The Michlig Team
ABOUTUS
Generations of Growing
Welcome to Michlig Ag Solutions! As a family-owned organization with deep Midwest agricultural history and connections, we take pride in creating innovative, custom approaches to success for our partners.
OWNERSHIP
MAS is led by John King, who was born and raised on a farm in north central Illinois. He grew up in and around Michlig Agricenter, the family ag business founded by his grandfather. John spent a lot of time with his uncle and grandfather on the farm, and even more time around the business working for his dad. These were valuable years where John learned the value of hard work, dedication and resilience.
HISTORY
The Michlig legacy started in the 1980's when Joe Michlig, John's grandfather, founded Michlig Agricenter in Manlius, IL. Michlig Agricenter was a cornerstone business in western Bureau County that was dedicated to offering agronomy services, grain procurement, petrolium, and feed to the local farmers. Shortly after Joe bought the business he hired his son-in-law Don King to come on and later become General Manager of Michlig Ag Solutions. Over the next decade Don and Joe built the business into a world class ag retail outlet.
In 1992 Don purchased the business from Joe and begin working to take Michlig Agricenter on its next growth stage. Over the next 15 years Don would grow sales to $80 million and purchase 5 other independent retailers in the local area. Michlig Agricenter at its peak was in 4 counties in West Central Illinois and was home to 80 employees. Each one of those 80 employees were like family and lived the Michlig Way everyday helping create the success of the business!
In 2011 Don was approached by Nutrien Ag Solutions to aquire the agronomy portion of the business. Later that year Nutrien executed its intentions and still operates those facilities today. The legacy Manlius location has been recently featured by Farm Business Magazine as a top 10 facility in the United States.
After the sale to Nutrien on the agronomy business Don also sold the Petrlium business to his Brother-In-Law Steven Michlig, who has founded Michlig Energy located in Manlius, IL. (Insert website) Don continued to own and operate the grain business, Michlig Grain, for another 10 years after the sale of both the agronomy and petrolium businesses. Michlig Grain began its growth period over the next 10 years with market growth and major facility upgrades servicing growers in North Central Illinois.
In 2020 Don was again approached by another company to purchase his grain assets. In the summer of 2020 River Valley Cooperative purchased the grain business from Don and continue to own and operate those assets today.
That same summer Don's son John moved back to Iowa to work for Landus Cooperative where Don would end up finding himself working along side his son helping grow and develop their entire business. Over the next 4 years they were apart of a great team that had a very successful time in growing and developing that business.
Now that brings us to where we are today! In the spring of 2024 John wanted to fulfill his dream of keeping the Michlig legacy alive and worked with Don to start Michlig Ag Solutions, founded on the same principels that made the original business so successful. Michlig Ag Solutions is a foucsed on offering consulting services to retailers, growers, and vendors throughout the Ag Supply chain to help drive synergies and help grow rual agribusiness success.
PRESIDENT
John King
Born and raised on a farm in western Illinois, John grew up working in his family's full-service ag retail business, Michlig Agricenter. He also spent time working alongside his grandfather and uncle on the family farm. These formative years taught John the meaning of owning a business and the work ethic to make things happen!
After high school, John attended North Central College, studying accounting, small business entrepreneurship, and finance. He also achieved his lifelong dream of playing college baseball. John then spent six years working in fertilizer, manufacturing, and wholesale for companies with both a domestic and an international presence. John later earned his MBA from Creighton University.
In 2020, John and his family moved back to Iowa to work for Landus Cooperative as the Agronomy Manager, enabling him to work alongside his father, Don, who Landus employed as a consultant. In the spring of 2024 John and his father founded Michlig Ag Solutions, a firm focused on helping agricultural retail businesses in the Midwest. John resides in Iowa with his wife, Brianna, and their 3 children, Mckenzie, Nolan, and Mia.
The Michlig Team
CO-FOUNDER
Don King
Don brings four decades of agricultural business experience to the table. He grew up on a sesquicentennial farm in northwestern Illinois and attended Black Hawk Community College, majoring in Agricultural Business. After graduation, Don went to work for his wife's family business, Michlig Agricenter, in Manlius, IL. He took on many roles within the company before purchasing it in 1995. Don capitalized on the market conditions of the ’90s and 2000s and rapidly grew Michlig Agricenter into a premier, full-service agricultural retailer offering grain, agronomy, custom application, petroleum, feed, and crop insurance.
In 2005, Don helped build Patriot Renewable Fuels, a 100 million-gallon ethanol plant outside of Annawan, Illinois. As a major investor and Vice President of the board, he would later lead the sale of Patriot to CHS in 2015. This transaction fetched the highest price per gallon of any ethanol plant sale to date.
In 2011, Don sold the agronomy portion of Michlig Agricenter to Nutrien Ag Solutions, maintaining ownership of the grain business, Michlig Grain. He continued its growth through 2020, when River Valley Cooperative acquired the elevator group.
Don continued his career as an executive for Landus Cooperative. In the spring of 2024, both Don and his son, John, had the opportunity to revive the Michlig legacy as an ag consulting business, Michlig Ag Solutions. Don also remains active in farming in Bureau County with his brother-in-law, Harry, as they continue to grow their 5,000 acre family farming operation.
AG SOLUTIONS SPECIALIST
Reese Drenth
Reese was born and raised in Northeast Iowa on his family’s row crop and cattle farm. He attended Iowa State University, graduating magna cum laude in Agricultural Business and Economics. While at Iowa State, Reese found purpose in mentoring and teaching underclassmen within the Agricultural Business major, becoming a peer mentor and helping incoming students with the college transition. Wherever his journey took him, Reese knew he’d be most passionate about opportunities where he could continue this kind of work. Upon graduation in 2019, Reese joined Landus Cooperative’s merchandising team where he quickly realized he was afforded the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
While at Landus, Reese had the privilege of learning from one of the best teams in the business. He eagerly assumed many responsibilities during his tenure including managing the hedge desk, overseeing structured product offerings, developing originators, trading the 55-asset truck position, trading domestic and export rail markets, guiding daily logistics plans, and sourcing grain from growers across the network. Thanks to the efforts of Reese and the team, the grain business reached record profitability during his time there. More importantly, Reese had the privilege of working to educate employees and growers alike on the intricacies of grain markets.
In August 2024, Reese joined the Michlig team to further pursue his passion for teaching. He’s excited to share the immeasurable knowledge gained from his time at Landus with the marketplace and believes Michlig is the perfect place to continue his agricultural journey.