Why Grass Roots? With our Head of Farm Operations, Rodger

What’s your role at Grass Roots? Head of Farm Operations - I lead the Farm Production team. Our team works directly with family farms in the cooperative providing support to ensure production success. We are always innovating to ensure the best wellbeing of our animals while improving the quality and consistency of our final product. 

Why did you join Grass Roots? I was not raised on a farm and became interested in animal agriculture through my Vo-Ag teacher in high school. I attended College of the Ozarks, a small school in Southern Missouri, and decided to major in Agriculture Business and minor in Animal Science. The college has several working farms including dairy, beef, and pig farms as well as a small harvest facility and feed mill. During my time at the college, I had the opportunity to be exposed to all of these facilities and spent time working directly on several of these farms.

I developed a love for working with the small farms and best life they provided for the animals. Once I graduated from College, I took a position in animal agriculture, but I always wanted to get back to the small farming operations where animals have the chance to grow and express their natural instincts. When the opportunity to join this team came up, I knew it was where I wanted to be. Grass Roots gives me the opportunity to work with those small scale farmers that have a true passion for raising their livestock in a manner that benefits the animals, environment and the consumers.

Everyday I am excited to work with a group of people that are dedicated to changing the way animals are being raised and care about the impact to our environment - all while paying everyone in the value chain a living wage and ensuring our customers are consistently delighted. 

What’s your favorite part of your job? I am a problem solver by nature and I love working directly with our farms to help overcome production issues that affect our animals, the quality of our products, and our environment. I thrive on the ability to positively impact our farms production and see our farmers have a future in animal agriculture.

What do you do for fun? Like most everyone who follows the agricultural path, I am an outside person who loves the environment. I enjoy hunting, fishing, and hiking. I have a wife and two daughters and enjoy all aspects of our family life. I am also an avid college sports fan and enjoy watching and following football, basketball, and baseball.