Mark Rhea, AFM

Mark Rhea, AFM

Being born and raised in west-central Illinois on a family farm has given me an appreciation of agriculture in my career. Personally and professionally, I have always been in the agricultural field. My mother was a great inspiration. As a young widow, she was able to manage a crop and livestock farm on her own. The values she gave us helped instill the way I manage farms today. 

I am a graduate of Central High School in Camp Point, John Wood Community College, and Western Illinois University, where I studied Agricultural Business. I have worked in production agriculture and ag retail businesses. As a plant manager and salesman for Growmark, I improved my agronomic training. During that time, I obtained a Certified Crop Advisor accreditation and Growmark's Certified Crop Specialist accreditation. 

I worked for a large farm management firm as a farm manager, where I managed 30,000 acres and 55 farms. The farms I managed were located in West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri and were a mix of crop share, custom, cash rent, and a few cattle farms. During my time with this company, I became an Accredited Farm Manager (AFM) and acquired my Managing Broker Real Estate License. 

In the past, I have been involved with several leadership roles, committees, and boards. I served on the John Wood Ag Alumni Board, Alpha Gamma Rho Alpha Tau Alumni Board of Directors, and Adams County Pork Producers. Other community involvements include Central High School Board for eight years, Central Booster Club, US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB), and_ Co-Leader of our church youth group. I have helped chaperone 35-45 young people on church mission trips throughout the United States for the past eight years. 

Each year brings its challenges; we strive to stay educated with new technologies, new ideas while maintaining profitability to the land. Each year recent trends emerge, such as soil health, sustainability, but we have been doing these trends for years, just calling it good stewardship. 
I look forward to collaborating with Craig and Mervin and benefiting from their years of experience and expertise. 

Mark Rhea, AFM
Illinois Managing Broker
217-617-2385

*The American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers awards the title of Accredited Farm Manager (AFM) to those members who have had years of experience, are technically trained, have passed rigid examinations, and subscribe to a high code of ethics.