Mr. Farmer graduated from Missouri School of Mines with a Petroleum Engineering Degree in 1963. He received his Professional Degree in Geological and Petroleum Engineering in 1995 from the University of Missouri at Rolla. From 1963 to 1965 Mr. Farmer served as First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Germany.

He then worked as a Petroleum Engineer with Shell Oil Company. He worked in various engineering jobs in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. When he left Shell in 1969 to join his father in business he was Senior Reservoir Engineer.

He has worked at John O. Farmer, Inc. since 1969 until the present, serving as Vice President in 1971 and President in 1989. John O. Farmer, Inc. is an independent operation with drilling and production in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.

Mr. Farmer serves as an Advisory Board member of TORP at the University of Kansas, a board member of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association (KIOGA), and as a member of the PAG for North Midcontinent RLO. He is also a member of SPE and a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Kansas.