Lee Tesdell

Lee S. Tesdell is the owner of Tesdell Century Farm in Polk County, Iowa. His ancestors came to Iowa as farmers shortly after the U.S. government had acquired this land from the Indigenous people of the area. He graduated from Scattergood Friends School in 1968 and later earned his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He is now retired from Minnesota State University, Mankato, as emeritus professor of English where he taught courses in the technical communication program. In November 2022, he was elected commissioner to the Polk County Iowa Soil and Water Conservation District. Tesdell’s latest conservation-related project is learning to grow and market a perennial grain called Kernza®.