By Per Peterson
Mike Landuyt on Saturday moved into the president role of the Minnesota Cattlemen’s Association.
Landuyt, who farms between Tracy and Walnut Grove will serve a two-year term. He was voted in at the annual meeting during the annual convention over the weekend.
“I’m very humbled that our membership saw value in the job that I was doing,” Landuyt said. “They thought enough of me to let me be their voice to the rest of the state and on the federal level.”
A member of the MCA for almost 20 years, Landuyt is starting his seventh year on the group’s executive board. He previously was the feeder council chairman of the association before becoming the vice president for two years and then president-elect for two years.
As president, he will serve as the lead voice and main contact for the MCA. His role will include traveling to St. Paul to testify before the Legislature when needed. He will also work on the federal level.
The Minnesota Cattlemen’s Association is a member-based trade association with about 1,200 members.
“We’re the political arm for the cattlemen,” said Landuyt, who is also on the national cattlemen’s board. “We’re the ones who work with lawmakers and state agencies. We help spread information, hold different meetings throughout the year. If an agency makes a big change, we’ll try to do education on it to inform members what’s going on.”
Landuyt knows the new title will take up more of his time, but he’s hoping that with the new leadership coming up, duties and responsibilities can continue to be spread out.
“I’ve been kind of busy doing this stuff already to help out the past president, so I’m hoping that the current president-elect and current vice president will help me out also and it won’t all have to be me,” he said.
Landuyt and his father, George, have just over 700 cattle on feed and farm about 2,500 acres of corn and soybeans.