Succession Planning

How Iowa Farmer Mark Hanna is Investing in Innovation and Giving Ag Startups a Fighting Chance

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:49:36 GMT

You’ll still find Iowa farmer Mark Hanna behind the wheel of his combine every fall. The technology and automation is a signature of their farm, and what helps keep running the combine still fun for someone who’s been farming for 46 years.

But the landscape of equipment and technology today looks drastically different from when he started farming in 1979.

“I joined my dad’s operation where I was basically the labor force to help me get started,” Hanna says, who farmers in Joyce, Iowa. “I would trade my labor for the use of his machinery.”

The Cusp of the 1980s Farm Crisis
Right on the cusp of the 1980s farm crisis, Hanna’s rookie years of farming were tough.

“It was a horrible time. It was 1979 and my grandpa, Dewey, whose farm we actually bought in 1980, said he was always going to sell me that farm, even when I was little,” Hanna remembers. “And it came about in 1981, and a year later, the farm was worth half of what we bought it for.”

Hanna describes farming as an occupation of risks and rewards. And the risks then were high.

“The bank got concerned and said, ‘Boy, your equity is going backward here. Your net worth isn’t good.’ And I said, ‘Well, I have a private contract with my grandpa. And as long as I make that, it really doesn’t matter to you.’”

The Mortgage Lifters
With interest rates at 18%, Hanna weathered that storm. One way he did was with farrow to finish hogs.

“I figured out they were the mortgage lifters,” he says. “So, I just raised as many as I could in every nook and cranny on the farm for about five or six years. And that kept me making my payments and kept me farming.”

Throughout the ‘90s, Hanna expanded more and more, moving all his hogs and pigs into an environment he could control.

“By 1998, I had even my sows inside as fully confinement buildings,” Hanna says. “But 1998, that was a pretty tough. We had 8 cent hogs in December. I had all my buildings full. We had just built two new buildings. It turned out to be a $30,000 a month loss with no end in sight.”

The Hog Market Crash of 1998
In 1998, Hanna met his biggest challenge yet. With margins in the red and the debt mounting, he knew he needed to find additional income. So, he decided to take a job in town working nights, while also still raising hogs.

“After two weeks of that, I decided, ‘You know what? There’s more important things in life. I’m doing the best I can. And if I’m doing the best I can and I can’t make it, so be it.’ So, I kept breeding sows and keeping all the facilities full. And by July that year we had $60 hogs. I had full buildings, and I made more money than I ever thought I would and got my debt taken care of,” Hanna says.

It’s that moment in Hanna’s career that his son, Philip, says was a pivotal point for their family farm.

“It really stuck out to me is that he just focused on ‘what can I do and not worry about the things that I can’t control and just focus on that’,” says Philip Hanna.

The Next Generation
Hanna’s sons, Philip and Andrew, are now partners in their family farm. And they say the thing they admire most about their dad is his vision and ability to take risks.

“I feel like technology-wise, our biggest thing is being able to variable rate our planting, planting our split application of 32% and our fertilizer in the fall. That’s been huge,” says Andrew Hanna.

Mark’s sons, Andrew and Philip, are now partners on the farm.

(Tyne Morgan )

From the latest technology to the decision to dive into strip till in 2018, even Hanna’s employee of 20 years will tell you he admires Hanna’s intelligence and ability to always look ahead.

“They’re just really good people to work for,” says Larry Severson, a long-time employee. “I mean, they’re very innovative. They try new things like the strip tower. We were the first ones in this area to make that leap. And they went headfirst into it and it worked out really well for them.”

Mark Hanna was one of the first in his area to try strip till, and it wasn’t just a few acres. Hanna went all-in.

(Matt Mormann )

Investing in Innovation
What may be the biggest mark of success is how Hanna is investing in innovation through Ag Ventures Alliance .

“We help startups in ag thrive and be successful,” he says. “We offer them a wealth of information and knowledge and help to get them going.”

Ag Ventures Alliance and AgLaunch now select their top 10 startups each year, offering advice and financial investment.

“Out of that spun AgLaunch Farmers LLC , which we started two years ago. Farmers actually get a stake in each company. They have to put up $100,000 and pledge it to the AgLaunch Farmer LLC. When they’re successful, the farmers will get paid back with their stake in the equity in the company,” Hanna says.

Ag Ventures Alliance was created to accelerate ag tech innovation and redefine resilience and profitability for American farmers.

(Ag Ventures Alliance )

For Hanna, investing in others and helping start-up companies launch into the ag field is one of the most rewarding parts of his job today.

“I like to see new innovations. We like to try the newest thing that’s coming out there on our own farm,” he says.

For his sons, Hanna’s ability to give back and support others is just a glimpse into the strong character he instilled in both of them.

“I came out of high school wanting to be just like my dad, wanting to be a farmer like he has been in the past and to grow with him in the future,” Andrew says.

Phillip adds, “I hope with my brother and me, when my dad starts phasing out, that we’re going to continue to be on the new technology like my dad was and just keep on improving things on the farm and not be afraid of trying new things and new technology.”
Congratulations to Mark Hanna, a finalist for the 2025 Top Producer of the Year.

Your Next Reads:
2025 Top Producer of the Year Marc Arnusch Looks for Success Beyond Commodity Farming

Dalton Dilldine: Next-Generation Producer Follows in His Father’s Footsteps

Texas Rancher Kimberly Ratcliff Trades the Big Apple for Community Beef Business

BREAKING: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and Sen. Roger Marshall to Join Farmers At Top Producer Summit

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 21:24:21 GMT

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas will speak Tuesday morning at this week’s Top Producer Summit in Kansas City. The event is among the secretary’s first public appearances since being confirmed Feb. 13 . The fireside chat will cover key topics driving the future of agriculture.

A one-day pass to the event is available to give the agriculture industry a chance to hear Secretary Rollins share her vision for U.S. agriculture. Advanced registration is required due to security protocols. Register now with discount code ONEDAY to receive the special rate.

Secretary Rollins, originally from Glen Rose, Texas, serves as the 33rd Secretary of Agriculture. Most recently, she was founder, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute. During President Donald Trump’s first administration, she was the director of the Domestic Policy Council and assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives in the White House. She also previously served as director of the Office of American Innovation.

Sen. Marshall is a physician and U.S. Senator for Kansas. As a fifth-generation farmer from Butler County, Sen. Marshall became the first in his family to attend college. In the Senate, he serves on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. He is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources and a member of the Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research.

Tickets are still available to attend the entire Top Producer Summit , which is agriculture’s premier educational and networking event for forward-thinking farmers and ranchers. The event will bring producers of nearly a dozen commodities together at the Loews Kansas City Hotel to share business opportunities and ideas for taking their operations to the next level.

In addition to the fireside chat with Secretary Rollins and Sen. Marshall, the agenda includes:

The Future of Farming with Byron Reese, futurist, technologist and entrepreneur
Conquer Decision Paralysis with Rena Striegel, Transition Point Business Advisors
How Income Taxes May Change Due To The Election with CPA Paul Neiffer
Land Diversification: What to Know Before Exploring Renewable Energy and Conservation Opportunities with Quint Shambaugh, Pinion
What’s Ahead for Farm Input Pricing with Sam Taylor, Rabo AgriFinance
What to Watch With the Weather in 2025 with Eric Snodgrass, Principal Atmospheric Scientist, Conduit Ag
Global Fertilizer Market Overview: What It Means At Your Farm Gate with Josh Linville, StoneX

Some of the nation’s most outstanding farm operations will be recognized, including winners of the 2025 Top Producer of the Year award , the 2025 Women in Ag award and the 2025 Next Gen award .

Next Gen Spotlight: Missouri Farmer Diversifies to 'Roll With the Punches and Grow'

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:30:03 GMT

After graduating from the University of Missouri in 2011, Lance Dobson returned to his family farming operation in Lexington, Mo. Today the farm consists of a corn and soybean rotation, but they are looking at ways to diversify. Cattle have been added into the mix following the decision to plant a cereal rye cover crop ahead of soybeans to use as forage. Dobson also started a seed dealership for Beck’s Hybrid to diversify his own income.

Q: Why did you feel a need to diversify?

A: I think it’s important. As human beings, it’s much easier to focus on just one thing. Life has a rhythm, and you know what to expect during every part of the year. However, diversification allows you to roll with the punches and grow. As we get out of our comfort zone, it usually leads to good results. Whether it’s exercising or farming, hopefully diversification in our day will yield results that improve our longevity. I think we’re seeing the need for it right now given the direction our commodity prices are going. So, maybe we need a few more cash avenues or options on the farm.

Q: Why did you become a seed dealer?

A: When I first returned to the farm, I didn’t have a lot of ownership in the operation. I was mostly just an employee helping with the daily operations. After a few years, I really wanted to take on something of my own. I wanted something I could take hold of and build. I had an opportunity sent my way to start a seed dealership, and so I took it. At that time, we were also going through a downturn in the farm economy, and so it was another way to diversify my cash flow. Since then, it’s helped me build a lot of relationships with neighbors and given me the opportunity to figure out how we can all help each other grow our operations.

Lance Dobson introduced cattle and planted cereal rye cover crop ahead of soybeans to use as forage.

(Dobson Farms)

Q: What lessons have you learned from diversifying the operation?

A: Try something new just enough to get a good experiment going so you can see how it could play out on a larger scale, but don’t get in over your head. You don’t want the test to be so big that it’s a real disaster. Right now, it’s hard to try new things when financials are already constrained, but find a way to try. It’s one of the best ways to find new successes. Yes, there will always be failures, but just go learn from them. I think once you make that jump, you’ll be happy you did in the long run. There’s so much personal growth that happens when we can try new things.

Q: What else do you hope to accomplish in the next five to 10 years?

A: A goal for our farming operation is to be more self reliant and resilient. Today, a lot of the constraints we have are based on commodity prices, which we don’t have any control over, and our input prices, which we also don’t have any control over. So, if we can build our farm to where we don’t rely as much on herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers, I think we’ll be in a better place. Similarly, I’d like to build our operation so we don’t rely as much on straight commodity prices. Maybe that means we do more direct-marketed goods, or we sell our corn as value added, somehow differentiating what we’re growing from commodity yellow corn, I think we’d create a lot more resilient and sustainable business.

Your Next Read — Next-Gen Spotlight: Arkansas Farmer Always Willing to Try Something New

2024 Ag Economy: What's Causing Rural Bankers To Be Pessimistic

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:01:36 GMT

Creighton University has released its January Rural Mainstreet Index – a survey of bank CEOs living in rural communities across a 10-state region.

This month’s survey marks the fifth-straight month where the index has been below the growth neutral mark.

Ernie Goss, PhD, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in regional economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business, shares the continued pessimism from the rural bankers surveyed can be attributed to a few different things.

“We’re talking about somewhat weaker agricultural commodity prices and likewise, the higher interest rates are beginning to cut into what’s going on at the farm,” Goss shared on the AgriTalk podcast. “Also, the global economic slowdown – whether that’s in China, Asia or Europe – is having some impacts on the farm economy. That’s what bankers are telling us.”

Attitudes toward the economy, however, may be on the rise. While the January survey was still below growth-neutral with a reading of 48.1, it was actually up from December’s reading of 41.7. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.

Goss says the long-term outlook for agriculture is still very positive, with little issues in the short-to-intermediate-term outlook – especially for ag retailers.

“Delinquencies are up a bit, but less than one percentage point – so that’s the good news. I think it’s more to do with what’s going on in rural main street businesses,” he says. “That will be the retailers and the farm equipment sellers. They’re seeing some slowdowns and that’s what bankers are seeing reporting on.”

Echoing Goss’ point is the survey’s farm equipment-sales index. In January, it dropped to a reading of 47.9 from December’s reading of 49.5 –marking the seventh time in the past eight months the number has been below growth neutral.

A Bright Spot
More optimistic areas of the survey revolved around farmland. This includes the farmland price index, which read 64.0 and has been growth neutral every month since November 2019, as well as the outlook for farmland transition.

When asked about the share of farm clients facing generational transition, the bankers expected 53.8% to transfer ownership to heirs and 42.3% to sell to other farmers in the area.

“In my judgment, there’s too much hype about the sales going to the Chinese and sales going to others outside [of the country],” Goss says. “It’s mostly within the community, and that’s good in my judgment. That bodes well in the long term for the agricultural sector.”

To hear more from Goss, listen to this episode of AgriTalk .

Leaders in Ag: R.G. Lamar, Pecan Farmer and CEO

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:49:04 GMT

A third-generation pecan farmer, R.G. Lamar also serves as the CEO of Stuckey’s Corporation and chairman of the Georgia Pecan Commission. He’s working with Stephanie Stuckey to rebuild the company from a roadside stop to a premier pecan snack and candy business. His experience in pecan production and private label sales has helped him scale Stuckey’s output, processes, people and distribution.

Define your leadership style?
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I’m definitely not the command and control type. I enjoy creating a context where people feel comfortable offering their contributions. I really try to synthesize other people’s talents and ideas.”

What’s the best advice you ever received?
“The best advice I ever received was from my dad. He told me while scouting the pecan crop when I was a teenager: “Son, if you look up there and don’t see them — they just aren’t there.”

Do you have any advice for others looking to take over a family business?
“Read a finance book. If you’ve grown up in a family business, like mine at least, you don’t worry a lot about finance. You probably have some debt and you know you need to make your payments. I didn’t know much about modeling time value of money, investors or that whole world. If you want to take your business to the next level, you’re going to need money you don’t have sitting around. If you understand finance, it opens up so many opportunities.”

What’s the most challenging thing about running a legacy brand?
“The biggest challenge is being pigeonholed. Everyone expects us to recreate the past, but the future doesn’t look like what we were. We were brick and mortar stores across the country, including more than 360 at the height. The most difficult thing is being what you are going forward without losing what you were in the past.”

Name two of your favorite business tools.
“I’m probably a latecomer to basic team-type software such as Slack. That has been such a great tool for us. We’re learning how to get off of email and onto some of those platforms. Another tool we use on the farm is GPS tracking software for our fleet. Our farm is spread out; we’re in six counties and we have over 50 orchards. I like being able to pull out my phone and see, ‘Okay, this guy is working here, and I need a part picked up at a store in that town.’”

Would you rather watch a movie, read a book or check your email?
“I prefer to read a book. Right now, it’s the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season and everybody’s getting together and having big feasts. Robert Farrar Capon wrote ‘The Supper of the Lamb.’ It’s a cookbook, but it’s more than that. I recommend it.”

A New Option for Farmland Legacy Planning

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 21:25:00 GMT

Earlier this year, Legacy Farmland Trust was launched as a new tool for farmers who may not have the next generation to farm but want to keep the land in trust for their family and multiple generations.

“It was born through witnessing the family dynamics and what farmland ownership can do to families,” Eric Mueller of Legacy Farmland Trust says. “When it came time to sell, not all members were on the same page.”

The creators of the trust saw that in these scenarios, where multiple family members have a stake in an asset, there is limited ability to liquidate or transfer it without everyone agreeing.

To solve the issue, they created a fund where instead of collecting dollars to invest, they take contributions of farmland.

“The farmer is able to contribute an asset to the fund and convert it into fund units that give them a ton of flexibility around transferring and gifting to the next generation,” Jared Hollinger of Legacy Farmland Trust says. “They’re selling a piece of an asset without selling the farm.”

Paul Neiffer, a farm CPA and host of The Top Producer Podcast, interviewed three members of the Legacy Farmland Trust team to learn more about how their approach works for some farmers.

Family members who want to sell their share of the land now have fund units they can sell immediately or over time. Those who didn’t want to sell have interest in their land, as well as the other assets in the trust – allowing them to diversify their holdings.

“Instead of that farm owner owning just that one asset, they now have shares in our fund which gives them exposure to all the assets in the underlying fund,” Hollinger says. “That gives them diversity and it gives them opportunity because a farm may be performing poorly one year or excellent another year. And by having exposure to the entire fund, it goes ahead and insulates them from any kind of bad activity that may occur.”

It’s important to note that contributing into the fund does not create a capital gains event.

Farmland Legacy Trust can also accommodate future generations who would like to come back to the farm.

“If a grandchild is up and coming or if an unnamed heir is contemplated as somebody who may want to own that land 10 or 20 years from now, they can be designated as the first right to purchase and have the ability to pull the asset back out of the fund in the future,” Hollinger says.

They can also designate a right to hunt on the land or a right to gather on the land if the family is no longer actively farming but would still like access to it.

As far as the type of land best suited for the trust, Hollinger says the ideal asset to come into the fund is one with little to no debt and a fair market value of $2 million or greater. The land should also be primarily farmland – not timber or land with permanent crops such as apples or grapes.

If a landowner would like more information about contributing to the trust, they can fill out an interest form on the company’s website .

After that, the owner will provide details around the asset and Legacy Farmland Trust will come back with a proposal. A third-party appraiser then does a series of due diligence to determine the asset’s value and the process moves onto closing. Hollinger estimates the process takes about 90-100 days to go through.

To learn more about Legacy Farmland Trust, listen to their episode on the Top Producer podcast .

John Phipps: Why Water is the New Oil for Landowners

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 13:38:50 GMT

There are signs that water is the new oil.

This is a question sent in by U.S. Farm Report viewer David Marshall of Lafayette, Indiana: “You’ve covered the subject of foreign land ownership and rightly noted that it’s a very small percentage. I think the issue that we really need to address, especially in the southwestern states, is the purchasing of farmland by corporate entities that have nothing to do with farming but who solely want to obtain the water rights that the purchase of the ground includes. Their main reason for purchasing the land is to have a resource that they can sell to the highest bidder. How long before hedge funds and corporations own all the water rights and the farmer and the public are left to be the highest bidder or do without the needed resource?”

As Mark Twain said, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting”. While our arguably arcane water rights laws have provided thousands of billable hours for water lawyers in the West, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.

“First in time, first in line” may have seemed like a good idea centuries ago when rivers and groundwater appeared inexhaustible, the enormous use by modern agriculture - about 80% of our nation’s resources - is testing the practicality of those laws. I can’t imagine modern lawmakers reforming our laws with the needed speed, so the backup method of acquisition for water consumers is to buy the water needed from agriculture.

Bluntly put, there is a price for every gallon, and many farmers are just now realizing how extremely valuable those gallons are.

As I have argued in every land-use debate -from solar panels to suburban development - with rare exceptions due to location or unique qualities, the rights of landowners should be preeminent to allow the market to redistribute those assets.

Consider the rapidly growing cities of the Southwest, like Phoenix. Spending millions to buy water rights from nearby farmers currently growing alfalfa in the desert to feed dairy cows, when milk is being dumped in Wisconsin, looks to me like an inefficient market hampered by regulation and unable to rationally allocate assets.

Between our outdated milk pricing programs and water laws, the outcome you describe is capitalism’s way of solving a problem. Farming may always be the optimal use for our ever-scarcer water.

I think not, but I think this is a problem being solved by accountants, not lawyers.

Pasture to Plate: A Culture-Driven Beef Business

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 17:09:52 GMT

The Ducheneaux family reconnects consumers with their food source

Kelsey Ducheneaux-Scott sat on her front porch, stared out across rolling pastures and thought, “What the hell did I do?” She had just heaved box after box into freezers in the living room, kitchen and laundry room — carefully dispensing 1,700 lb. of ground beef.

Exhausted from the haul (and hoping the circuits wouldn’t blow due to strategically placed freezers) Ducheneaux-Scott couldn’t believe the sheer amount of work before her. How was she going to sell so much grass-fed burger in three months, before her next butcher appointment? Anxiety and stress seeped in during that cold March night in 2020. Little did she know how quickly that product would move.

“COVID hit and there was no beef in any of our stores,” Ducheneaux-Scott recalls. “We sold out of that 1,700 lb. in a matter of three weeks. People realized how easily local grocery stores can be disrupted here in rural South Dakota.”

PASTURE TO PLATE

With a focus on feeding those around her, Ducheneaux-Scott is leading a transformation of her family’s operation. DX Ranch was established in the 1930s near Eagle Butte, S.D., on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. It began with beef cattle and draft horses.

Today, Ducheneaux-Scott and her husband, Monte Scott, work alongside her family raising quarter horses and 280 head of cow-calf pairs in a regenerative production system.

“I am a fourth-generation rancher on DX Ranch, and I’m the 125th generation to steward this landscape,” Ducheneaux-Scott says. “We’ve focused on ensuring we’re not just thinking about the livestock above ground but also thinking about the livestock below ground.”

FATHER-DAUGHTER DUO

For her entire life, Ducheneaux-Scott has worked alongside her father, Zach Ducheneaux. That was until early 2021, when Ducheneaux was selected by the Biden administration to serve as the Farm Service Agency administrator (he received the call for the position while they were at the sale barn).

Luckily, Ducheneaux had prepared his daughter to be a leader on the ranch and in life. They are members of the Lakota tribe, which is a matriarchal society.

“My dad never let me think I couldn’t do something because I was a girl,” Ducheneaux-Scott says. “He empowered me to believe I could do things better because I was a girl and had a different perspective.”

After college, Ducheneaux-Scott wanted to be a rancher and bought into the family’s cowherd in 2016.

“I was obsessive in watching those calves grow that year,” she says. “I might as well have had names and birth certificates for every calf.”

After selling that calf crop, Ducheneaux-Scott headed back to the ranch and pondered the future.

“I drove through two counties that face food insecurity,” she says. “I thought, golly, the system is so broken. We have up to 80,000 head of cattle grazing on 3.2 million acres here on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation, and there isn’t any local beef being packaged and made available for purchase. The beef grown here is phenomenal, but none of us get to actually eat it.”

At home, she scribbled down a bunch of ideas and started a business plan. That plan morphed into DX Beef , which has a simple mission: Provide nutritious and local beef that improves its communities.

The direct-to-consumer business featuring their 100% grass-fed beef has expanded in the past two years and is helping the family move away from the commodity market model.

“For the first 90 years of our existence, we’d largely been victim to the commodity markets just like everyone else,” Ducheneaux says. “Behind the effort of Kelsey, in 2020, for the first time, we sold more beef in the box than we did on the hoof. A tremendous advocate for buying, selling and serving

locally, she’s found a way to provide healthier, grass-finished beef to our fellow reservation residents at a price they can afford.”

In 2019, the family sold 12 head of cattle through their business. In 2020, they sold close to 80. This year the total will top 110.

All beef is processed and mostly sold through their online store. To meet local needs, it is sold by the pound or portion of the whole beef. They even do wholesale orders for nearby restaurants.

CULTURE AND TRADITION

The hurdles of small-scale direct marketing are difficult to overcome. Yet Ducheneaux-Scott is seeing great success thanks to her marketing and organizational skills. Through storytelling, which is rooted in their Lakota culture, the family uses technology to share the story of their ranch and products.

“Family comes before the dollar in this operation,” Ducheneaux says. “We’re not solely about monetizing the value of that product, and we realize there are other values to our beef.”

Their story is shaped by their love and respect for the 7,000 acres of tribal land they manage through a tribal lease.

“I’m a grass and soil nerd,” Ducheneaux-Scott says. “Soil health is so critical to a resilient ecosystem. Our grazing system is focused on mimicking nature. This ecosystem evolved from having cloven-hoofed bison and other wildlife graze at a pace that allowed for a robust rest period, so we practice rotational grazing.”

The DX Ranch herd is an Angus base, influenced with breeds that will help the cattle handle the sometimes-brutal central South Dakota climate, Ducheneaux-Scott says. From changing their calving season to May to decrease cattle stress to steadily increasing soil health, the Ducheneaux family aims to work with Mother Nature.

“We have flexibility in our management so we can listen to what the landscape is telling us because she knows better than we do,” Ducheneaux-Scott says. “We

are simply another biological species that’s a part of this greater ecosystem.”

Listen as Kelsey Ducheneaux-Scott discusses her operation with Andrew McCrea on the “Farming the Countryside” podcast:

OTHERS BEFORE ONESELF

As a producer, business owner and member of her nation, Ducheneaux-Scott says she is driven by the opportunity and honor to feed others.

“I’ve come to appreciate having someone tell say your beef tasted good or how they brought their family together around our product,” she says. “Those are the experiences that make feeding cows in a blizzard, slopping through the mud to check calves and sleepless nights all worth it.”

Snapshot of DX Ranch

Operation: DX Ranch includes quarter horses and 280 head of cow-calf pairs in a regenerative production system on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation near Eagle Butte, S.D. The ranch is also home to DX Beef, a direct-to-consumer business featuring their 100% grass-fed beef.

Family: Following in the footsteps of her father, Zach Ducheneaux, Kelsey Ducheneaux-Scott is the fourth generation of her family to ranch. She and her husband, Monte Scott, work with several members of her family in the operation.

Leadership: Ducheneaux-Scott is the director of programs for the Intertribal Agriculture Council, which provides a voice for the Native American community on ag policy and programs. In 2021, Ducheneaux was selected to lead the Farm Service Agency, where he oversees 10,000 employees.

Travel to Gettysburg, S.D., and virtually visit DX Ranch.

Top Producer of the Year Winner: ‘Without Values Our Business is Like a Ship at Sea Without a Rudder’

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 17:16:12 GMT

Finalists for the Top Producer of the Year award represent the best in the business of farming, specifically entrepreneurial originality; financial and business progress; and industry and community leadership. This is not an award about size or scope. Instead, it focuses on professionalism, sophistication and innovation. Congratulations to Malecha Enterprises, the 2022 Top Producer of the Year winner. Todd and Louise Malecha were recognized at a ceremony held Feb. 14 during Top Producer Summit in Nashville.

At Malecha Enterprises, owners Todd and Louise Malecha answer one question before making any decision: How can we add value to other people’s lives? This focus on family and business has helped the Villard, Minn., operation grow and evolve through decades and generations.

An accident five days before Todd and Louise’s wedding in 1989 meant they were married in the hospital. Luckily that was not a bad omen. Today they have seven children, ages 18 to 31. Five of their children and two daughters-in-law are members of the Malecha Enterprises team. The operation includes 1,200 milk cows and 1,100 replacement heifers as well as 2,500 acres of alfalfa, corn, silage, soybeans and hay. They also do custom work and own and operate a gravel pit.

When Todd and Louise realized their children might want to be part of the family businesses, they began a generational approach to business planning. Starting in 2011, when their children were still very young, they created a detailed evaluation and analysis of each business unit. They then created goals and action steps for each unit.

The Malechas stay focused on goals and values, working with a stable of professionals. They set one-, three- and 10-year goals, which they evaluate quarterly based on the needs of their businesses. They have eight core values, once of which stands for CANEi (Constant and Never-Ending Improvement).

As Todd says, “Without values our business is like a ship at sea without a rudder.”

Travel to Minnesota to visit Malecha Enterprises.

The Top Producer of the Year award is sponsored by BASF, Case IH and Rabo AgriFinance.

The Online Top Producer Summit is set for Feb. 22-23 and will include live, on-demand and recorded sessions from the event in Nashville. Register now!

How Do You Add Value to Commodity Crops? Build a Niche Market, Proves Idaho Operation

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 15:22:36 GMT

Idaho operation builds niche business to complement core crops

Faced with multiple years of stagnant prices, Christopher Riggers and his father, Nate, knew it was time for a creative approach. The farming pair had built their Idaho operation around a diverse roster of nearly 10 fall and spring crops, but they were leaving money on the table.

How do you add value to commodity crops? Build a niche market.

“Our region is perfect for growing high-quality malting barley,” Christopher says. “The problem is we just haven’t had a good market in this area for a long time.”

GEOGRAPHIC ADVANTAGE

Many of the major beer producers want to source barley close to their malt houses, which are hours or states away from the Riggers’ operation in Nezperce, Idaho. But in the past decade, craft malt houses have surged alongside craft breweries. As of 2021, Idaho is home to 83 craft breweries, and Washington is home to 437, per the Brewers Association.

Combining their geographic and agronomic advantages, the Riggers partnered with Horlacher Farms in Latah, Wash., in 2020 to form Cold Stream Malt & Grain Co.

“We market grain directly to craft malt houses in the Northwest as well as our own branded, finished malt to craft breweries and distilleries,” Christopher says. “We highlight our direct-from-the-farm sourcing and emphasize our conservation focused farming practices.”

The company, with a simple slogan of, “Great malt doesn’t begin in the steep tank, it begins in the soil,” has far exceeded their expectations and profit goals.

“By processing and marketing the barley ourselves, we’ve added value beyond what we would typically receive through our traditional marketing channels,” Christopher says.

Beyond helping the Riggers insulate their balance sheets from volatile commodity cycles, the business also lets them use core assets (grain bins, machinery, etc.) and employees more efficiently.

LEARN AND RETURN

The Riggers’ craft malt business is the latest in a long history of innovation. Their family traces farming in Idaho back to 1895. After graduating from the University of Idaho in 1987, Nate worked for several years in the grain and seed industry. In the early 1990s, his father was ready to retire, so Nate joined his brother, Steve, as a farm partner.

“When my dad retired, we were farming around 1,500 acres,” Nate says. “We doubled the acres in the span of a few years and then have had slow and steady growth. It’s always easier to manage your capital risk with that kind of growth.”

As a kid working alongside his father and uncle, Christopher had no doubt he wanted to farm, but before doing so, his parents wanted him to experience the corporate world, learning how to lead employees as well as learning how to be led. So, after graduating from Purdue University, Christopher worked as a grain merchandiser for a several companies throughout the Midwest and Montana.

In 2017, Steve wanted to retire, which allowed Christopher to join the farm. With his wife, Natalie, Christopher moved back to Idaho and started as a full-time employee.

“At the end of 2018, with the help of our accountant and attorney, we valued the business and created a stock buyout of my brother and his wife,” Nate says. “Then Christopher and I began that buyout, so he and his wife could begin accumulating ownership in the farm.”

CANCER CURVEBALL

Consequently, the timing of Christopher’s return was perfect. A year later, Nate was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer.
“From the winter of 2019 to the fall of 2020, dad was undergoing treatments and chemotherapy,” Christopher says. “That was a hard time, since I’d only been on the farm for two years and just felt like I was getting a grasp of things.”

While Nate focused on his health, agronomists, neighbors and consultants stepped in to be a sounding board for Christopher. In addition, a network of Nate’s friends, many from when he attended The Executive Program for Ag Producers (TEPAP) in 1998/99, were on call.

“Some of these folks have become like family to us, and they feel like our neighbors even though they might be 2,000 miles away,” Christopher says. “There are people who I talked to every day that year.”

Now cancer-free, Nate serves as the CFO and business manager, focusing on administrative and financial elements for the farm. As CEO, Christopher leads daily operations, strategic planning and most of the relationship management.

These distinct roles have let Christopher grow as a leader and have given Nate time to pursue other opportunities, such as being board chair of Northwest Farm Credit.

“Between getting cancer in 2019 and then being on the board of directors, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to leave the farm,” Nate says. “It’s been a really a good tool for succession, even if we didn’t necessarily plan it that way.”

3,500' ELEVATION

With a solid structure in place, the Riggers are now focused on efficiency and growth. The operation, which sits at 3,500' in elevation, includes roughly 10,000 acres of fall crops (winter wheat, winter canola and Kentucky bluegrass seed) and spring crops (barley, spring canola and some legumes, such as chickpeas, lentils and green peas).

“The diversification of their crops provides an excellent risk management strategy,” says Joshua Huff, branch manager for Northwest Farm Credit Services.

“Our geography, elevation and somewhat mild winters allow us to grow the fall crops, which yield better than spring crops in our area,” Christopher says. “Being able to split between fall and spring crops, we’re able to cover more ground with less equipment and less people versus Midwest corn and soybean farms.”

For 10,000 acres, the Riggers use one air seeder, one sprayer and three full-time employees. Asset use and efficiency are a key focus for the team. In fact, it’s one of Christopher’s favorite parts about farming.

“I love evaluating the previous year, looking at what we did right and what we did wrong — just having a chance to learn every year,” he says.

These evaluations span input application timing, machinery upgrades, downtime and more. Challenges are identified and faced head on.
As the Riggers look to the future, Christopher knows that in farming and life, the greatest challenges often bring the greatest rewards.

Snapshot of Clearwater Farms

Operation and Family: Clearwater Farms is led by father-and-son duo Nate and Christopher Riggers. It includes around 10,000 acres of crops. Nate’s wife, Christine, and Christopher’s wife, Natalie, work in local education. Christopher and Natalie have three children, Will, 2, and twin girls, Georgia and Mabel, 1.
Team: The Riggers’ goal is to provide people in their community with meaningful careers and growth opportunities. The team includes three full-time and three part-time employees.
Focus on Sustainability: The Riggers prioritize conservation practices. Clearwater Farms is a certified Salmon-Safe farm, which shows they use practices to protect water and habitat.
Business Venture: In 2020, the Riggers partnered to form Cold Stream Malt & Grain Co. , which sells cleaned and processed malt barley and finished malt.

84% of Iowa Farmland Now Owned Debt-Free

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 19:47:27 GMT

According to an Iowa State University study, 58% of Iowa’s farmland is under a lease, which is up 1 million acres since the study was last conducted in 2017.

Researchers’ findings reveal farmland leases continue to be handled on a cash rent basis rather than crop share and owner-operated. Since 2017, cash rent, specifically fixed cash rent, has increased 5% to 87%.

“The rise of cash rent, especially fixed cash rent, correlates with the growing percentage of landowners who are part-time and non-residents of Iowa,” says Wendong Zhang, associate professor at Iowa State. “Fifty-five percent of land is owned by an owner who did not farm in 2022, and, of them, over half do not have farming experience. Especially for those landowners, a fixed cash rental contract is a natural choice.”

Only 47% of farmland was directly operated by a landowner in 2017. Today, that number has been cut to 42%.

Iowa’s Farmland Ownership

There are also changing tides in how Iowa farmland is owned. Roughly 80% of Iowa’s farmland in 1982 was in sole ownership or joint tenancy; now, that number sits at 52%. Instead, landowners are opting for a trust , with numbers growing from 1% to 23% since 1982.

Zhang says trusts have recently grown in popularity due to the numerous benefits they can provide:
• Help to keep the farm in the family
• Aid in managing land transitions
• Tax break potential

“Trusts are an especially valuable tool in succession planning,” Zhang says.

The researchers also found 17% of farmland owners do not have a planned successor. However, the survey finds 75% of Iowa’s landowners are interested in selling their land to beginning farmers, thanks to incentives in federal and state tax credits.

“At the same time, over half of Iowa landowners expressed concerns about difficulty finding quality beginning farmers as well as beginning farmers’ ability to pay the best prices for land,” says Jingyi Tong, an Iowa State PhD student involved in the research.

A rise in beginning farmers would tip the scales in another area of Iowa State’s research. Currently, 66% of Iowa’s farmland is owned by people over 65-years-old, which is up from 29% in 1982.

Similarly, women own 46% of the state’s land, and they hold a larger share among senior owners.

Farmland Debt

The study also finds farmland debt is continuing a downward trajectory, with 84% of Iowa farmland owned debt-free — the highest level ever recorded. In 1982, only 62% of land was owned debt-free; however, due to the 1980s farm crisis, researchers anticipated the large gap.

According to Tong, farmers are holding onto their land more in recent years due to increased commodity profits, aging landowners and government payments granted for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shay Foulk: The Importance of Community in Rural America

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 16:40:30 GMT

In a normal day I see five people consistently — my wife and daughter, and our farm team. Of course, I see people in passing at the post office, stores, and waving at neighbors on the road. I often place/take 50-100 phone calls a day for business purposes. However, it’s not often that I take the time to just stop and talk to people.

No agenda, no purpose, no business — just talk.

Don’t Be Lonely

It can get lonely in rural America. Not in a depressive, down-and-out kind of way for me, but I can easily see how and why others struggle with this.

We tell ourselves we are so damn busy all the time, but what are we busy with and how important is it? Is it more important than our mental health and happiness? Absolutely not.

I stopped and talked with some neighbors the other day — admittedly the initial purpose of the visit was business. But then we just talked for almost an hour. It was so refreshing. We laughed, cussed our worries and troubles, and had sincere conversations. It was … real. Lively. Invigorating.

It made my whole day, actually. Sure, I could have drilled another 40 acres of cover crops in that time, but productivity does not equal happiness. This is a lesson I have learned over the last several years.

I have strayed from a sense of community outside of church. I love my family so dearly and having a young child can be all-encompassing. I am happy and whole with my family, and I am ok seeing the same five people day in and day out. However, I will be making a conscious effort to talk with people more and slow down a bit, because it is so rewarding.

What do we always tell ourselves and our friends when we get ready to leave them or get off the phone after not talking in a while? ‘We should do this more often! Let’s not let it go this long before we talk again.’ We feel this way because the breath of fresh air we experience after these visits! Why not just take time more often to do this?

It is Veteran’s Day today, at the time of writing, and I often find myself thinking about the men I know you have served, lost their lives, or ended their lives when they couldn’t beat the demons they were facing. Their memory, and love for them, inspires me to live my life fully and intentionally.

How much would we give to stop and talk with them for another 30 minutes? Just a passing conversation about normal things would be a memory we could cherish forever. We never know when our conversation with someone might be the last.

Be Present

I challenge you to make a conscious effort today and moving into the holiday season to reach out to people you know and love and just be present with them. Live in the moment, laugh and enjoy them, and let them know you care for or love them. Enjoy the rush of dopamine in your brain that tells you this interaction and sense of community is a good thing.

We are more than productivity, the hours we work, and the services we provide. We are people, friends, family, and community. You are important, you are loved, and you are worthy of conversation, caring, and love.

Enjoy the day, and I hope you have a great conversation with someone today and in the weeks ahead.

Read Shay’s columns for Top Producer .

Shay Foulk grew up in northeast Iowa, working on a row crop and livestock operation with his father, uncles, and grandfathers. He attended Iowa State University where he majored in Agronomy. After graduating, Shay enlisted in the United States Army, and served with the 75th Ranger Regiment. Shay now farms and runs Monier Seed with his father-in-law near Sparland, IL, and also works as a consultant with Chris Barron at Ag View Solutions . Today, Shay works with farm operations locally and globally to improve profitability and efficiency, manage risk in many forms, and develop farm businesses through coaching and consulting.

$1B to Biofuels in Build Back Better

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:52:54 GMT

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Rep. Cindy Axne joined AgriTalk with host Chip Flory and Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer recently to comb through President Biden’s reframe of the Build Back Better (BBB) plan.

The proposal is now $1.75-trillion dollars and is almost 25-hundred pages long. It includes the following for biofuels:

$1 billion in funding for the biofuels industry
A four-year extension of the $1dollar biodiesel tax credit
Plans to develop “sustainable aviation fuels
$320 billion in clean energy tax credits
$110 billion for investments in clean energy technology
$105 billion to address extreme weather

Ethanol

“There is a specific appropriation of $1 billion for the industry,” says Vilsack. “Secondly, there are a series of tax credits the industry could potentially take advantage of as it formulates low carbon fuel, and the combination of those two is a very positive aspect.”

Projections for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) have been top-of-mind for Vilsack. He says the industry can expect a 35-billion-gallon demand.

Opportunities for production facilities to “be able to store carbon, to sequester carbon and there is a potential tax credit that they can benefit in the bill for that kind of storage capacity,” says Vilsack.

Representative Cindy Axne (D-IA) shared ADM’s intentions to produce SAFs at multiple locations, saying, “they expect to get to 500 million gallons a year and then scale up.”

Conservation

The decreased BBB budget reduces conservation funding from $28 billion to $27 billion for programs like Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), as well as the conservation easement efforts.

“When was the last time we invested $27 billion over a couple years in conservation programs? Never… There’s $27 billion in additional assistance for forests to help avoid these catastrophic forest fires,” Vilsack says.

Rural Economy

“There’s a significant amount for rural housing, rural economic development, and billions of dollars for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP),” says Vilsack.

USDA renewable energy grants will also be made available through BBB in the range of $3 billion. Vilsack says universal preschool, college expense assistance and lower healthcare and housing costs are also included “to strengthen American families.”

Axne elaborated on these efforts saying the childcare provision will provide relief for those looking to reenter the workforce as it is “the number one thing that’s holding people back from getting into the workforce.” She says this legislation will help roughly 20 million children.

In conjunction with the BBB, Vilsack emphasized the bipartisan infrastructure (BIF) package will improve broadband access in rural America, along with improved roads, bridges, ports, and inland waterways. He also shared he recently rode a barge down the Mississippi River that resulted in over an hour and a half wait for a barge to move through a single lock and dam. “You’re going to cut that time in half” with the BIF improvements, he notes.

Vilsack also noted opportunities to increase debt-relief for farmers “who are in a distressed circumstance that have loans from USDA” can be found in the reframed BBB.

Climate Change

Commodity Credit Corporation’s (CCC) authority for carbon goes untouched in the new BBB, according to Vilsack.

“We are confident that the program we announced last month, which will utilize the Commodity Credit Corporation, is a legitimate use of those resources as it is helping to create a climate-smart commodity and the standards for climate-smart commodities so that there will be some clarity and some direction in the future as to folks who want to go to consumers and say, ‘Buy our stuff because it is produced sustainably,’” says Vilsack.

The climate-smart commodity efforts development, according to Vilsack, will open the door for documentation of how commodities are produced. “For that, farmers should be compensated, and they should also be able to legitimately participate in carbon markets that are privately operated,” he says.

Stepped-Up Basis

In the BBB reframe, Vilsack claims there isn’t any literature outlining the end of the stepped-up basis. Additionally, there is “nothing” suggesting the current estate tax will be altered.

“The people that are paying for this are corporations that made more than $1 billion and didn’t pay any tax, and individuals that make more than $10 million per year or $25 million--they might pay a little extra tax,” Vilsack says. “I think they can afford to do that. And tens of millions of American families are going to see their taxes reduced because the child credit continues and because the Earned Income Tax Credit is extended and increased.”

House Agriculture’s Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) shared he’s fearful the tax policies “shrouded in secrecy”, will wreak havoc on farm families, saying, “a recent study has shown these policies could add $1.4 million to the average tax liability for a farm family.”

Biofuel Aid

Vilsack provided an update timeline on the COVID-19 aid package for biofuel producers, saying “It’s ready to go, we just need to get the clearance from OMB and the White House, and I’m sure we will get that very soon.”

“It may physically still be here [at USDA], but because we have been working with OMB, once it goes over there it’s not going to take very long for them to sign off on that,” Vilsack says.

According to Vilsack, the USDA will detail how the funds will be split up to help the industry. He says the combined tax credits and support through the BBB demonstrate industry support and interest in aviation biofuel.

The reframed BBB legislation will continue the $1-a-gallon tax credit for biodiesel that was previously noted in the original, $3.5 trillion plan. However, under the new, $1.75 trillion plan, that credit will now only through 2026 and would then be replaced by a clean fuel credit that could extend to other products, including sustainable aviation fuel and lower carbon versions of ethanol.

Farm Succession Planning Gets A Boost From An Ethical Will

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 03:05:51 GMT

This article is from the Top Producer 2019 Executive Women in Agriculture Conference. Learn more about the 2020 EWA Conference agenda and register here: https://bit.ly/30jjkwY

Thirteen years ago, Mitzi Perdue says an experience changed the trajectory of her life.

At a meeting of wealthy, high-profile people who belong to what she describes as the “Famous Last Names Club,” she heard nearly everyone share a story about how they weren’t getting along with their family. Perdue, who grew up as part of the Sheraton hotel family, the Hendersons, and later married Frank Perdue, the poultry giant, was puzzled.

“I couldn’t really relate,” she recalls. Both of her families had been what she describes as high functioning. Plus, their respective businesses had thrived through multiple generations, an unlikely feat given that 70% of family businesses don’t survive beyond the first generation.

“I started studying why some families are high-functioning and others are not,” she recalls. “Why do some families want to help each other be all they can be?”

That question sent her on a quest during the next decade to find the answer. She read books, she attended conferences, she watched programs on YouTube and talked with tens of experts.

Her conclusion, she notes, could be summed up in one word: culture.

“Culture is a road map that guides us in what’s right or wrong,” she says. “The families that don’t [succeed] left their culture to accident. The strong ones invest in and teach their children values.”

She shared three things with attendees at the 2019 Executive Women in Agriculture (EWA) Conference that she says saved both of her families and their thriving businesses through the years.

“We keep our quarrels in the family,” she says. “We know that being part of a family requires sacrifice. Relationships are more important than money—what good is it to succeed financially but fall apart as a family?”

Along with those three factors, she says the Perdue family made five additional decisions that it continues to use. She recommends these to help other families that are wanting to survive and thrive in the future. They are:
1. Create an ethical will
2. Encourage and cherish traditions
3. Have awards that reinforce your culture
4. Write newsletters just for children
5. Produce a “What It Means to Be Us” book

Upon his death in 2005, her husband, Frank Perdue, left the following “ethical will” for his children and grandchildren, which she says the family still uses today. It reads:
1. Be honest always.
2. Be a person whom others are justified in trusting.
3. If you say you will do something, do it.
4. You don’t have to be the best, but you should be the best you can be.
5. Treat all people with courtesy and respect, no exceptions.
6. Remember that the way to be happy is to think of what you can do for others.
7. Be part of something bigger than yourself.
8. Remember that hard work is satisfying and fulfilling.
9. Nurture the ability to laugh and have fun.
10. Have respect for those who have gone before; learn from their weaknesses and build on their strengths.

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John Phipps: A Salute to Aging Farm Truck Drivers in Aging Trucks

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 19:04:55 GMT

I’m taping this on Veterans Day so it’s somewhat appropriate to offer a salute to some other fellow veterans – the old farmers in old trucks. With labor tight, finding someone to haul grain to the elevator for a few weeks in the fall can be challenging for farmers, and the go-to solution is to enlist old guys. Many of them could use the money, and many more of them just need to get out of the house and have something to do. These veterans are matched by old trucks which, like them, may not be as fast as they once were, but still have some life left. While I know there are some farms with new rigs, the vast majority of us are using re-purposed fleet vehicles with a few hundred thousand miles to make the 18-mile round trip to the elevator. Old trucks match up well with their aging drivers. We both have some eccentric disabilities that drivers work around.

I see them at the elevator, climbing carefully and often painfully down to unroll the tarp. I pass people on the scales I went to school with and played basketball against. It took me some time to realize since I was their contemporary, I too was an old guy in an old truck. In fact, counting Jan and I, and a retired funeral director friend, our average fleet age is 73 – the drivers that is. The trucks are just 13-15 years young. Meanwhile, I have a neighbor who proudly passed his CDL renewal at 92.

It is a curious thing that as our time here begins to dwindle, we old guys often have more time on our hands that we ever had before. So here’s my salute to my other fellow veterans without whom the harvest wars would be going even worse than they are. Keep up the good work and be careful. And for all you employers who depend on these experienced helpers, would it kill you to upgrade to electric tarps?