Dan Vogler will succeed Ben LaCross to represent District 9 on the Michigan Farm Bureau Board of Directors. He was elected at a Dec. 19 caucus of the same delegates who represented District 9 at MFB’s 2024 Annual Meeting — the same meeting where LaCross was tapped to become the state organization’s 17th president.
As District 9 director Vogler will represent the interests and issues of members in five county Farm Bureaus: Benzie-Manistee, Mason, Missaukee, Northwest Michigan and his own Wexford.
Long a leading force in Michigan aquaculture, Vogler runs Harrietta Hills Trout Farm in western Wexford County, alongside his wife Susan and parents Jim and Katherine Vogler. The 122-acre facility produces fresh rainbow trout for retail and restaurant sales, with sidelines in fish farming equipment, pond and water maintenance and nuisance bird deterrence.
Vogler has an extensive resume of Farm Bureau involvement going back 25 years. He’s chaired MFB’s Aquaculture & Fish Commodity Advisory Committee since 2004. The following year he joined the state’s Water Action Team and more recently has served as president of the Wexford County Farm Bureau. Locally he’s also been foundational to Wexford’s Policy Development and Candidate Evaluation programs.
In sharing his qualifications with the caucus that ultimately elected him to the position, Vogler struggled with recapping some specifics from his own resume.
“I told them I can’t even remember what year that was anymore,” he said, referring to how long he’s served on MFB’s state-level Policy Development committee.
Outside Farm Bureau he’s a longtime president of the Michigan Aquaculture Association and has represented the industry on more national-level boards and organizations than readily come to mind.
In a region as agriculturally diverse as District 9 — “We’ve got everything here” — Vogler understands his first obligations to his constituents are to listen and learn.
“I don’t know what I don’t know, and I’m gonna need a lot of input,” he said. “I know a fair amount about the woes of the tart cherry world, but when it comes to everything else we do up there — from wine grapes to beef cattle to row crops to dairy — I understand inputs are high and prices aren’t the best and nothing’s getting easier regulatorily.
“So I’m applying common sense and seeking input from those who are engaged in those areas. My job is to represent District 9, so you seek out trusted individuals who are straight shooters and you talk to them.”
Word of his election traveled fast and he spent much of the evening of the 19th fielding welcoming text messages from board members and other Farm Bureau leaders. “Three things I’ve promised everybody: integrity, honesty and transparency.”
To that last item, he added that two imposing local hurdles remain before his first MFB board meeting Jan. 9.
First, he has to find a successor to assume presidency of the Wexford County Farm Bureau, as organizational by-laws don’t automatically boot him from that post.
“Then,” he groaned heavily, “Then I’m gonna have to break down and buy a suit!”