ARDEN HILLS, Minnesota (March 11, 2019) – Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced today that Pete Kappelman will join the company as Senior Vice President, Member and Government Relations, effective today.
Kappelman brings a lifetime of experience to this role, as a successful crop and dairy farmer along with his advocacy experience and board involvement with many agricultural organizations. Kappelman has been a leader in working with legislators on important ag policy issues including the Farm Bill, trade and immigration.
He also served as an Ag Policy Advisor to the Administration for the United States Department of Agriculture and the Office of the United States Trade Representative and was named Director of the Year in 2018 by the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. His board service included the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, and the UW Center for Dairy Profitability.
"Pete brings a rich, varied and valuable background to Land O’Lakes,” said Beth Ford, president and CEO of Land O’Lakes, Inc. “There is no one better suited to help us advocate for and serve our member-owners.”
Kappelman is a fourth-generation farmer, having led Meadow Brook Dairy Farms, LLC, with his wife Shellie and their three adult children – an operation consisting of 450 milking cows along with 1,100 acres of cropland. The Kappelmans were Wisconsin's 1995 Dairy Farm Family of the Year and Kappelman was 2018 Dairyman of the Year. Kappelman received a bachelor’s of science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, College of Agriculture.
In his new role, Kappelman will be responsible for leveraging Land O'Lakes resources to help the cooperative’s members grow profitably and to strengthen our partnerships on technology, talent, branding and financial services. He will have direct responsibility for the Member Relations and Government Relations functions and matrixed responsibility for the Business Development Services and Strategic Asset Management teams. Additionally, he will work across the enterprise to offer Land O’Lakes members value-added products and services including ACT, FLM Harvest, IT services, BuyPoint, member health care offerings, Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN and the Land O’Lakes Finance Company, among others.