The father of our former sales representative Dave Larson, Rodney “Rod” Larson, 86 of Webster City, IA has passed away. I did not know him but he certainly had a marvelous farming career. Here is what Dave wrote to share with the AgWired community.

In 1956, Rod began his own crop farming operation, Larson Farms. It grew to be a cutting edge feeder cattle and swine operation of the time in Iowa. Rod was always an innovator and embraced the new technologies of his time in farming while still just wanting to be a good neighbor and friend. This leadership was recognized when he received “The Outstanding Young Farmer Award”. Rod built the first deep pit beef confinement building in Iowa and as a result was asked to give many educational tours of their operation by government and educational institutions. All were welcomed.

Rod later became a real estate broker for Agra Partners and Farmers National Company where he won many prestigious awards, and was named an outstanding Realtor by Realtor’s Land Institute. He was blessed to have his wife and partner Trudy working by his side for it all. To him, whether it was in a personal or professional setting, a stranger was a friend who had not yet been introduced and it so many times started with a smile, an offered hand, and “Hello, I’m Rod”.

He is survived by his wife, his three children, Rosine, Thomas and Dave, 12 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.