Speaker Bios

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. He also teaches in the Agricultural Economics Department at Kansas St. University where he also provides Extension programming in agricultural law and taxation. 

From 1991-1993, McEowen was in the full-time practice of law with Kelley, Scritsmier and Byrne in North Platte, Nebraska. From 1993-2004, he was an associate professor of agricultural law and extension specialist in agricultural law and policy at Kansas State.  From mid-2004 through 2015, McEowen was the Leonard Dolezal Professor in Agricultural Law at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he was also the Director of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), which he founded. 

He has published scholarly articles in various legal and tax journals, and is the author of Principles of Agricultural Law, an 850-page textbook/casebook that is updated twice annually, and a second 300-page book on agricultural law. His Agricultural Law and Taxation Blog contains over 100 detailed and fully annotated articles annually and is the most widely read agricultural law and taxation blog online.  In mid-2017, Prof. McEowen's new book, Agricultural Law in a Nutshell, was published by West Academic Publishing Co.  McEowen also authors the monthly publication, "Kansas Farm and Estate Law." In addition, he has co-authored Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Tax Management Portfolios on the federal estate tax family-owned business deduction and the reporting of farm income, and is the lead author of a BNA portfolio concerning the income taxation of cooperatives.  He is also the Editor of the Iowa Bar Tax Manual, and Estate Planning for Farmers and Ranchers and Family Business Organizations, both Thomson/West publications. His subscription-based Substack publications and videos on agricultural law and tax topics can be found at mceowenaglawandtax.substack.com

Prof. McEowen conducts approximately 80-100 seminars annually across the United States for farmers, agricultural business professionals, lawyers, and other tax professionals. He also conducts two radio programs each airing twice monthly heard across the Midwest and on the worldwide web.  In addition, his two-minute radio program, "The Agricultural Law and Tax Report," is heard each weekday by over 2 million listeners on farm radio stations from NY to CA as well as SiriusXM 147. He also can be seen as a weekly guest on RFD-TV where he discusses various agricultural law and tax topics with the RFD-TV hosts.

He received a B.S. with distinction from Purdue University in Management in 1986, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University in 1990, and a J.D. from the Drake University School of Law in 1991.

He is a member of the Iowa and Kansas Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in Nebraska.

Kristen Knudtson is presently the North Dakota State FSA Deputy State Director and Acting Program Director in charge of the Compliance programs.  Kristen has been in the North Dakota State FSA Office since 2015.

The Acting Program Director responsibilities include Payment Eligibility and Payment Limitation, Conservation Compliance and Acreage Reporting programs in the North Dakota State Office.

Kristen, currently residing in Fargo with her family, grew up on a cow and calf operation in northern Missouri, where her family is still operating today.