Katie Flinn

Cost-Share Administrative Assistant

Katie Flinn joined the Practical Farmers staff in April 2023 as the cost-share administrative assistant. In this role, she helps administer and organize the field crop cost-share programs and provides customer service to farmers and staff involved in the programs.

Katie grew up in Ottumwa, Iowa, and spent 18 years in the U.S. Air Force, finishing her career in 2020 at the 132nd Wing in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2023, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Grandview University – but over the past 10 years, her passion for agriculture had started buzzing. Once finished with the military, Katie fully immersed herself in honeybees and farming.

In 2022, she completed her apprenticeship in beekeeping with Michigan State University through its Heroes to Hives program. She has also completed two honey sensory courses in Bologna, Italy, which earned her the title of honey sommelier – expertise that enables her to describe honey characteristics, aromas and other qualities, and to pair honey with foods that complement those qualities.

Katie is a member of Farmer Veteran Coalition, and her farm and products are certified as veteran-owned and -produced through the organization’s Homegrown By Heros label. She also volunteers with international Farmer-to-Farmer programs, through the USAID-funded John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. Through this work, she volunteers abroad to help farmers in developing countries with apiculture, nomadic beekeeping and unifloral honey education.

Katie thoroughly enjoys her husband and six kids. They reside in Indianola, Iowa, at Milk & Honey Orchard and Apiary, LLC, their homestead where they keep bees, produce honey and value-added products and create foodie delights with what is grown on the land.