With each issue, Top Producer magazine spotlights an innovative farming operation. In 2021, we traveled North, South, East and West. Enjoy this look of the farmers we met this year. You’ll probably find an idea or two to adopt as we look toward 2022.
January
Oregon Producers are Partners for the Long Haul
Macey Wessels and Shelly Boshart Davis in Tangent, Ore.
How do you navigate the bumpy and sometimes scary roads of business ownership? Have an ace copilot.
Macey Wessels and Shelly Boshart Davis were at a crossroad. The two had each grown up in a family business, learning everything from driving a tractor to running a mint still to calculating profit and loss. They cherished working with their families but were also itching for a new opportunity.
“We weren’t 100% sure where our place would be in the future with our family businesses,” Wessels says. “We knew what we wanted, whether it would be together or separate.”
After exploring several opportunities, Boshart Davis called Wessels, saying, “I think we should buy my parents out.”
February
Dairy Operation Takes A Pragmatic Tech Approach
Chris Weaver in Montpelier, Ohio
Despite extensive use of technology around his farm, Chris Weaver does not consider himself an early adopter.
“A new technology comes out and some people will jump right into it. I’ll probably wait six months,” he says.
While Weaver might not be the first in line to try new technology, he has always been drawn to computers. When Weaver and his dad started their home farm in 1998, he saw a need to make management of the dairy more efficient, especially because the farm focuses on fluid and powdered milk markets.
March/April
Young Farmer Aims to be the Middle Chapter in a Farm Legacy
Matt Splitter in Lyons, Kan.
Call it a turning point, moment of truth or divine intervention. In reality, it was a simple question, but what followed was decisive and momentous change.
Matt Splitter from Lyons, Kan., approached fellow producer Lee Scheufler, from nearby Sterling, at a community event in 2015.
“My question was: Why do you plant your soybeans with an air seeder on 7.5" rows?” Splitter recalls. “Lee and his wife, Margaret, are pioneers in no-till and technology on their farm. He didn’t give me an answer. He said ‘I’d like to visit with you further.’”
July/August
Business Built to Last
Longview Farms in Nevada, Iowa
Growth doesn’t happen by chance. In business, it is caused by the right forces working together. Or, in the case of LongView Farms — the right people working together.
In Nevada, Iowa, Steve and Laurie Henry, and their sons Scott and Eric are carrying forward an enduring family legacy that stretches nearly seven decades. Every decision at LongView Farms is made with a focus on the future and respect for the past, and the team’s strategy revolves around being progressive, thoughtful and disciplined.
September
Meet Maryland’s Dietitian Turned Farmer
Jennie Schmidt in Sudlersville, Md.
When Jennie Schmidt scans her fields of grapes, corn, soybeans and green beans, her mind toggles between biology, crop conditions and consumer perception. A registered dietitian turned farmer, Schmidt still uses her nutrition knowledge and scientific background every day.
“Being a farmer is essentially being a dietitian to the crops, just in a different biological system than the one I was clinically trained,” Schmidt says. “I prefer to work with plants and soils because they are more compliant with their diet prescription than people.”
October
Sharp Financial Analysis Paves the Way For Came Farms
Bill Came in Salina, Kan.
In his 30-year career, Bill Came has witnessed lofty highs and extreme lows. He slowly revived his family’s central Kansas farm, and then said goodbye as his father passed away. After spending several years working alongside two siblings, he helped make a heart- wrenching decision to place a brother in a nursing home.
Through droughts, blizzards, market tops and market lows, Came has focused on producing the highest quality grain and livestock at the lowest possible cost, while being a good steward and always staying focused on his family.
November
How a Texas Farmer Killed Agriculture’s Debt Dragon
Casey and Annie Kimbrell in Sunray, Texas
Casey Kimbrell grows several thousand of acres of corn and cotton, but he typically has no operating loan. He did not marry into money, inherited nothing beyond a story pulled from the Book of Job, and insists his escape from debt is unremarkable: “I’m not special in any way. Maybe not everyone can do what I’ve done, but anyone sure can.”
In 2007, at 37 years young, Kimbrell pulled the handbrake on life, questioned the fundamentals of agriculture, and determined to topple the assumed pillar of farm function—debt. “I once believed debt-free farming was impossible,” he says. “I spent half a lifetime believing farmers had to have payments. I’ve done foolish things with money and I’ve made my share of mistakes, but now I know the truth: Debt does not have to be the economic reality of farming.”
December
Pasture to Plate: A Culture-Driven Beef Business
DX Ranch in Gettysburg in Eagle Butte, S.D.
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.”
