Dr. Kent Olson is professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He is involved in applied research, on-campus teaching, and extension education. He has taught farm management for 25 years on campus and in extension settings. His research emphasizes farm level management issues, especially the interaction between farming and the environment, sustainable agriculture, decision-making, alternative production technologies, and the impact of government policies. Dr. Olson has also been the state coordinator for two farm record associations in Minnesota. He grew up on a farm in north-central Iowa, graduated from Iowa State University, and was a farm management extension specialist at the University of California-Davis before joining the faculty at Minnesota in 1985. He and his siblings continue to own and manage a farm in Iowa.