When he was in college, Jerry Arneson never thought he’d work in an office.

After a childhood spent on a farm followed by an education in agronomy, Jerry assumed he’d always be in agriculture.

But when an opportunity in banking came along, Jerry made a career change and went on to spend the next three decades in an office. In July, he’ll retire after a long career in banking serving farmers, ranchers and producers.

“It’s been fun to come to work,” said Jerry, SVP/ag commercial banker in Bell Bank’s Moorhead, Minn., branch. “I’ve enjoyed my time.”

From Farming to Banking

Jerry grew up on a small grain, grass seed and livestock farm outside of Roseau, Minn., where he spent summers showing sheep and livestock at the local county fair through 4-H.

“A big part of who I am today is because of 4-H,” he said. 

In college, Jerry studied diversified ag at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, and then agronomy at North Dakota State University.

After graduating, he got a job as an extension educator in Clay County, Minn., where he spent the next 15 years.

In the mid-1990s, he was contacted by a bank that was opening a branch nearby and looking for someone with local connections to join their lending department. The call represented a big shift in his career.

“I went to school to farm,” Jerry said. “I swore I’d never sit in an office, but that changed.”

Jerry spent 14 years at that bank, and then in 2011 joined Bell as an ag and commercial lender.

While he didn’t take a traditional route into banking, his farm background helped him connect and empathize with his ag customers.

“Jerry has been a steadfast and loyal banker to others,” said Joe Watzke, SVP/agriculture banking director at Bell, who has worked with Jerry for 15 years. “He gets to know his customers on a deep and supportive level.”

The Changing World of Ag

Jerry has seen significant change in agriculture, not just over the 30 years he’s been on the banking side, but since his childhood on the family farm.

“I can remember my mother coming out to the field when she brought out lunch, and bringing out a little piece of paper that said how much wheat had gone up,” Jerry said. “At the time, you didn’t have the internet, or cell phones. Information today is so fast and so current."

Today’s farm families are managing a growing business, with interconnected financial and operational risk, he added.

“You have to spend time in the office managing relationships with landlords, fertilizer dealers, crop insurance agents and retirement planners,” he said. “It’s gotten to such a size and scale that you have to really know your costs and how to manage them.”

Helping farm families navigate those challenges has led to strong relationships with his customers.

“I’ve gone through situations where it’s been the mom and dad I started working with, and then their son or daughter got involved or took it over, and that’s been great to see,” he said.

No two days were ever the same, and that’s what made his unexpected career rewarding.

“Every day has been different, every operation has been different,” Jerry said. “I learned something new every day, and that’s what made it fun.”

This article was published in the Q2 2026 issue of our AgViews newsletter.