Your man in D.C. is John Kran, who advocates your policy with U.S. House and Senate members and their staffs as Michigan Farm Bureau’s National Legislative Council. Kran grew up on a small dairy farm in northern Mason County, where his parents and grandparents milked 120 head and raised about 500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa.
“After high school I went to Hope College and ended up majoring in political science. I didn’t think I’d be working in ag once I graduated, but one of my dad’s farm employees was on the Mason County Farm Bureau board and he knew I was looking — said MFB had an open regional representative job, so I applied.
“Agriculture found me, I guess — called me back.”
After seven years working with members in Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent and Ottawa counties, Kran took a staff position with then-Dist. 2 Congressman Bill Huizenga. Three-plus years he was back at MFB as the organization’s primary representative in the nation’s capital.
“I take that member-developed, national policy and help encourage our elected officials in Washington to support it — advocating on our members’ behalf. I spend a lot of my time keeping up on issues and bills that’ve been introduced and going to county and district events to meet with our members, who help me understand how implementing certain rules and laws could impact them.
“I also work with our policy development process, advisory committees and help plan the Washington Legislative Seminar and Presidents’ Capitol Summit events. I work with media on federal issues, and a couple times a year we take members to D.C. to share their stories directly with members of Congress or their staff.”
Outside his workaday life, parenthood — he and wife Shannon have two young children — has replaced old hobbies with household projects.
“I try to do some of that stuff on my own,” he said. “I dabble in home improvements — I aspire to be handy.”
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