North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson will square off against Pennsylvania Farmers Union President Larry Breech for the presidency of the National Farmers Union.
Farmers Union spokeswoman Liz Friedlander said Johnson and Breech were the only candidates to file by the noon Sunday deadline for the race.
The election is Tuesday. The winner will take office immediately in Washington, D.C.
Johnson said earlier that if he's elected, he will step down as state agriculture commissioner, a post he has held the past 12 years. Gov. John Hoeven would appoint his successor.
Farmers Union is one of the nation's largest farm groups, with about 250,000 family memberships. President Tom Buis is stepping down with a year left on his two-year term to become chief executive officer of a new ethanol group.
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Johnson, who owns a farm in central North Dakota, has worked for the state Agriculture Department for 20 years, first as head of the agency's Agricultural Mediation Service.
He was president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture in 2008 and is a past president of the Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the Food Export Association of the Midwest.
He has lobbied extensively in Washington on federal farm legislation and crop insurance reform, and is an advocate for the liberalization of trade with Cuba.
Breech, who started his own farming operation in 1976, has been elected to four terms as state Farmers Union president in Pennsylvania and has served as president of the Pennsylvania Family Farm Foundation. He also is a certified substitute teacher.
He ran for National Farmers Union vice president last year, touting his advocacy for family farmers and his work on conservation issues, but lost to Buis.
