Corn, Cows, and Capitols

ND ag woman talks farming, family, and the future

Raising Relationships

“My dad ran for office when I was younger, and I got to meet a lot of people in the political scene early,” Mehlhoff said. “That experience made me realize politics weren’t some faraway thing. It was happening right here, and I could be part of it. I could help influence the laws that affect farmers and ranchers and that affects my family.”

After graduation, Mehlhoff studied government at college in Virginia and got her feet wet in ag policy as one of Senator Kevin Cramer’s first interns. But the halls of government couldn’t hold Mehlhoff. The country life was calling.

“Cramer’s office was new and they hadn’t set up an intern program when I applied,” Mehlhoff said. “I called them up and begged them to take me. They agreed eventually. That experience really hammered home the importance of personal relationships in politics. By the end of my degree, they wanted me to stay on, but I just wanted to farm.”

Mehlhoff returned home as a partner in her family’s grain operation, planting her first crop of corn and soybeans in 2014. More involvement in the business side of the farm brought Mehlhoff back to politics, but at the state level as public policy