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Dexter's Charlie Kruse steps down as Farm Bureau president
DEXTER -- Charles Kruse considers his service to Missouri Farm Bureau "an honor and a privilege."
In December, the Dexter man stepped down after serving as the organization's president for 18 years. And he has a lot of accomplishments and moments of pride to look back on.
"I just feel really honored that the members of Farm Bureau gave me the privilege to get to do that," he said. "I've found the job, at times, to be pretty intense, but at the same time, I've found it to be very, very rewarding."
One of the biggest honors for Kruse was that he kept being re-elected by the organization's members.
"Every two years you run for election, and the members literally elect the president," he said. "Another thing I'm proud of is that, after the first time I ran in 1992, I never had an opponent. No one ran against me in all that time."
He initially ran for the position when he was the chief executive officer of the North American Equipment Dealers Association headquartered in St. Louis. Prior to that, Kruse served as the director of agriculture for the state of Missouri, appointed by Gov. John Ashcroft.
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