In June 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maddie Hokanson headed out for a routine doctor’s appointment. At 34 weeks pregnant, she admittedly wasn’t feeling great, but as a first-time mom, what’s normal?
She was sent to labor and delivery as a precautionary measure. Not long after, she was in a helicopter being airlifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She and her husband, Eric, welcomed their first child, Brent, by c-section later that day.
“Brent was born with hydrops,” Hokanson explains. “He was born at 10.5 lb. He had so much fluid around his organs and it was putting pressure on his brain, liver, kidneys and lungs. He almost didn’t make it.”
After a couple rough months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the Hokansons learned a lot fast.
“I remember a friend sending me this reminder: If not, he is still good,” she says. “Sometimes things don’t go how we want, and even if that’s the case, I believe God works all things for his good.”
Because of the pandemic, nobody was able to meet Brent until he came home from the hospital. Hokanson remembers being surrounded by so many people who wanted to help and offer support. She says it was a surreal experience.
“I remember my naivety thinking that we made it home – we had made it through the hard part and now he was going to flourish,” she adds. “That definitely was not the case for the first couple of years.”
Diagnosis after diagnosis, the Hokansons struggled to take it all in: epilepsy, visual impairment, heart condition, liver failure, autism and cerebral palsy.
“The mantra, ‘this too shall pass,’ kept playing in my head, but when? When will it pass?” Hokanson says.
Perhaps it never will pass, she explains, but what they have been able to do is find joy in all that their family has instead of the comparison of what they don’t.
A Lifeline
For Hokanson, a seventh-generation farmer with Schafer Farms, the farm has served as a lifeline during these early years of adjusting to parenting a child with serious health challenges.
“The farm was my reminder that whether it’s a good day or bad day, I’m still Maddie Hokanson. I still have a purpose in the world beyond being a mother,” Hokanson says. “Coming into the farm office, talking to my parents, grandparents or employees really held me up. I needed work in order to be able to continue handling myself as a mother.”
Schafer Farms was established in 1886. Today they raise pigs, cattle, crops and operate a transportation and trucking business as well. They have two sow farms where they raise genetics for Topigs Norsvin. Getting to work with her husband, her parents, Brandon and Monica, her grandparents, Pat and Lowell, and her brother, Max, and his wife, Hollie, has been a lifelong dream for Hokanson.
“I loved being involved in the farm from a young age,” she says. “From about second grade on, it was expected that we spend our weekends with dad on the farm, breeding and farrowing sows. Although I wasn’t like some farm kids who learned how to drive a tractor when they were 8, I sure knew how to breed a sow and collected a boar by that age.”
Living Out Her ‘Why’
As she became more involved in 4-H and FFA, she started doing livestock judging and participating in communication contests. She began to see the agriculture industry was much bigger than her own farm.
“In ninth grade, we took a careers class in high school that was required as part of graduation,” Hokanson says. “I explored ag communications and learned about promoting our product. That’s when I realized I was fascinated by talking to consumers about what we do on our farms.”
She connected with a Minnesota Pork Board program, Oink Outings. Through that program, she learned how to connect with consumers and advocate for the pork industry. This eventually led her to pursue a degree in ag communications at South Dakota State University, where was she named the commencement speaker in 2019.
“I spoke about a book by Simon Sinek, ‘Start with Why,’” Hokanson says. “It’s all about finding your why in life. I tried to focus on the fact that when you think about your ‘why’ and your ‘why’ resonates with every part of your life, then it doesn’t matter so much what you are doing if you are pursuing your ‘why.’”
She says her “why” since college continues to be to ensure a successful, thriving future for the generations she will never meet.
“Whether I’m home with our boys, instilling values of faith, family and farming; at the farm office working on finances as the CFO; helping in the barn; or lobbying on behalf of the pork industry in D.C., my ‘why’ is the same,” Hokanson says. “All of those things help me fulfill my ‘why.’”
Hokanson’s son Brent is now 5, and Scott is 2. She hopes they will have the opportunity to be the eighth generation of farmers in her family. That’s why she devotes so much of her life to focusing on her ‘why’.
“Sometimes, what is best for the industry doesn’t have a short-term financial or other gain for your own individual farm,” she explains. “But it does benefit the industry in the long run – whether it’s with health, markets, traceability – being willing to do things that seem mundane or complex even when you don’t see any short-term gain individually is important. At the end of the day, a rising tide lifts all boats, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the rising tide comes in.”
Hokanson shares more about farm transition, parenthood and connecting with consumers on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.
