Nancy B. Brannaman grew up on a 600-acre grain in north central Illinois. As one of four daughters, Nancy helped her father with fieldwork from the age of 10. Today, along with her sisters, she is the sixth generation to own this operation. Nancy manages the operation, providing accounting, marketing, and financial analyses. In addition, Nancy works on the farm, and collaborates closely with their custom operator on all farm production decisions. Nancy earned a BS degree in Agricultural Business and Farm Operation, and a MS in Ag Economics and Finance at Iowa State University. She was the first woman Iowa State University Extension Area Farm Management. In May 1992, shortly after the Soviet Union broke up, Nancy, her husband John, and their 13-year-old daughter, Hannah, traveled to southern Ukraine to work for an ag development program sponsored by the State of Iowa. They later moved to rural Russia, helping 600 private farms develop a membership organization, and establish a farmer-owned cooperative. In 2000, Nancy joined the U.S. Dept. of State Foreign Service. She has worked in every facet of embassy management serving in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Albania, German, Romania, and South Sudan. She and her husband, John, live in northeast Johnson County, Iowa where they are developing 56 acres of timber, specialty crops, and native prairie adjoining John’s family farm. They are helping beginning specialty crop farmers now.