Empowering Growth

Our Mission

Advanced Farm Education (AFE) is dedicated to empowering the agricultural community through high-quality education, exclusive memberships, impactful events, and a collaborative community. We provide the tools and resources necessary for farmers to make better decisions and achieve better rewards.

Producers must continually update their knowledge to keep pace with agriculture’s constant innovation and growing complexity. Until now, farmers have lacked an education platform that is easy to access and not compromised by constant sales and promotion.

Advanced Farm Education (AFE) will act as a peer education platform. Topics will be member driven. The leadership will work to bring the best and brightest to teach and join panel discussions with a variety of viewpoints.

Founders of AFE

Jeff Kazin

Jeff Kazin spent 30 years at Cargill in trading and leadership roles spanning wheat merchandising, refined oils, and risk management, including serving as CEO of Renessen (a Cargill–Monsanto biotech joint venture) and head of risk and trading for Cargill's global feed and aquaculture businesses. He owns and operates farms in Ohio and Minnesota producing corn, soybeans, and hay, and co-founded AgrisAcademy, an education venture teaching farmers advanced merchandising and risk management. He holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College and an MBA from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School.

Grant Lunning

Grant Lunning brings hands-on agronomy experience through his work with Hefty Seed Company. He's contributed field-level crop scouting insights on topics like herbicide timing and weed control across multiple growing seasons, reflecting a practical, in-the-field understanding of crop production. Grant studied at Northwestern College, and his day-to-day work advising and supporting growers gives him a grounded, agronomy-focused perspective for AFE's farmer-education mission.

Tony Heiden

Tony Heiden grew up on his family's multi-generational farm in the Midwest and, after coming full circle back to the farm full-time, has made it his focus to seek out practical, applicable knowledge to help ensure his family farm's survival for generations to come. He holds a B.S. in Agricultural Business from the University of Wisconsin–River Falls and brings an agronomy background from his time selling seed corn, along with a deep personal study of soil health that continues to shape how he approaches the farm today.

Cultivating Knowledge Through Collective Action

We empower the agricultural community through high-quality educational resources, onsite events located in the midwest, and a collaborative membership platform. By fostering community-driven learning, we provide the tools needed to make better decisions and achieve better rewards in today's farming landscape.

Become a member

afe principles

Focused on expert level education to members
Does not accept sponsorship funds
Speakers teach on a topic. No sales pitches.
Structured networking
Low overhead, keeping cost at minimum
Profits go to education scholarships with a priority to member nominees