Spudman July/August 2022 - 31

KNOW SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE FEATURED?
Email Crystal Nay at cnay@greatamericanpublish.com
or call 616-520-2151
Spudman7
Q&A
WITH
John Mesko
John Mesko grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in Minnesota,
where he gained a passion for farming and tremendous respect for farmers.
After graduating from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in agronomy
and a master's degree in agricultural economics, his diverse career in
agriculture has centered around helping farmers become more financially
and environmentally sustainable.
He brings expertise in engaging farmers and the food and farming value chain
in understanding and implementing sustainable farming practices, as well as
documenting and demonstrating sustainability improvements along the way.
How did you get involved with sustainability?
As a field agronomy director early in my career, I spent most of
my time on farms advising farmers on practice improvements
related to profitability and business sustainability. Through this
work, I began to realize the broad impact of farm practices on
environmental, financial and social aspects of sustainability, and
determined to steer my career toward continuous improvements.
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What do you hope
to accomplish
during your
tenure with PSA?
I want to see PSA develop
into a strong, strategic and
high-functioning nonprofit
alliance. It will require a focus
on both program development
and organizational development.
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What led you to the Potato
Sustainability Alliance (PSA)?
I really enjoy problem solving at an organizational
level. PSA is at a critical juncture in its development, and
I saw an opportunity to help solidify the organization and
propel it forward toward accomplishing the important
mission and goals that have been established.
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What trends are you
seeing in farming in
regards to sustainability?
I think the biggest change trend I've seen
is an acknowledgement that regardless of
the cause, the environment is changing,
impacting farming, and farming needs to
adapt. This is the first step toward making
changes. Sustainability is no longer a
fringe conversation.
What will this look like for
production agriculture?
Well, sustainability is quite simply the
hottest topic across all industries, not just
agriculture, or potatoes. Production agriculture has
a tremendous impact on the environment. In the
last 20 years, we've learned that impact can be
tremendously positive.
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Are you seeing a ripple effect
of sustainability, whether
influencing the potato
industry or being influenced by it?
This is resulting in multiple ripples interacting
across all players. While we are not yet
there - as an industry, and more broadly as
a society - we are moving toward an agreedupon
set of sustainability standards, similar to
generally accepted accounting practices.
Where would you like to see this effort headed?
At whatever level we have the sustainability conversation in
agriculture, at the end of the day, we are counting on farmers
to do something different on their farms to drive that positive impact,
which can have a positive impact throughout the supply chain for food.
I am working toward a future where farmers are actively represented
in determining those changes, and adequately funded to make those
changes and receive a proportionate benefit along the way.
Spudman * July/August 2022
31
Spudman July/August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spudman July/August 2022
