Some blunders just stick with you, so here was my icebreaker sitting down with Charlevoix County Farm Bureau President Bud Boss and his wife Judy at their kitchen table:
“First time we met, you were on the state Policy Development committee,” I began. “You were at the Home Office in Lansing and I had to take everyone’s photo.”
It was almost 20 years ago, but to this day I remember Bud coming into the studio, looking sharp and proud in his dark suit.
I looked at his name tag and said “Hi, Bob!”
“Bud,” he replied, stone-faced.
Huh?
“It’s Bud. My name is Bud.”
Oopsie...
The Human Landscape
“So this place where we are right now was in the Potter family — Judy was a Potter,” Boss said of his wife of almost 50 years, demure at the far end of the table.
Gesturing toward the west, he continued: “This is Potter Road, and the place next door was the Kloster Farm,” he went on, swinging his arm more to the northwest. “My grandmother was a Kloster.”
Due east, across a couple glacial ups and downs: “Over there, that’s Matchett Road, and Tim’s original place right there,” he pointed. “I grew up just across the field, next to them, where my parents and grandparents farmed from about 1903.”
I pictured Young Bud and Young Judy running across that field toward each other in slow motion, their arms widespread…
“We didn’t have to,” he chuckled. “We were farmers — not romantic then, just friends. We snowmobiled together in high school all the time. We did go to the same church, so we saw each other there.
“I didn’t move very far.”
The Legacy
Tim Matchett didn’t move far either. Thirty-year president of the Charlevoix County Farm Bureau, the shepherd from across the field died last year — a loss that echoed far beyond Marion Township.
Soon Charlevoix’s gavel was in Boss’s hand, his feet respectfully slipping into the boots of his childhood neighbor.
“Great family, the Matchetts — great operation,” he said, saluting his late friend before getting into how those boots and that gavel fit.
“It wasn’t what I was expecting — it’s a lot! — and I always want to do it right.
“Tim put a lot of time in. He was everywhere at once, which is hard for any farmer. It’s been a bigger job than I anticipated, and more… I don’t know what the right word is… ‘Prestigious’ maybe?
“It’s a big deal to be a county president. It puts you on a pedestal — eyes are upon you and people look to you for leadership.”
He’s no stranger, though: Remember his Policy Development gig, 2007-08, and he’s been on Charlevoix’s board for several years.
“We do need some new board members,” said Boss — and every county Farm Bureau leader ever.
“We’re trying to get the young people more involved. I went through that, too, of course: You think you don’t have time, but you have to make the time.
“Early on, I wasn’t involved either. It has to be a priority,” he said. “Policy Development was the first time I’d ever been to a Farm Bureau meeting. I came out after the first year, and…”
Bud turned to Judy: “What did I say to you when I got in the car?” — to which Judy quoted him from almost 20 years ago like she was waiting for a cue, mock crabby voice and all: “I’m not doing this next year!!” It gave us all a good laugh.
“So yes, I came out of there and I said that, but then Judy told me, ‘No. You signed up for two years, so you’re gonna do it.’”
(“Good work, Judy,” I told her. “Thank you.”)
“That was when our son came back to the farm, so we had a little more time, and then we just kind of stayed involved.”
The Checkup
Beyond all that?
“Our Young Farmers just signed up a new chair,” Boss said. “Our P&E chair is doing a great job — just kills it.”
And with policy still close to his heart, and most of Charlevoix’s plates spinning smoothly, there’s always the endless search for what — and who — comes next.
“When I started on the board two years ago, some of the older members said, ‘We need replacements,’ and I’ve been looking, and Isaac Matchett’s been looking, but succession is hard.
“It’s kind of a thing you’ve got to keep one eye on it at all times.”
P.S.: Wait there's more! Keep scrolling for a bonus sidebar about flexing Farm Bureau to benefit your farm business. It made Bud’s profile article too long, but ↓ check it out ↓ below the map ↓ — it’s textbook.
The Boss’ big flex
Well before becoming Charlevoix County Farm Bureau President, Bud Boss tapped into the strength of the organization to streamline a value-added leap forward that helped take his family's dairy business to the next level.
Involved Farm Bureau members agree dues are cheap against the value the organization offers at any level: county, state, national.
“And the state level is huge,” Boss said. “You’re working with the upper echelon in government — you get to know them — so if you have an issue with, say, a cheese plant, you have resources.”
Cheese plant?
Yes: It’s just up Potter Road and fed exclusively by Boss Dairy milk.
Run by Bud & Judy’s daughter Mandy and her husband Matt Thompson, Charlevoix Cheese Company began in 2023 and is already distributing product as far as Kentucky, but getting to that point was no cakewalk. Some people just gotta throw up their junk in your path.
“We were having trouble with EGLE,” Boss said.
Can anyone out there relate?
“They said we were exempt (from permitting), and we tried to get that it in writing but nobody wanted to put their name on it,” he said. “This went on for six, eight months: Is it commercial or is it agricultural?”
That’s when he tapped his Farm Bureau network. District 11 Director Pat McGuire had faced some similar problems at his own Royal Farms, and Tess Van Gorder, MFB’s conservation and regulatory relations specialist, went to work on EGLE.
“We pushed hard with the building inspector so he finally read the ordinance, which said changing milk into a different product made the facility commercial, not agricultural.
“So I called [MFB General Counsel] Andy Kok and he talked to the building inspector.
“Turns out it said right in the building code that dairy products are exempt.”
And there you have it: black-and-white as a Holstein.
“So the building inspector backed off and just said, ‘Okay, well, can I come and look at it after it’s done?’
“That’s a pretty huge win,” said Boss, crediting the Farm Bureau network and brain trust for easing a real-world headache and bolstering what’s become a successful new component of the family enterprise.
“We saved a lot of money not paying for inspections. We built it to code of course — that’s just common sense and safety.
“You don’t want to put something up on your farm that you’re not going to be proud of and feel safe working in.”