APPLEGATE, Mich. – A Michigan farmer said he never expected to move so high up the ladder when first elected to a decision-making position with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

Matt Frostic, 50, will become first vice president of NCGA’s executive board starting Oct. 1.

Following standard procedure, Frostic will move up to president of the governing body a year later, and then serve as chairman for 12 months before NCGA retires him from the organization.

Frostic is nearing the end of his first three-year term on the regular 15 member NCGA board after holding positions for more than decade with the Michigan Corn Growers Association.

He was elected to his first term on the board in a vote by over 120 delegates from the 27 states NCGA serves during the group’s annual convention in Washington, D.C.

“When first elected to this, I never thought I’d be in a leadership position with this type of board,” he said.

He was going to run for a second and final three-year term until his colleagues on the board chose him to serve on the executive panel.

“It’s exciting. It’s kind of humbling that the board has that type of confidence in me to lead,” he said.

Frostic, with help from his family, raises corn, soybeans, edible beans and sugar beets on 1,000 acres near Applegate in the east-central part of the state. The fifth-generation farmer also has 550 head of beef cattle.

Frostic said he plans to adhere to the NCGA’s current strategic plan, which includes strong focus on increasing demand from having aviation fuel produced with corn along with retention and expansion of current markets for ethanol blended gasoline.

The plan also calls for discovering new markets, in general, for corn domestically and in other countries.

“Every year, we grow more and more bushels of corn per acre and we got to find markets for those,” he said.

Another priority is increasing the amount of plastics made with corn as a key ingredient instead of petroleum.

“We’re starting to get some of that in production, but it takes time,” he said.

Frostic also emphasized the importance of free trade and keeping the markets stable and competitive.

He also plans to continue with traditional efforts to protect the industry against harmful regulations and educating members of Congress before decisions are made on the next Farm Bill and other matters such as energy policy.

“There’s a lot of challenges we want to hit the marks on,” he said.

Frostic has a degree in public administration from Oakland University outside Detroit, but after he graduated, he realized farming was still in his blood.

He returned to work at his father’s farm and later took over and noticeably grew the operation.

In recent years, he’s relied more on other members of his family to keep the farm running since his NCGA position requires heavy travel to address matters related to agriculture.

His daughter, Katelyn, takes care of the livestock while her twin sister, Gabrielle, an agronomist, works out in the fields.

Frostic said their husbands also help whenever they can.

“It’s a committee effort and we seem to work through all of the ins and outs of farming and things get done,” he said.

Frostic said being away so much has also provided his daughters with the opportunity to learn and become more prepared to take over the operation someday.

“For me, it’s a way of letting go and allowing them to do their thing,” he said.

Once his time with NCGA is over, Frostic said he has no problem with returning to the farm on a full-time basis, but he prefers to wait and see where the road takes him next.

“I take life one day at a time. Enjoy every day and every experience and try and do the best job I can in the position that we’re put in,” he said.