Faces of Farming: Jason Franken

The new MFA Chair of Agribusiness at the University of Missouri, Jason Franken, was literally born into the MU family. After joining the university staff in this endowed position this past fall, Franken is now back where both his life and career started.

“I was born at the university hospital, grew up on a family farm an hour away in Linn, both my parents graduated from Mizzou, and so did I—twice,” he said.

Franken earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics from MU along with a Ph.D. in agricultural and consumer economics from the University of Illinois. Most recently, he served as agribusiness professor at Western Illinois University before returning to Mizzou in the fall of 2024 as the MFA Chair and associate professor of agricultural economics and management.

MFA Incorporated, MFA Oil and the MFA Foundation first pledged funds to MU’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources for an agribusiness professorship in 2016. In subsequent years, the MFA Foundation made additional investments to the endowment to create the MFA Chair position. Keri Jacobs held that role from 2021 until 2024, when she moved into the Partridge Chair of Cooperative Leadership vacated by Michael Cook when he transitioned into an emeritus role at the university.

Franken’s responsibilities will include teaching, research and industry outreach with emphasis on his expertise in agribusiness-oriented aspects of marketing, management, strategy and organizational economics—including co-ops.

“Jason brings talent in both cooperatives and production agriculture experience—two key qualities I was looking for during the search for the MFA Chair,” said Ernie Verslues, MFA Incorporated CEO. “On top of that, he has local roots and understands the trade area MFA serves.”

Franken spoke with Today’s Farmer last month about this new role from his Mumford Hall office at Mizzou.

What interested you in serving as the MFA Chair? 
As a Missouri farm kid, it’s a special honor to hold the MFA Chair. I’ve been shopping at our local MFA, Coop Association #280, with my dad since I was a kid. This role is a great fit for me all around, and I’m just really grateful and excited about being back here and serving the agricultural community in my home state and at my home alma mater. 

What expertise and experience do you offer in this role?
My initial graduate-level training was in the traditional ag economics area of price analysis, but I also gained exposure to agribusiness-oriented aspects of marketing, management, strategy and organizational economics.  During my Ph.D., I had dual focus areas of price analysis and agribusiness. All of that gives me a broader perspective on markets and more flexibility in the subjects I research and what classes I can teach. As such, I taught a marketing course last semester, a course on cooperatives this semester, and perhaps a course on futures markets next fall.

What would you like to accomplish in this position? 
I feel like I just accomplished a big goal—getting back home to my alma mater. I’d like to continue and grow those areas of ag economics that Mizzou’s well known for and that I enjoyed coming up through the program. My master’s advisor, Joe Parcell, started in Extension, and I’ve been fortunate to wander the halls of Mumford during the same time as Glenn Grimes, Ron Plain and Scott Brown. Similarly, Mizzou is recognized for faculty like Mike Cook and Mike Sykuta, among others, who apply organizational economics to understand how agricultural markets function. I’m proud to carry on those legacies. Along the way, I hope to lead some graduate students to complete their degrees, find sufficient external funding to support my research programs and eventually reach the rank of full professor.

What value does the MFA Chair bring to agriculture and co-ops?
Beyond the research I conduct directly on cooperatives, I also produce Extension pieces that may help farmers, co-ops or other agribusinesses understand the current market environment. Farmers are good at adopting new technologies on the agronomy side or management techniques on the livestock side, but they often need help on the marketing side. Co-ops exist to serve their members, and I’m excited to help serve them, too. 

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