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Opportunity continues to knock for Carol Keiser

Take a look at Carol Keiser’s resume and you could easily conclude her time is precious. She runs a thriving cattle business, managing animals in four states. She is an accomplished fundraiser with specific success in raising funds for agricultural literacy programs. She has recruited members and raised funds for agriculture research programs. She has participated in trade missions to Mexico and the Mediterranean and keeps track of her cattle through regular visits to feedlots in the western United States. She actively volunteers her time to efforts that focus on the future of agriculture and help women discover the many opportunities the industry has to offer.

However, sit and talk with Carol Keiser and you see more than the litany of accomplishments that line the two ivory-colored pages of her resume. You see a woman who is committed to doing everything she possibly can to make sure young people have an opportunity to work and live in a vital and vibrant agriculture industry.

Keiser will have that opportunity on a larger scale, as she accepted an appointment to the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board. Appointed by US Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Keiser will serve with 29 others from the US food and agriculture as advisors to the Secretary and land-grant colleges and universities on national priorities and policies relevant to agriculture research, education, extension and economics.

“This is an opportunity to work with other agencies and private industry to provide input on various issues from ways the Department can work to prevent obesity in Americans to what research is critical,” Keiser said in a recent interview. “I also see this as another way to give more women an opportunity for leadership roles in the industry.”

The oldest of four children, Keiser was born and raised on a farm near Warrensburg, Illinois. She credits her love of livestock to her father who taught her the ropes of showing cattle at 4-H Fairs and the Illinois State Fair. Keiser wanted to turn her cattle experience and love of livestock into a career as a veterinarian. However, she was forced to change her career aspirations when Texas A & M declined her application because of her gender.

So Keiser shifted her focus to education but her commitment to agriculture never changed. She taught vocational agriculture at high schools in Hillsboro and Carlinville in the late 1970s and early 1980s where she had ample opportunity to enhance agriculture programs to reflect leadership and career opportunities for young men and women.

Keiser maintained a connection to the industry by holding a job at a local feedlot. She eventually launched her own cattle company – C-BAR Cattle Company, Inc. – which has grown to 3,000 head of cattle in feedlots in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois.

Keiser said her cattle company provided an ideal avenue to teach young women about agriculture and she developed an intern program for young college women to accomplish that. “Opportunities for Women in Production Agriculture and Related Areas” exposes women to the various careers in food and agriculture through hands-on experience.

“The interns live the life,” Keiser relates. “They buy, feed and sell cattle” as part of the internship. “They learn how to care for cattle. “They learn what it would take to do it (run a cattle business) well.” At the conclusion of the program, interns participated in the processing of the cattle, as well and were “graded” on whether they made a profit or not. “It really is about giving college women an understanding of the big picture,” Keiser says.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Keiser relied on local banks for financing, but in the late 1990s, she became unsettled about the mergers and consolidations of local banks and sought alternative sources of financing for her cattle business. “The local banks kept selling and merging and the bank itself was changing,” she relates. “They (the banks) were becoming less comfortable with agriculture and wanted to do more real estate. I began investigating Farm Credit Services and was able to work out a program that works well for my situation.”

Don Schuette, VP of Financial Services in Farm Credit Services’ Carlinville Branch office and Keiser’s loan officer, says he takes great pride in being able to work one-on-one with customers to develop a program tailored to their specific needs. “Farm Credit Services understands farming – the rewards and challenges inherent in the industry,” Schuette says. “We believe that sets us apart from banks. We were created to serve the financial and credit needs of farmers and we take that charter very seriously. We work hard to develop solid, long-term relationships with our customers. As a result, we can provide financing and credit tools designed for their individual situation.”

Schuette applauded Keiser’s appointment to the USDA Advisory Board, noting her diverse background and commitment to the industry will provide a unique perspective on numerous issues. “In addition to raising cattle, Carol also knows well the connection between food and agriculture. She owned and operated “Classic Cuisine,” a restaurant and catering business, and originated CJ’s Country Canned Beef, a branded beef product targeted to specialty and retail outlets. Her perspective on food will provide invaluable for USDA.”

Keiser says she is looking forward to sharing with the Secretary and others on the Advisory Board her views on food and agriculture and sees her appointment as another opportunity. “Like my other activities, this is an opportunity to share an experience, to help someone else, and make a difference in the future of agriculture,” Keiser says.

Keiser says that Farm Credit has played a significant role in her ability to take advantage of these opportunities. “If it weren’t for Farm Credit, I would not have been able to keep it together and continue my love and passion for feeding cattle,” Keiser said. “Farm Credit is the link between where I was and where I am now.”