MENOMINEE — Starting June 3, longtime Menominee County Farm Bureau President Pete Kleiman will represent Upper Peninsula farmers on the Michigan Farm Bureau Board of Directors, succeeding the late Dave Bahrman. Kleiman was elected May 19 at a caucus of the U.P. county Farm Bureau leaders in Marquette.

With his wife of 54 years, Diane, Kleiman lives near Wilson in Menominee County, working the fourth-generation centennial farm his grandfather homesteaded in 1889.

After a lifetime of dairying, the operation transitioned to beef cattle six years ago.

Kleiman’s resume of Farm Bureau involvement is extensive, including more than 20 years on the Menominee County Farm Bureau board — most of them as president — innumerable state-level committees and task forces, and even service at the national level.

Late last summer he was nominated for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s committee on budget, economy and taxation — a nomination based on his deep experience with budgeting and taxes.

“As someone from the U.P. I thought I had no chance of being appointed,” Kleiman said. “Then in December, American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall contacted me to say the board had picked me, and to come to the AFBF office in Washington, D.C., in February for a two-day meeting.

“I was surprised and honored to represent Michigan farmers.”

Between his experience as a dairyman and his passion for supporting U.P. agriculture, Kleiman has been a powerful force securing markets for his fellow Yoopers.

As president of Family Dairies USA, he convinced the Wisconsin-based co-op to expand its reach into the Upper Peninsula, providing a much-needed market for western-U.P. dairymen in the wake of a high-profile cheese company’s withdrawal from the region.

Kleiman’s livestock-trucking sideline career also helped benefit U.P. cattlemen as bovine tuberculosis limited their avenues for marketing animals.

“When TB was found in Michigan, U.P. farmers could no longer send their cattle to Wisconsin to be sold at market,” Kleiman said. “In 2000, I worked with Equity Cooperative out of Baraboo, Wisconsin, to set up a collection yard in Menominee — which has operated every week since.”

He also helped establish a feeder-cattle collection yard in the western U.P. to gather livestock bound for Equity Livestock’s Iowa market, a coup that led to 14 years of service on that co-op’s board, representing the Upper Peninsula and northeast Wisconsin.

Outside agriculture, Kleiman served six years in the National Guard and 24 years on the North Central Area Schools board, half of them as president.

Almost 40 years ago he was approached to run for Harris Township supervisor, a position he’s held ever since. Add a few years as township assessor and he eventually found himself elected to the Michigan Townships Association Board of Directors, representing the southern U.P.

“I was elected and served 15 years on the Township Association board, and in 2021-22 I had the honor to serve as the state president,” he said. “Now that I’m termed off that board, I decided to take on a new challenge running with the MFB board.

“I feel with the experiences I’ve gained through the years I will make a good director representing all members in District 12,” he said. “I have the time, experiences and qualifications.”

Pete and Diane have four children — Amy, Peter Jr., Matthew and Marc — a dozen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Kleiman succeeds Dave Bahrman, who passed away April 17 after 25 years representing Farm Bureau members across the Upper Peninsula. Other candidates vying for the position were Bahrman’s brother, Dan, who raises beef cattle and potatoes near Rumely; Northland hemp, oats and buckwheat grower Denise Lamphier; and Cornell-area dairyman and potato grower Jason VanDrese.