Kristin is an owner and partner at Highland Family Farms. For more than 30 years, she and her husband Pat have grown corn, soybeans, rye, oats, corn and raised hogs near Mapleton, Minnesota. They are committed to a triple-bottom-line approach which includes keeping economic profitability, environmental improvement, and community engagement in lockstep as they advance their business.

 

Kristin demonstrates her dedication to that approach on the farm and in the community by participating in several organizations that make a difference beyond their zip code.

 

She currently serves as an advisor for the Meridian Institute’s AGree project, is a Walton Family Foundation Fellow, chairs the Taylor Family Farms Foundation Board and serves as trustee for The Nature Conservancy. In the past, she chaired the MN AgriGrowth Council, Feeding Our Communities Partners and the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. She’s active in her local church and participated in several boards and commodity groups including the American Soybean Association and Mankato Area Foundation.

 

Kristin earned a degree in Political Science and Communications from Luther College in 1981.  She went on to become a Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute (2001-2002) and graduated from The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) at Texas A&M in 2012.

 

She’s been recognized for her distinguished service by MN Agri-Growth Council in 2022 and Luther College in 2020.

 

Kristin started her career on Capitol Hill in the office of Senator Rudy Boschwitz as a legislative aide before moving back to Minnesota to work at Hubbard Milling Company and then the farm.

 

In addition to crops and pigs, Kristin and Pat raised four children and are now engaged with grandchildren. When she’s not on the farm or volunteering, Kristin is traveling the world or pouring out her creativity as a Masterpiece Art Instructor.