How a Kansas Farmer Kept a 30-Year Track Record of Zero Employee Turnover

Driving into Frahm Farmland in Colby, Kansas, the scenery says it all.

"I never really saw myself winding up as a farmer,” says Lon Frahm, sitting inside an area that serves as not only the event center for the farm, but the corporate headquarters.

Sign after sign, white buildings dotted along the property, is a farm that’s all business. Frahm, who never considered himself a farm kid, has been at the helm of the operation since 1986, after his father died unexpectedly.

“There are a lot of things I hadn't been exposed to or hadn’t learned, and so I learned a lot of stuff real fast,” he says. “But because my grandfather wasn't around, my father wasn't around, it wasn't ‘We've always done it that way.’ I got to figure out my own way.”

And that’s exactly what Frahm did. From the 6,000 acres in 1986, to today's more than 30,000 acres of corn, plus 1,000 acres of wheat, efficiency sprouts in many ways.

“That's really what you have to do if it's 1986 and there's no money and there are big debts,” says Frahm. “What's your choice when you have to get as much mileage out of any little thing?”

Employee-Driven Ideas and Solutions

With 12 full-time employees, as well as seasonal help, Frahm says decisions on the farm today are a team effort.

“They come up with the solutions, and in fact, they're in charge of it all,” he says. “I don't shop for anything. The guys go and get the bids, then go get the ideas. They line up the salesmen and then they present what they'd like to do. We'll talk about it and decide whether we go with it or not.”

From fuel to fertilizer, every detail counts. What was a bottleneck with fueling up at harvest, the team came up with the idea to have six nozzles in one spot, so all combines can fill up simultaneously.

Efficiency in Every Corner

In the crop health building, efficiency is also on full display.

“Well, this building was really set up with two purposes,” says Robert Bell, safety director/electrical operations manager for Frahm Farmland. “One of them was to kind of be our area to wash off equipment and sprayers."

Bell says while the wash area is a nice feature in the building, the primary purpose is to load trucks and fill up sprayers with chemicals.

“We have dry locks, we pick it up, turn on the pump, it's full stop and pull apart. It's a big safety thing and big time savings for us, and obviously very efficient,” adds Bell.

The design and plan for the building features didn’t happen by accident. Bell tailored it to fit the farm’s needs.

“We went and toured our local Nutrien location, and we toured some other farmers’ facilities that had put in a similar kind of setup," he says. "Then we kind of tailored that to what works best for us.”

Grain System of Growth

Just across from the crop health building, sits a grain bin system that’s a pinnacle piece of what Frahm Farmland does, as it one represents decades of growth.

“The technology that's in the bins that really helps us are the fan control systems that monitor the moisture and the ambient temperature," Frahm explains. "We put in parameters or goals for the moisture that we want.”

In total, the system features four pits, four overhead loadouts and three grain dryers that have the capacity to handle 10,000 bushels per hour. The grain system can also digest different moisture levels of the same crop, with the ability to even sort the grain by test weight.

“I would say I make more money being a grain elevator than being a farmer,” says Frahm. “I've had my lender tell me that before. We get to keep about 50 cents just because it goes across the scale right there, at least, and then there's a chance to make way more than that. But if I haven't retained 50 cents, I’m doing something wrong.”

Some improvements in the grain system and farm he can quantify, others are driven by convenience.

“If I had to haul into a commercial elevator, it would take at least two more combines and probably six more semis," Frahm says. "But being here, we could be completely coordinated in the flow of trucks in and there's essentially never a line at our scale house, even though we're running 234 or 500 trucks across the scale a day.”

Investing in Employees

The investments Frahm makes aren’t just in in infrastructure, but also his employees.

“It isn't just about punching a clock,” says Frahm. “And there is no time clock here. Everyone is on salary, no one works by the hour. We’re all professionals.”

Frahm believes in helping people reach their goals, and giving them to tools to do so. Employees such as Christian Wilson, who is in the process of receiving his MBA from Kansas State University, is doing so with the support of Frahm.

“It's a program he had been through," Wilson says. "I think he really saw the value in the tools he was able to bring back to the farm in early 2000s that helped him make certain decisions throughout the years as he grew his business, and I think he wanted to pass on that to someone else."

Bringing what he learns back to the farm fits with the team’s open-table policy.

“We all get together for an hour in the morning and eat together,” says Bell. “And we're kind of like family. We share everything. I think that is a lot of what drives a culture here. It helps gets us all on the same page and moving the same direction.”

From the large table to the war room, plans are made and ideation is welcomed.

“I think that's one of Lon's best attributes is he's always willing to change, and he embraces change,” says Wilson. “It's very, very transparent on that level.”

High Employee Retention

The transparency on the farm translates into high employee retention, as Frahm had a three-decade long track record of no employee quitting or getting let go.

“It's very simple; all you have to do is be the employer of preference, and your community, and you'll never have a problem,” says Frahm.

As Frahm Farmland continues to be an attractive place to work in Colby, Kan., Frahm also helps employees invest in their future.

“Nine of us own our own farm ground,” Wilson says. “I think that's where the buy-in comes in. We've all got a little bit of skin in the game. I think that has changed people's mindset to where it’s also, their crop that's on the line. And so, I think everyone wants to do the best for themselves and the operation.”

Instead of chasing the highest yields, Frahm Farmland focuses on what they can control through efficiency and the ability to always be willing to change and learn.