Meet one of our newest board members Adam Wirt and read all about his deep roots in agriculture!
Background In Ag 
I grew up on a row crop and livestock operation near Parker, SD. After attending school at SDSU, I began working for POET and have continued that path for the last 20 years in various roles and at multiple locations in our network. Today, I continue to help operate our family farm (Wirt Farms), with my parents, my sister and her family, and my wife (Melissa) and two daughters (Jovie and Emerson).
I directly focus on operating our show lamb business where we run 110 blackface ewes and 40 head of purebred Southdowns. We primarily market lambs to 4-H and FFA youth for their projects and future breeding stock. We also sell stock for use as commercial rams and ewes.
In addition, my family is very active in the livestock showing world. We attend many shows, help mentor families that buy stock from our operation and help runs and support numerous shows and support groups for SD youth that participate in livestock events.
Stockyards Connection
When I think of the Sioux Falls Stockyards, it takes me back to my youth. I can remember that Sunday evenings were the nights my father would take lambs or pigs to the stockyards to be sold. So it was a big deal if you go to ride along to Sioux Falls when we took our animals to be sold. You knew it was even more special if we got to go to McDonalds afterwards!
Looking To The Future
I look forward to the chance to work with other like-minded people who are involved in ag every day and share a passion for better telling our story. We in ag simply do not do a good enough job of this, so here is a place I hope I can help do that.
Connecting Ag To Our Lives
I have been entrenched in agriculture all of my life and it makes up a large part of who I am. As I watch our society evolve and further disconnect from ag and many of the things that provide daily essentials to our lives, it highlights the opportunity we need to embrace at better connecting other people to agriculture. I see the chance to be part of the Stockyards Ag Experience as my chance to step up and help drive towards this mission. I hope that we can highlight to all of the local visitors that just miles away from where they live is a vibrant, sustainable operation that is providing them food, goods, fuels and many of our daily needs that we use each and every single day.