Spokane, Washington (April 11, 2022) – John Helle of Dillon, Montana, and Derek Schafer of Ritzville, Washington, have been re-elected to the Northwest Farm Credit Services Board of Directors. Each will serve a five-year term expiring in 2027.

John Helle operates a commercial and purebred sheep operation, runs cow/calf pairs and farms small grains and hay. He is a member of Mountain States Lamb Co-op, serves on two advisory committees for the Montana State University Animal and Range Science Department representing the Montana Wool Growers Association, as well as the Public Lands Committee for the American Sheep Industry, representing them at the National Public Lands Council. 

Derek Schafer is a full-time farmer on his family’s fifth-generation grain farm and president of the Family Plow, Inc. and Homestead Family Grain Co.; vice president of Schafer Ranch Ltd; and treasurer of Fields & Furrows Inc. Schafer has served as a local advisor and was a member of the Northwest FCS Nominating Committee in 2013. Schafer is also a board member of Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association, treasurer of the Adams County Association of Wheat Growers, and lifetime member of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.