FFA coach, adviser named young cooperators

PRINCETON, Minn. — Kristin Reiman Duden spends her days milking cows and impacting students’ education experience as an FFA adviser for Princeton.

“Our farm serves as home base for a lot of FFA events, such as putting the float together for the parade, team practices, corn drive and a lot of summer activities,” Reiman Duden said.

She holds an agricultural education degree, but since Reiman Duden does not teach in the classroom, she said she is officially considered a community expert.

Reiman Duden and her husband, Thomas Duden, milk 30 registered Jersey cows at their fourth-generation farm, Brickton Genetics, near Princeton.

Duden and Reiman Duden’s involvement in FFA includes receiving their American FFA degrees as students, and now, both are still involved in FFA.

“That organization is near and dear in our hearts,” Reiman Duden said. “We have such fond memories working with our adviser and achieving our goals.”

Not only are the couple active in FFA, they also were presented with the Young Cooperator of the Year award through their cooperative, First District Association, in January.

“I had no idea that we were going to be given that award,” Duden said.

As an FFA adviser, Reiman Duden attends monthly meetings, coordinates and coaches Career Development Event teams, and brings students to participate in regional, state and national contests and events.

Reiman Duden’s husband is also involved. Duden coaches the agricultural mechanics team and is on the local and state FFA Alumni and Supporters board in addition to holding a full-time job off the farm and operating a commercial hay and straw business. The Princeton agricultural mechanics team participated at the National FFA Convention in 2025, where they placed 12th.

“Working with these kids, when they don’t think they will stand a chance in their contest, then watching them win a region or state contest is the best feeling,” Duden said. “Watching their self-confidence grow is so rewarding.”

The couple hosts a plow day at their farm each year as a fundraiser for the FFA chapter. They have also hosted a food trucks on the farm event for the past five years at their farm in lieu of a breakfast on the farm.

“It started during COVID,” Duden said. “All the breakfasts on the farm were being cancelled, but we figured with the food trucks we could space everything out enough to be compliant with the regulations at that time. We also wanted to find something different besides the standard breakfast on the farm.”

When it comes to their dairy involvement at their cooperative, Duden and Reiman Duden have been on the young cooperators board since 2023. Reiman Duden originally ran for the cooperative’s district board, but was then asked if both of them would join the young cooperative’s board.

“I wanted to get more involved,” Reiman Duden said. “We actually didn’t know the YC board existed at that time.”

In their second year on the board, the Dudens were named vice chairs of the YC board. They are now chairs of the committee.

“We were super involved from the start,” Reiman Duden said. “What really propelled us forward was when they were asking if anyone was interested in going to Washington, D.C. in June for the National Milk Producers Federation’s legislative forum. There, we got to see from a national perspective what we could all do and got to meet some new farmers from across the country.”

With their role, the Dudens will attend NMPF young cooperative advisory council meetings throughout the year in addition to serving on their local board, organizing different events and meetings.

“Now that we have one year under our belt serving on the national board, it is exciting to be a part of the planning process for who and what is going to be at the various events,” Reiman Duden said.

At the local level, First District Association’s young cooperative board puts on a bingo night in the spring, a picnic in the summer and helps with planning the organization’s annual winter conference.

“We have young kids, so one thing we helped implement was, during the winter conference, bringing games and activities for the kids to keep them busy so their parents can go to the meetings,” Duden said. “After Christmas we buy toys on clearance to give away as prizes for the games we play.”

Reiman Duden agreed.

“Our roles are kind of reversed, so Tom plays with the kids so I can go to the meetings all day,” Reiman Duden said.

The Dudens said being involved is important to them, whether that is influencing FFA members or helping fellow dairy farmers.

“We are actively trying to shape the future of dairy,” Reiman Duden said. “That’s why we are on these boards: to create positive change.”