GrowingOn^® Conference

Jesse Ball is the Vice President Appraisal for Farm Credit Services of America out of Sioux Falls, SD. He has been with the Association and Appraisal team for 16 years. Jesse leads the appraisal team for South Dakota and Wyoming with a focus of real estate and chattel assets securing the Associations’ loans and leases. Jesse grew up in Woonsocket, South Dakota and received a Bachelors in Business Administration with a minor in Computers and Technology from Dakota Wesleyan University.

Matt Clark is Terrain’s rural economy analyst, focusing on the impacts of interest rates, land values and other macroeconomic trends on agriculture. He previously worked as the senior industry analyst with American AgCredit, one of the largest associations in the Farm Credit System, and as an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Matt has an extensive background analyzing and forecasting key commodities such as wine grapes, field crops, dairy, beef, permanent plantings and forest products; providing macroeconomic analysis, statistical validation of risk models; and chairing various commodity and risk analysis committees. Matt earned his BS and MS degrees in agricultural economics from Kansas State University.

Kirk Manker is the Senior Vice President and Chief Appraiser for Farm Credit Services of America, Frontier Farm Credit, and AgCountry Farm Credit Services (Associations). He has been with the Associations for 40 years and was chosen as VP Chief Appraiser in 1999. In his role, Kirk leads a team of approximately 100 focusing on the evaluation of real estate and chattel assets securing the Associations’ loans and leases. Kirk grew up on a farm near Moville, Iowa, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business from South Dakota State University.

Brooke Starks’ lawyer life allows her into the living rooms of people’s lives. She owns and operates Legacy Legal, an estate and succession planning company that caters to farm families and entrepreneurs. Brooke leans on humor and small town roots to complement more than 20 years of legal practice to connect with audiences throughout the country on topics of succession planning and family dynamics. She strives to break hard topics into bite-size pieces and find solutions to situations families think are impossible. Brooke and her husband live in east-central Illinois where they’ve raised a couple of amazing almost-adults and a flock of chickens. In addition to lawyering and speaking, Brooke co-operates 5 Things, a company that hosts large networking events for working women. Her years in estate work have taught her life is fleeting so she likes to try new things and visit new places as much as she can. For fun, she likes jogging, winning at board games, being in nature, and practicing the art of campfire building.