Melissa Bakker Roach, Secretary was elected as the MFU State Secretary in 2022 and serves as the President of St. Louis County Farmers Union. She grew up in South Minneapolis and spent summers at her grandparents’ farm near Walker. She lives in northern St. Louis County near Cook, and operates Bear River Farm, a small, diversified farm, focusing on vegetable, eggs and pork sales through direct marketing, farmers markets and aggregation projects on and north of the Mesabi Iron Range. She is a fourth-generation land steward of the Bakker family farm in Turtle Lake Township, Cass County. Missy is also the executive director of Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability and serves on the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association board of directors. She is a graduate of the inaugural cohort of the MFU New Leader Academy.