As a second-generation corn, soybean and sorghum grower in southwest Michigan, Jake Drozd grew up watching his father, Jon, swap ideas and information with other farmers. Those conversations left him with a clear conviction: in agriculture, knowledge is something to be shared, not hoarded.
“People helped me, my dad and my brother get to where we are today, and now it’s our job to give that back as well,” Drozd says.
Farming on the Edge of Lake Michigan
Drozd farms with his father, Jon, brother, Ryan, and extended family about 15 miles off Lake Michigan, where lake-effect snow, wildly variable soils and long, late harvest seasons are the norm, not the exception. Drozd says their operation is known for its high-yield corn — some fields have been in corn-on-corn for over 40 years — and a willingness to experiment with grain sorghum, fertigation and biologicals.
Behind the family’s high-level performance is a long list of mentors and peers Drozd is quick to credit for helping his family succeed.
“I grew up with David Hula and his kids and their family, and they’re like family to us now,” Drozd says, referring to the Virginia grower and world-record holder for corn yield.
“Having David Hula to talk to is, I mean, he’s like a second dad to me, and he’s helped us so much,” Drozd adds. “Guys like Bob Little and Chris Ledbetter (high-yield corn growers) also helped shape us into where we are today.”
Learning from the Best in the Business
Drozd especially likes to reference mentoring he got on growing grain sorghum from the late Steven Albrecht from Hart, Texas, a perennial high-yield winner with that crop and corn, too.
“He always taught me some things on how to do better with our milo,” Drozd recalls. “Maybe it was plant a little thicker than what [the company] might recommend. Or that when sorghum gets to V4, V5, to spray a fungicide or put a micro pack out.”
Those kinds of specifics, learned from a grower he admired, now show up in his own yield contest acres — and in the advice he passes along when other farmers call with questions.
Peer Groups as a Learning Engine
For Drozd, helping other farmers starts with showing up to learn alongside them. The most important resource for education, he stresses, isn’t a product or a program — it’s the people.
“Honestly, my go-to resources are networking with other growers in the area,” he says. “We are part of a peer group, Total Acre, and that gets us out to network with other growers, too.”
He and his family also make a point of attending university Extension programs.
“We go to meetings at Michigan State and Purdue, and a lot of [our time] even then is spent networking,” he says.
Turning Farm Progress into Shared Playbooks
The Drozd family experiments with a range of agronomic practices: corn-on-corn under irrigation, biologicals such as compost and “teas” to improve soil health, fertigation with potassium and micronutrients, and intensive sorghum management geared for yield contests.
“I hope somebody can take away something from this [interview],” Drozd says. “People helped me, and now it’s my turn.”
He backs that up by helping keep the family operation visible. Drozd Family Grain maintains a website and an active presence on social media.
“I am on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,” he says. “I do enjoy posting pictures of corn and where we are in the growing season.”
The goal isn’t just promotion. It’s to make the family’s fields and their decisions available as a living case study another farmer can learn from or ask about.
Thriving on Shared Responsibility
Drozd’s philosophy of shared responsibility extends inside the farm gate, too. The multigenerational operation leans on clearly defined roles and constant communication.
“My dad does a lot of the grain work, marketing stuff… he does a lot of the shop work and welding, he’s a hell of a welder,” Drozd says. “My brother does a lot of the books, the crop insurance. Him and his wife, Morgan, do a lot of the financials… which is really great, because I swear I have undiagnosed dyslexia.”
That division of labor frees Drozd to lean into his own strengths in agronomy and on-farm testing and experimentation.
“In a fun way, [it] lets me do the fun stuff of scouting and seeing those niche things,” he says.
Every morning, the Drozd men gather to map out their day.
“The three of us get a plan together of what’s going on for the day, who’s got what to take care of and who’s going to go where,” Drozd says.
That same spirit of communication guides how they interact with neighbors and peers: open conversations, clear expectations and a willingness to be honest about what worked and what didn’t pan out with their crops.
Keys to a Collaborative Mindset
For farmers looking to follow a similar path, the Drozd family’s approach boils down to a few concrete habits and practices:
- Join or build a peer group: Drozd leans on a formal peer network to test cropping ideas against other high-performing operations.
- Learn from mentors, and then pay it forward: Drozd appreciates how mentors like Hula, Albrecht, Little and Ledbetter helped shape and improve his family’s farming practices. He now sees himself as responsible for doing the same for younger growers.
- Make your operation visible: Through a website, social media and an open-door attitude, Drozd gives other farmers easy ways to see what he’s doing and ask questions.
- Invite questions: Above all, he wants other farmers to know the door is always open.
Ultimately, Drozd says he believes having an edge in production agriculture doesn’t come from hoarding information, but from building a community where farmers learn faster together than they ever could alone. “People helped me, and now it’s my turn,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
You can hear more about the Drozds’ farm operation and their work on this episode of The Crop Science Podcast Show.
