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Change to student aid formula would hit Iowa farm families

Darcy and Eric Wemark and their family milk nearly 600 cows at their dairy operation in Ridgeway, near Decorah in northeast Iowa.

The family also has 450 heifers, a 2,500-head swine facility and farms about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans on land it mostly rents.

The couple’s eldest son, Carson, is finishing his first year at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, where he’s studying agronomy. The 19-year-old plans to carry on in the family business, as does their eldest daughter, Addison. The high school senior plans to head to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville to study dairy science next fall.

Carson currently receives federal financial aid through a Pell Grant to help the family pay for the roughly $16,000 annual expense to send him to college, including tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses.

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CEO’s of the Industry | John Prestage – Prestage Farms

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CEO’s of the Industry, Jim Eadie sits down with John Prestage, CEO of Prestage Farms, one of the largest family-owned pork and poultry companies in the United States.

From its beginnings under founder Bill Prestage to its evolution into a multi-state, vertically integrated protein company, this conversation explores what it takes to scale responsibly while staying rooted in family values.

John shares how Prestage Farms balances growth, culture, and innovation across both pork and poultry, and how leadership transitions within a family business can strengthen — not dilute — a company’s mission.