Jamestown  (Chamber) Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Emily Bivens has announced the recipient of the Ag Woman of the Year.

Julie Michel has been informed her selection, as Emily released the information for immediate release, Friday morning, with awards to been handed out at Friday evening’s Ag Banquet at the Quality Inn & Suites in Jamestown.

Awards will also be given by the Stutsman County Soil Conservation District to be announced at Friday evening’s banquet.

The news release states that Julie Michel is currently office manager, president, and co-owner of Michel Farms Inc., as well as mom to Cody, Kale, and Amanda. She grew up on a dairy farm where she learned a strong work ethic from her parents, Darrel & Vonnie Entzminger.

She then farmed alongside her husband, Jeff Michel, until his sudden death in 2006. Julie was determined to keep the farm going, which meant all of the grain marketing, crop insurance, financials, meeting with the land lords, crop rotation decisions, etc. were now her responsibility.

Since then, her sons Cody and Kale have become full-time farmers, co-owners of Michel Farms Inc., and REA Seed dealers. They make many of the decisions that were once solely hers. Her daughter Amanda came back to the farm in 2015, and they opened Boondocks Venue together in 2016. She is currently Office Manager of Boondocks and hopes to someday take over the role of Office Manager for the farm as well. She is married to Zach Rode.

Over the next several years, Julie plans to transition from manager to mentor, still helping in the fields and lending advice.

In her free time, Julie enjoys baking, gardening, being outdoors, spending time with family, helping others, and camping and riding horse with her fiancé, Travis Guthmiller.