Mark Malone
Family: Mark has three grown daughters, Meghan, Katie and Kristen. His son, Ryan was killed in an auto accident several years ago.
In Town: Mark is a Shelter Insurance agent in Rolla, Mo., where he was born and has lived most of his life. “I do property and casualty insurance,” he explained. “That means I write policies to help protect people’s farms, homes, and automobiles. I don’t do health insurance, for example. I started out working for MFA Insurance years ago. Many people think MFA Insurance and MFA Feed and Farm Supply were originally connected when in fact, they never were.”
Mark shared that the best part of the insurance business is working with people. “I really enjoy meeting so many different people. It’s very rewarding. I’ve been in the insurance business for 35 years and today, it is so much more competitive than when I first began. Not a lot of insurance agents are very familiar with farms but having grown up that way, I understand and appreciate the risks involved and just exactly what a farmer needs and wants to protect.”
In the Country: “Part of the farm I operate today, 120 acres, was my grandfather’s and it will be a Century Farm in 2021. I have 525 acres, about 50 of that in hay and 100 in pasture. The rest is timber. I have 62 cow-calf pairs and two bulls. I raise mixed breed, commercial cattle. I also have three horses, a mule, a couple of goats and some chickens. I bought part of the acreage from my siblings and the rest is adjacent to the original farm, just portions I have been able to buy a little at a time,” Mark continued.
“I spend eight hours a day in an office so my time back home on the farm is very medicinal. Except when it is so cold, then it is not quite as enjoyable. Balancing the time is always the challenge and the shorter days in the winter make it a little tougher for feeding and that sort of thing. I’ve gotten pretty good at doing justice to both though as I’ve been doing insurance and the farm together for 35 years now.”
Of his three daughters, Mark says the youngest, Kristen is the one who might one day come back to the farm.
“Meghan is a speech therapist in Columbia, Mo. and Katie is a special education teacher in Washington, D.C., so maybe Kristen,” he concluded with a smile.
