Shabbona, Illinois.

Martin is President of Porter Martin Farmland and Cattle Company, LLC.  Throughout his real estate career, he has specialized in the acquisition, sale, management, appraisal and financing of agricultural properties in the Midwest and in California. Martin attended Iowa State University and the University of Illinois from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Education and a Master’s Degree in Extension Education.  He later earned an Agricultural Banking Degree from Iowa State University.  Prior to going into private business, Martin served on the staff of the University of Illinois as a County Agricultural Extension Adviser.  He later headed the Illinois segment of a national rural development program administered through a Presidential task force in Washington, DC.  Martin also spent several years as a farm loan officer and as a farm manager and rural appraiser with the former DeKalb Bank in DeKalb, Illinois.

Martin has been a member of the London Farmers for more than thirty years and of the Chicago Farmers over thirty-five years, serving as President of the latter for two years.  He holds the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation from the Realtors Land Institute.  In 1996 Martin was named Land Realtor of America.  He was the 10^th person in the world to receive the coveted Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation from the National Association of Realtors.  Since 1989 Martin has served as treasurer of the Illinois Ag Leadership Foundation.  He and his wife, Sherrie, are Illinois farmland owners.