Director

Mark Read, District 5 director for the Illinois Soybean Association is from Putnam, Illinois where he raises corn and soybeans in Putnam and Bureau County, and farmed 2,200 acres with his brother, Chuck, utilizing strip-till and no-till farming until 2020. Read serves on the Market Development Committee as the Vice Chairman and is an alternate representative for the U.S. Soybean Export Council. He has a B.S. degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois. Read has served on the boards of the Marshall-Putnam Soil and Water District, Putnam County Board of Review, and the Henry-Senachwine Unit #5 School District. He is currently on the farm advisory committee for Congressman Darin LaHood, and is also a member of the Marshall-Putnam Farm Bureau and the Illinois Corn Growers.