John R. Baker is the Attorney for Iowa Concern Hotline. In 1989 he created the AgLink matching service to provide opportunities to new entrants to identify opportunities to enter farming. In 1991 he created the Farm On project which links farmers and landowners with beginning farmers. He is a founding member of the International Farm Transition Network and served as the Chair of the Board until 2017. In 1994 Baker drafted the legislation that created the Beginning Farmer Center. He developed the Returning To The Farm seminar for those farmers and ranchers who want to transition the family business to the next generation. In 1995 he created the Farm Savvy farm succession planning manual.

In 1999 he and the late Professor Andrew Errington, University of Plymouth, Seale Hayne Faculty, England, co-founded the FARMTRANSFERS international research project on farm succession and retirement. He was a Co Principal Investigator on the farm Land Access, Succession, Tenure and Sustainability research project. He, Dr. Matt Lobley, Director of the Center Rural Research at Exeter University, Exeter, UK and Ian Whitehead, Professor at the University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England are Co-Editors of “Keeping it in the Family: International Perspectives on Succession and Retirement on Family Farms”.

In 2013, along with Joy Kirkpatrick, Outreach Specialist, University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability developed the Certified Farm Succession Coordinator training program that is delivered through the International Farm Transition Network.

He has given numerous talks throughout the United States on the business succession planning process and has lectured in Canada, England, Ireland, Poland, Japan and New Zealand. He emphasizes the necessity of understanding importance of the connections between the people, plans, and the law.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.