If you saw a man driving a red 1940 Farmall M tractor towing a gray and white camper between Sept. 14 and Oct. 4, there is a good chance you witnessed the FFA Agri-Cruise Across the States.
The man behind the wheel was Mark Koehn of Upsala, Minnesota, and he set out on this 1,900-mile trip from the Minnesota-Canadian border—passing through Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas—and ending at the Gulf of Mexico to raise funds for FFA.
Koehn said he came up with the idea to take this trip across the United States about 15 years ago after reading about a man from Oklahoma who restored an antique John Deere tractor and drove it to North Carolina for an Army veterans’ reunion.
“I thought, wow, wouldn’t that be cool to drive across the country in a tractor,” Koehn said. “It became a bucket list thing for me, and I talked about for the next five years.”
Around that time, Koehn helped form the Upsala FFA Alumni Chapter, and he came up with an idea to raise funds for FFA during his tractor trip to give the journey more meaning. He was an active member of FFA in high school and still uses the skills he learned and is grateful for the way the organization molded him into an outgoing leader.
“I grew up on a small central Minnesota dairy farm, and I was an incredibly shy person,” he said. “Through speaking in FFA and various contests, I learned that I could do lots more things than I had anticipated I could do.”
15 years in the making
In the 15 years since Koehn decided he wanted to make the cross-country trip, he has hit several roadblocks that delayed his journey. When he first made the goal of completing the voyage, Koehn was still employed full time as an agricultural appraiser, so he held off on the trip until retirement.
Once he retired, the COVID-19 pandemic began and derailed his plans once again. When COVID cooled down, Koehn’s aging parents began to experience health problems, and he decided to stay close and help with their care. Around this time, Koehn bought the 1940 Farmall from his late father’s farm auction with the intent of using it on his cross-country excursion.
The tractor was in poor condition and needed restoration and repairs before he could drive it to the Gulf. Koehn brought the tractor to the Holdingford, Minnesota, FFA Chapter. The students in the ag mechanics class restore several tractors every year, and they took on the job of bringing the old Farmall back to life.
“They went through it completely,” Koehn said. “It didn’t look that good when it was new.”
Eventually, the time was right, and Koehn made plans to begin his trip in the fall of 2024. The Upsala Alumni FFA Chapter assisted Koehn in coming up with a name for the expedition. Members settled on the FFA Agri-Cruise Across the States. A Facebook account with the same title was also created to give Koehn’s cause a platform to provide updates.
An FFA alumnus also helped Koehn set up a Venmo account to handle most of the fundraising dollars collected on the trip. Large signs were placed on the tractor and camper so passersby could scan a QR code to find more details on the cause and learn how to donate.
Koehn decided 50% of any proceeds raised would be designated to the Upsala FFA chapter to do renovations in the school classroom. He allotted 25% to the Minnesota Alumni Association and the remaining 25% to the National FFA Alumni Foundation.
“When I did a little research, I learned that less than 50% of FFA chapters across the nation have alumni chapters,” Koehn said. “Every single chapter that has an alumni association is a better chapter because of the extra boost that they get from the alumni.”
Prior to setting out from the Canadian border, Koehn planned out the trip in advance, mapping out the less traveled roads to avoid congested areas.
“I had to go around Kansas City, but if I went east of the city, I would have ended up in the Ozarks, which are really hilly,” Koehn said. “I decided to travel on the west side of Kansas City, and it added about 200 miles to go that way, but it was worth it. The area was beautiful, and the people were so nice.”
His biggest concerns were weather and traffic. Koehn was fortunate that the only bad weather he encountered was heavy rain, and the weather was favorable for most of the trip. Additionally, only two vehicles passed him shaking their fists because he was slowing down traffic.
“My wife was convinced when I came through Oklahoma that a tornado was going to suck me up,” Koehn said. “I was more worried about hurricanes when I hit the Gulf because I was going to be there right at the end of the season. My biggest fear was getting hit by a vehicle. I put flashers on the back of my camper, and I used a slow-moving vehicle emblem. I didn’t have any close calls, and I got a lot of taps on the horn and thumbs up. I’m so glad that I was able to do it safely.”
An unforgettable journey
To begin his expedition, Koehn’s FFA alumni chapter members helped him haul his camper and tractor to the starting point, just north of Lancaster, Minnesota. Koehn drove about 100 miles a day, with a top speed of about 16 miles an hour. He usually stopped for gas around noon and ate lunch. He would park in the evenings and sleep in the camper, as well as make Facebook updates to his account letting followers know how his day went, who he met and what towns he would pass through the next day.
On day two of his trip, Koehn noticed an elderly woman on a mobility scooter waiting at the end of her driveway. She flagged him down and said she had been following his journey on social media and was so excited to see his tractor because it looked just like the one her late husband used to drive.
“We were reminiscing about kids and grandkids, and I suppose it was 15 minutes into the conversation when she pounded on her handlebars and said, ‘Young man, you need to get on there and get going. You have a long way to go,’” Koehn said.
Before saying goodbye, she reached into the cubby hole of her scooter and handed him a gift.
“It was two homemade molasses cookies, just like my late mom used to make, and a $10 bill,” Koehn said. “I had tears in my eyes. That set the tone for my trip, and every single day something like that happened. People would buy me lunch or pay for my gas. The kindness was just absolutely overwhelming.”
Koehn realized just how many people in rural America have connections to FFA and that old Farmall he drove across the heartland. The cause, as well as the mode of transportation, seemed to strike a chord that drew interest on a daily basis and added to his Facebook followers.
“I wasn’t anticipating as many people would follow my Facebook page,” Koehn said. “There were people literally parked on the side of the road, watching for me every single day all the way across the United States. If traffic wasn’t too heavy and the conditions were right, I would pull over and chat with them, and they’d take pictures and post them on Facebook.”
During his trip, Koehn met a man at a gas station in north central Minnesota who owned a small business that manufactured aluminum boat docks. The company had six employees, and the employer said all of them learned to weld in a high school ag program.
“He said, ‘Every single one of them was in FFA, and I have the best employees in the world. I am so proud that they’re nice people, and I think FFA had a lot to do with it,’” Koehn said. “He gave me a $50 cash donation and said ‘What’s good for FFA is good for agriculture, and what’s good for agriculture is good for America.’”
Unexpected takeaways
Of the states he trekked across, Koehn had never visited Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas prior to the agri-cruise. Traveling at a slow speed, he was able to appreciate the beauty of rural America and the diverse agriculture of the central U.S.
“One thing that really surprised me was that all the way down through Missouri and Nebraska, there was a lot of corn, beans and stocker cattle, but once I hit eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, it was all trees,” he said. “I probably drove through forests for six days.”
Koehn also noticed the livestock breeds. He said the cattle were predominantly Angus crosses until he reached Texas. Then they immediately switched over to Longhorn or Brahma crosses.
“I learned a lot about different types of agriculture, but when you meet these farmers at coffee shops, the concerns are the same,” Koehn said. “It’s always about the weather and market prices—just universal farmer talk.”
One sector of agriculture that Koehn was introduced to on his trip was rice production. He was driving through southern Texas during peak rice harvest season and learned from the locals how they flood and harvest the fields, then trap the crawfish that live in the wet soil.
When he reached Winnie, Texas, which is less than 20 miles from the Gulf, Koehn was invited to attend the annual Texas Rice Festival taking place in a few days. After he completed the final 20 miles, he took the citizens of Winnie up on their offer. He was an honored guest at their crawfish boil and drove his tractor in the rice parade. Koehn’s only regret was not keeping a list of all the people he met during the trip.
“I made so many friends that I probably will never see again for the rest of my life,” he said. “The people in rural America are wonderful.”
The only detail Koehn had not planned in advance was how he would transport the tractor and camper back to Minnesota after he made it to the Gulf. He had reached out to some trucking companies toward the end of the journey, but the cost estimates were not ideal.
He shared his frustrations with some of his new friends in Winnie, and they helped Koehn’s tractor find a new home at the Agricultural Historical Museum in Winnie.
“They’re only going to take it out four or five times a year for FFA rides and parades,” Koehn said. “Every time they use it, they will post about it on their Facebook page, so I will get to watch my tractor be enjoyed for a long time.”
Koehn had originally hoped to raise $100,000 during his trip. Although he ended up raising about $6,000, the original monetary goal became a peripheral objective once he got on the road. Koehn had no idea the personal experience this trip would become, and, in the end, the financial impact was secondary to the connections he made on behalf of agriculture and FFA.
“This would probably be right up there in the top three or four things that I’ve ever done in my life, outside of getting married and having children,” Koehn said.
FFA broadened his horizons as a high schooler, and the organization is still taking Koehn places today. Donations are still being accepted and distributed to FFA organizations. To donate through Venmo, visit www.venmo.com/u/Upsala-FFA-Alumni. Checks can be mailed to P.O. Box 250 Upsala, MN 56384.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or lvilhauer@hpj.com.
