him to AgriNorthwest in Kennewick, Washington, where he progressed from a farm manager over 4,000 acres to an area manager who oversaw 16,000 acres and four other managers. “Now I’m the general manager,” Meek explains. “I manage over 50,000 irrigated acres of cropland.”
The honesty of farming has always resonated with Meek. “You can’t fake the agronomy,” he says. “You can tell if the stuff isn’t growing.” But while the health of a farm’s crops can be plainly seen, its financial health isn’t always visible. “You’re not forced to become a good businessman just because you’re a good grower,” Meek explains.
That’s where Meek’s BYU Marriott education comes into play. “I’m using financial analysis skills all the time,” says the father of eight. Meek wears his finance hat to do everything from running a return on investment for farm equipment to doing a payback analysis for crop protection products. He also helps AgReserves evaluate new enterprises such as properties to expand the farm.
Meek leans on the leadership skills he learned at BYU Marriott to manage what he calls “the people part” of agriculture. “The workers in the field—they’re the ones who are really making it happen,” he points out. “Training them, retaining them, and compensating them appropriately—all of those things are important.”
As Meek watches over his people—as well as his potatoes, peas, and corn—he’s thankful that the finance program was fertile ground for the growth of his future profession. “I look at everything with business eyes—not just an agronomist’s perspective—and that has made all the difference.”
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Written by Shannon Keeley
This article was highlighted in the Alumni News section of Marriott Alumni Magazine's summer 2024 edition.
