John Christianson was raised on a family farm in rural Minnesota where he learned the value of resilience, teamwork and community.
Growing up, he worked the farm alongside his parents and siblings, but eventually went to college and got his CPA license. This combination of farming experience and accounting education proved to be invaluable as the 1980s farm crisis devastated the ag economy. John started his accounting career by stepping directly into the fire, helping farmers in his community – some of them neighbors – build financial resilience during some of the ag industry’s darkest days.
Soon, John had a growing accounting firm, known as Christianson CPAs & Consultants, with deep expertise in agriculture and an innate passion for new market opportunities. This placed Christianson at the forefront of an emerging ethanol industry pioneering the “Minnesota Model” for ethanol production, a public/private partnership benefiting rural communities by providing jobs and retaining profits locally – all things in direct alignment with the Christianson values.