MFB leader Carl Bednarski to retire after 10 years as president

In the end, Carl Bednarski was alone, holding a microphone he never thought he’d grow accustomed to using and wearing a suit he planned to throw away later.

He stood alone, behind a podium, ready to make the final call — that, after 10 years as president of Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB), he would retire from the organization that gave him lifelong friendships, a love of travel, and what he hoped was better policy for Michigan farmers.

That Thursday evening in Tuscola County, a region known for its sugar beet processing, Bednarski didn’t have a script ready for the crowd of about 100 row crop, sugar beet, and dairy farmers.

He was winging it, he told Katie Pung, his executive assistant.

The idea made her squirm, anxious.

“I told him we could do a practice right now,” Pung said before the speech. “He did not take me up on that. As he was leaving, he said to me, ‘Don’t worry, Katie. I’ve got 24 hours, so I promise I’ll write a little something down.’”

Unlike when Bednarski addressed delegates at MFB’s State Annual Meeting, or a crowd of thousands at AFBF’s yearly convention, he didn’t need the talking points this evening.

“I have learned that there are also certain times when Carl knows exactly what he wants to say and how to deliver it, and those are some of his best and well-received remarks or moments on stage,” Pung said.

“As evidenced by those times when he succinctly brings it all together, Carl has taken the time to really get to know the people of Farm Bureau, their priorities, their roadblocks, and their aspirations. I believe he is exactly the leader we needed at this exact time. Being president certainly comes with its burdens, including making tough calls that others may never understand.”

They’re burdens Bednarski didn’t initially want.

‘A big change coming into this office’

More than a decade ago, former MFB President Wayne Wood asked Bednarski to run for his position, but Bednarski didn’t want it. He still had to take care of his corn, dry bean, sugar beet and soybean farm near Caro.

However, after a few years, Bednarski realized his three sons were at the age to take over the farm. If he ever wanted to lead an organization like MFB, he needed to act now. His wife, Lisa, agreed but had a caveat — that he could only be president for 10 years.

“You wear out your welcome if you stay longer than that,” added Bednarski, who has also served as District 6 director on the organization’s Board of Directors. “Wayne Wood stayed on for 14 years, and if you asked him now, I bet he’d say that he wished he retired earlier.”

In 2014 Bednarski became MFB’s 16th president — a job with many responsibilities, he said.

“But I always felt that if you have the members’ best interests in hand, that's all that matters,” Bednarski added. “It was a big change coming into this office, and it's going to be a big change leaving it.”

Michigan farmers aren’t the only ones who will notice Bednarski’s retirement. Two years into his presidency, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) delegates elected him to represent their 12-state Midwest region as a board of director. They later appointed him to their executive committee.

Altogether, Bednarski has served in various leadership agricultural positions across MFB, including in membership, national affairs, Promotion & Education, and policy development. Through it all, he remembers the industry stakeholders and farmers he served.

Ones like Dave Armstrong, who first encountered Bednarski in the ’80s before they became executives at their respective companies.

“Carl is a natural leader,” said Armstrong, former president and CEO of GreenStone Farm Credit Services, the seventh-largest farm credit system association, which serves 28,000 members. “What I like about Carl is that he kept his grassroots orientation. He never forgot where he came from. He brought that solid-farmer perspective to issues that came up. He was very collaborative with not only GreenStone, but all the other ag organizations within the state, including Michigan State University (MSU) and the College of Agriculture.”

Those issues included advancing discussions at the national level about rising federal wage rates for specialty crop growers, leading the charge against the COVID-19 shutdown of greenhouses, and establishing a social mission to end childhood hunger.

“Members deserve more,” Bednarski said. “I would hope members would see that I wasn't afraid to call a spade a spade. I have made changes, even if they may have not been popular, but there was always a reason why we made changes.”

Members... Membership... Grassroots... 

Bednarski says these words like they’re his motto, a family crest.

“That's the thing about Carl: He's willing to listen to anybody to help members,” said Andy Hagenow, who served as vice president of MFB alongside Bednarski until Hagenow retired in 2021. “He actually took their opinions seriously. That’s what you need, really, and that’s a big asset when running such an organization as diverse as MFB. We're not a single-issue organization, where it’s really easy to coalesce around one idea. Here, you've got to really do the groundwork to gain support.”

It was this support that led to MSU updating its dairy and greenhouse projects, which will expand research capacity, attract new researchers, and create spaces for teaching, learning, and outreach, said Kelly Millenbah, who stepped down in April as dean of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Millenbah said MFB was crucial in helping fund the multi-million-dollar projects.

“What strikes me most about Carl was his absolute commitment to agriculture in Michigan,” Millenbah said. “The dairy and greenhouse projects themselves are big projects, and big projects like that can never happen through just one person. 

"Carl and Michigan Farm Bureau were such strong supporters and spokespersons for both of those projects, had it not been for partners like Michigan Farm Bureau and the work that Carl and others did, I felt we would have not gotten the support we needed from the state.”

Going back home

The speech lasted 5 minutes and 2 seconds.

It ended with him saying he wouldn't seek reelection in the fall.

Soon, Bednarski will head back to the family farm to fill a new role with sons CJ, Nathan and Michael, and as a grandfather to Blair, Lane and Emersyn.

“I’ve got to figure that out because I just can't pop in and say, ‘Hey, I'm back,’” Bednarski said.

“You know, 10 years ago, the responsibilities were turned over to my boys because I couldn't be there every day. When I go back, I have to recognize that they have their schedule and plans they're working on.”

Still, he hopes he's part of those plans.