Legacy Project

Meet the 2020 Legacy Conference Speakers

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:59:05 GMT

Have you been meaning to do your family’s succession plan but keep putting it off? Sign up for the Farm Journal Legacy Conference , which takes place Jan. 28 in Chicago, and use the time as a catalyst to start (or continue) the process.

You’ll hear from four of the nation’s leading experts in succession planning—Dick Wittman, Paul Neiffer, Polly Dobbs and Rena Striegel. Combined, these speakers have more than 100 years of experience in helping farmers with these tough questions and decisions.

The 2020 Legacy Conference Speakers

Polly Dobbs, Dobbs Legal Group, Peru, Ind.
Indiana attorney Polly Dobbs specializes in estate, wealth transfer and business succession planning. Her passion lies with helping family farms and closely-held businesses achieve a smooth transition. As part of a seven-generation farm family, she understands the unique issues facing farmers. Dobbs helps clients create holistic succession plans that promote family harmony and address their specific goals, while treating family members fairly, not necessarily equally. She is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association.

Paul Neiffer, CliftonLarsonAllen, Yakima, Wash.
As the agribusiness CPA and business adviser for CliftonLarsonAllen, Paul Neiffer specializes in income tax¬ation and accounting services specific to the farm community. This includes succession planning issues and opportunities related to taxes and compliance. Neiffer writes a monthly tax column for Top Producer and blogs at www.AgWeb.com. He was raised on a dryland wheat and pea farm in Washington and still enjoys driving the combine during harvest.

Rena Striegel, Transition Point Business Advisors, West Des Moines, Iowa
Rena Striegel is an internationally recognized business coach and consultant with over 20 years of experience working directly with farmers, ag leaders, senior executives and entrepreneurs to identify and implement strategies that create growth and profitability. In her role with Transition Point Business Advisors, she leads client projects in the areas of strategic planning, business succession and continuity planning and employee/leadership development. A majority of her current clients are large family owned farm operations. Rena grew up on a dairy and hog farm in What Cheer, Iowa and she is a professional EOS implementer as well as a certified business coach and holds an MBA from the University of Iowa.

Dick Wittman, Wittman Consulting, Culdesac, Idaho
Idaho farmer Dick Wittman manages a family partnership that includes crops, cattle and timber, and provides consulting services for succession planning and financial management. He also conducts train-the-trainer workshops in an effort to expand the resource base of farm consultants. Wittman teaches at The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers and King Ranch Institute. He is the author of “Building Effective Farm Management Systems,” a guidebook to help farmers develop a transition and management process.

Legacy Conference

Jan. 28
Hilton Chicago Hotel Downtown

www.TPSummit.com

<< Register now! >>

Young Farmer Aims to be the Middle Chapter in a Farm Legacy

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 16:29:32 GMT

Matt Splitter leads the charge and change to carry forward a legacy

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.’”

Unbeknownst to Scheufler, Splitter was in a precarious financial situation due to expanding his asset base just as commodity prices took a nosedive. The young farmer needed education and guidance to lead the charge and change on his farm.

Unbeknownst to Splitter, the Scheuflers were looking for a young family to take over their farm and help them retire. From that first question-and-answer session, the Splitter-Scheufler relationship has grown into a lifelong mentorship and multiyear farm transition.

It was the turning point that allowed Splitter to grow his family’s farming operation from 1,400 acres in 2010 to today’s 7,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and grain sorghum. Add in custom farm work, and the Splitter Farm team covers up to 15,000 acres annually.

A HARD ROAD
Splitter’s ancestors homesteaded on the flat plains of central Kansas in 1878. His father took over the operation in the late 1970s. After college, Splitter faced the challenge so many other young farmers see: a farm not quite big enough to support two families. Instead, he pursued a position with National Sorghum Producers in Texas.

A year later, in 2010, after his father died, Splitter and his wife, Janna, began farming the family’s 1,400 acres. They sowed their first crop in 2011 and saw opportunities to custom farm for neighboring farmers and landowners.

They traded in the family’s aging equipment in order to specialize in no-till and expand custom work. Success followed, and then the markets took a dip.

“Everyone quit hiring out custom work,” Splitter says. “We were stuck with high-priced equipment and no acres to run it over. I remember sitting in my office, and I sold half of our wheat for $2.75, which was way under our cost of production. I had a flood of emotions, knowing that this wasn’t sustainable.”

Splitter knew it was time for strategic change on his farm.

“We didn’t have land we could borrow against, and we couldn’t refinance much,” Splitter says. “We took a hard look at our balance sheet and cash flow. I started living by the saying: Wake up in the morning thinking how you will save $1 today, not spend $1.”

The Splitters worked with their lender to set goals and determine financial metrics to monitor.

“They could have turned their back on us because we were a high-risk loan,” Splitter says. “We needed to make cuts and management changes. You can’t outwork your problems.”

Their focus on cost analysis transitioned from the whole farm to the field to the square foot, Splitter says.

“With closer financial analysis and improvements in operational efficiencies, the Splitters have been able to continue growing their
operation,” says John Wempe, branch president of Peoples Bank and Trust. “They analyze how that growth fits their capacity of equipment, labor, working capital and management.”

The focus on finances helped the Splitters rightsize their operation and smartly expand.

“It is notable the operation has been able to continue to operate with the same size operating line with their current acreage as they were with the smaller acreage, making use of small short-term operating loans during peak times when liquidity is stressed,” Wempe adds. “This is indicative of a farm manger focused on operational efficiencies.”

WALK, THEN RUN
The mentorship with the Scheuflers, which began in 2015, formalized to a multiyear transition plan. The first year was focused on exchanging ideas.

“Lee and Margaret never told us how to do something or made us feel bad for the way we were doing something,” Splitter says. “They joke we have taught them just as much as they’ve taught us. In reality, I can never pay them back for their mentorship.”

Two years into the relationship, the Splitters took over the Scheuflers’ rented acres. Splitter says they focused on building relationships with all those landlords and had 100% landlord retention.

“What we have isn’t a formal partnership, we are part of each other’s team,” Splitter says. “The end goal is to get them retired and for us to become a financially sustainable operation we can be proud of.”

2021 marks the first year Splitter is managing his acres plus those owned by the Scheuflers.

Splitter’s out-of-the-box approach to farming is why he is poised to succeed in farming, says Greg Krissek, CEO of the Kansas Corn Growers Association.

“His willingness to learn from his partner means both families have gained a true win-win opportunity,” Krissek says. “He, his family and partners are constantly making business decisions to add or access technical expertise and human resources for the operation’s success.”

In the past decade, the Splitters have seen immense growth. Their team has grown from a single seasonal employee to nine full-time employees (including the Splitters and Scheuflers) and a handful of seasonal employees.

“We started hiring young employees, thinking we could cover more acres with youthful energy,” Splitter says. “I now hire people who are independent and detail-oriented. Even though I am the owner, I am the third youngest on the team.”

He is quick to compliment his team and defer to their judgment calls. The Splitters host an appreciation event for employees and their families after harvest.

HERITAGE VERSUS LEGACY
The Splitters are focused on building a business that can provide opportunity for their daughters, Laikyn and Landry.

“We want them to see hard work and what it takes to have a business and really involve them as a family, just like we do with our employees and their families,” Janna says.

“A key in our operation is to take what we’ve been given, the opportunity and the assets, make them better, and then give them to the next generation, whether it’s a family member or a family that wants to partner with us,” Splitter adds. “I think there’s a clear distinction between heritage and legacy. Heritage is the assets you can inherit. Legacy is what you did with it.”

It’s this creative and dedicated focus on the future that ensures the Splitters hold an important middle chapter in a long book.

THE POWER OF A MENTOR

Matt Splitter admits he can never repay Lee and Margaret Scheufler for the mentorship and business opportunities they have provided to his family. Splitter encourages other young farmers to find a mentor.

“Maybe it is your father, grandfather or uncle,” he says. “If that’s not the case, look around your community and find somebody who you respect how they’re handling their business and life.”

To start the conversation, ask the person questions about an area of farming you’re exploring, he suggests.

“Your goal is to find someone who will teach you, not just tell you what to do,” Splitter says.

Listen to Matt Splitter discuss is farming career with Andrew McCrea on the Farming the Countryside podcast:

SNAPSHOT OF SPLITTER FARMS

Operation: Splitter Farms is a fifth-generation row crop operation based in Lyons, Kan., owned by Matt and Janna Splitter. Matt is responsible for managing employees, landlord relations, custom farming, input purchasing and marketing. Janna’s duties include bookkeeping and invoicing, payroll and taxes and farm communications.

Family and Team: The Splitters partnered with Lee and Margaret Scheufler, who still contribute to the operation. The team also includes five full-time and four part-time employees. Matt and Janna have two daughters: Laikyn and Landry.

Custom Farming: The Splitters began custom farming to create cash flow throughout the year. In addition, it helps them build relationships with landowners and neighboring farmers.

Community and Leadership: The Splitters have roles in many local, state and national organizations. Matt is a board member for the Kansas Corn Association and serves on the Federal Communications Commission’s precision ag connectivity task force. The Splitters have hosted more than 10 trade missions on their farm.

To virtually travel to Lyons, Kan., and learn more about Splitter Farms, visit bit.ly/Splitter-Farms

All in the Family? How the American Families Plan Could Impact Your Succession Plan

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:52:31 GMT

In Late April, President Joe Biden announced the American Families Plan. It provides direct and indirect benefits to families. It also raises a lot of key questions for farmers and their succession plans.

The USDA fact sheet about the tax reform proposal states: Part of this plan to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share is a proposal to close the “stepped-up basis” loophole for wealthy estates so that enormous fortunes do not completely escape taxation. Under the proposal, unrealized capital gains (those that have never been previously taxed) are taxed at death above $2 million in gains per couple. But this won’t affect family farms that stay in the family.

So, if you keep the farm in the family, it’s going to be exempt from tax. But what does that mean?

Chris Hesse and Paul Neiffer, both CPAs and principals with CLA worry this isn’t as simple and straightforward as it sounds.

“Just because the farm stays in the family, a transfer tax may still apply,” Neiffer says.

Watch a video where Hesse and Neiffer discuss the American Families plan.

“The legislation all sounds really good that as long as the heirs continue to farm the ground, this tax won’t hit,” Hesse adds. “But what if not all of your heirs are going to farm the ground? We all know many parents want to treat their kids equally.”

For example, you have four kids. If all of your assets are tied up in the farm, how do you transfer ownership of the farm to the three non-farming heirs?

There’s a chance, Hesse says, the non-farming heirs may have to pay a transfer tax of some kind.

The other big detail is the definition of “family.”

“Currently, under many parts of the Tax Code, family does not include nephews, nieces and cousins,” Neiffer says. “Therefore, if an uncle leaves the land to his two nephews since he has no kids, a transfer tax may apply.”

“There needs to be a little bit bigger definition of family in order to truly protect that family farm from this from this income tax on death,” Hesse adds.

Also, what is the time period? Does the farm have to stay in the family for 10 years, 20 years, a lifetime?

“We know this bill won’t pass as is, but it is going to be discussed and we know that if it’s going to happen, it’s got to happen this year because next year is an election year,” Neiffer says. “Our hope is that none of its retroactive and it will be effective January 2022, so we have some time to do appropriate planning.”

Neiffer and Hesse encourage farmers to talk to their tax advisors now to determine how they should change or adapt their succession plan due to the American Families Plan.

“We may have a very busy planning season at the end of 2021, and my warning is to be prepared and be nimble to act if something really drastic happens,” Hesse says. “If there’s going to be major tax legislation changing these long-held concepts, it’ll be this year. So, be cautious and be prepared for it.”

Farm CPA Paul Neiffer highlights some of the important details on the Top Producer Podcast:

Watch a video where Hesse and Neiffer discuss the American Families plan.

5 Succession Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:06:39 GMT

It’s time. You need to finally make your farm’s succession plan a priority. As you take a first or second or 20th step in the process, shoot to avoid some common landmines.

“Although there are a lot of scary stories out there about succession planning, there’s actually way more positive stories,” says Rena Striegel, president of Transition Point Business Advisors based in Des Moines, Iowa. “I encourage everyone to become one of those positive stories. Take that first step or break through the roadblocks so you can be one of those success stories.”

Listen in as Striegel discusses succession planning with Andrew McCrea on the Farming the Countryside podcast :

Here are the roadblocks Striegel sees farmers commonly face.

You engage only one professional.

“Our philosophy is a farm needs to have a collaborative team of professionals that helps them with the decisions and discussions around succession planning,” Striegel says.

This team can include a CPA, lawyer, business adviser, banker, insurance professional and others. By having all these viewpoints at the table, you ensure your plan is comprehensive and meets your goals.

“I personally do not believe any one professional can come up with a succession plan independent of the other professionals,” she adds. “We encourage farm families to work with their team to develop and implement their transition plan.”

Your plan is driven by tax implications.

Taxes, of course, are a big concern for farmers, especially with the new tax policies coming out of Washington, D.C.

“But if you do succession planning with the sole intention of reducing or eliminating taxes, you actually miss a lot of really valuable tools you could be utilizing if taxes were not the major goal,” Striegel says. “What we try to do with farm families is identify the true goal of the family. Almost always the goal isn’t: I want to transition in a tax-effective way. Most of the times it’s about making sure that my operation stays viable, multiple families can support themselves or the farm is going to be here for future generations.”

You ignore the elephants in the room.

Succession and transition discussions are stressful. Most of the time, they will include several topics you’d just rather not talk about.

“We don’t want to talk about someone dying,” Striegel says. “There’s a lot of things about these conversations that make people feel really uncomfortable. And so oftentimes, even families who communicate well tend to have a hard time being really open.”

If you fall into this category, Striegel suggests working with a mediator or facilitator to help ease the tension and encourage honest and focused communication.

You don’t draw lines between being a family and a business.

“The thing we have found that has really helped farm families is when we can separate the family dynamics from the business itself,” Striegel says. “We try to help families understand when conversations are business discussions versus family discussions.”

In having clear lines between family and business conversations and decisions, she says, you can remove some of the emotional pieces from the equation.

“When we separate those a little bit, it does make it easier for farm families to be able to communicate and make decisions together as a group,” Striegel says.

You procrastinate, procrastinate and then wait a little longer.

The worst option for farm families, Striegel says, is waiting until your farm or family is at a breaking point before seeking help. Don’t wait until a family member is threatening to leave the farm.

“Oftentimes when the family fractures, so does the farm,” she says. “If you think that you’re going to need help, it’s far better to seek that help out and bring those resources in to preserve your family relationships. Wherever you are, today is the day to start.”

Want to jumpstart your succession plan? The DIRTT Project by Transition Point Business Advisors is an all-inclusive guidance plan to help you transition your farm business. Learn more.

The Farm CPA Podcast: Saratoga Farm Partnership from Iowa

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 16:05:14 GMT

This week Paul Neiffer has a conversation with Tim Richter and Jackson Dohlman, partners in Saratoga Partnership . The row crop operation is based in Lime Springs, Iowa, and has an operation near Clinton, Mo.

Richter’s father started farming in Iowa in 1959.

“My dad who moved the family 120 miles from northwest Iowa to northeast Iowa. He just kept going East until the land got cheap enough,” Richter says.

In 1981, Richter and his brother, Randy, started farming together. They worked in conjunction with their father but had their own operation.

“My brother and I raised hogs through the 80s,” Richter says. “In the 90s we kept growing, and by the early 2000s, we decided to bring in another partner.”

Enter Dohlman, a Riceville, Iowa, native who had graduated from Iowa State University in 2003 and had been working in ag retail. He officially joined Saratoga Partnership in 2005.

“In 18 months, we doubled our operation acre-wise, so it was a perfect meeting,” Richter says. “We’ve been very happy ever since. My brother unfortunately passed away in December 2014 of cancer. So now my wife and I farm with four unrelated partners.”

Listen to the episode:

Dohlman initially joined the operation as a hired hand. Then he had the opportunity to buy in as a partner.

“So much of life, I’ve learned as luck and timing and sometimes you just, you just got to be in the right place at the right time,” he says.

Saratoga Parntership is lead by management and leadership team comprised of the active owners. Dohlman is the operations manager and Richter is in a strategic and visionary role.

Is That A Pink Flamingo?

As Saratoga Partnership grew, the partners decided to work with a branding consultant. She lead the team through an exercise to define their competitive advantage.

“It was quite a difficult thought process to determine what we feel is truly unique compared to our competition,” Richter recalls. “Then we hit on the idea of fun. That is our overriding philosophy. If you and I are going to have a transactional relationship and it’s just a pain to deal with, we will no longer do it. If it’s not fun, we’re going to go home. By stating that and making that part of our philosophy and letting other people know what we want to do, it helps us in relationships.”

As such, the team incorporated a pink flamingo into their logo.

“Our logo has a pink flamingo and surrounded by green plants. Those symbolize corn, which we really like to grow,” Richter says. “The pink flamingo says that we stand out amongst our competition, and the pink flamingo has a connotation of having fun—not serious fun, you know, cheap fun.”

Richter says when his team gives someone their business cards, it sparks a conversation.

“It invites the ask,” he says. “People look at it and say, ‘What’s with the flamingo?’ Therefore, it gives you an opportunity to make your elevator speech.”

Saratoga Partnership was honored as a 2012 Top Producer of the Year finalist. Applications for the 2022 award are due Oct. 15. Learn more and download the application!

Listen to additional episodes of the Farm CPA Podcast:

Episode 10: Kristjan Hebert

Episode 9: Ben Riensche

Episode 8: Steve Bruere, Peoples Company

Episode 7: Ken McCauley from Kansas

Episode 6: Dick Wittman and Cori Wittman Stitt from Idaho

Episode 5: Roric Paulman from Nebraska

Episode 4: Dave Nelson of Iowa

Episode 3: Jim Wiesemeyer, Pro Farmer

Episode 2: Breaking Down the American Families Plan

Episode 1: Sara Schafer, Top Producer

Remove Family Emotion With A Clear Compensation Plan

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 19:42:36 GMT

Succession planning is complex for any business, but imagine crafting a plan for a fifth-generation family business with three generations active and multiple business enterprises in three states and two countries.

Carroll Family Farms , based in Carthage, Ill., specializes in hog, corn and soybean production. Carroll Farms Brazil, the international portion, includes grain and cotton production in Bahia, Brazil.

Listen to Carroll discuss his farm operation on the Farm CPA Podcast with Paul Neiffer :

MANAGEMENT TRANSITION

As the operation evolved in the past decade, the family knew they must prioritize transition planning, says John Carroll, a farm partner.

“We have always thought about succession planning in two ways: financial succession and management succession,” Carroll says.

Carroll’s grandfather transitioned out of management 30 years ago. Ten years ago, his father and uncle handed over most of their high-level responsibility Carroll and three first cousins.

“My generation feels fortunate our parents trust us to grow the business,” Carroll says. “We know giving up management control can be difficult. They are still full time in the business but act more as an informal advisory board.”

With the management team in place, the team divided up the operation into entities. The sow farms are an entity, as is the feed mill, the Brazilian operation and so on. Each enterprise has its own balance sheet profit and loss statement.

“We allow each person, to the extent they want, to contribute to labor,” Carroll says. “They can command fair market rates for doing labor. Then, they have the option to manage an enterprise.”

The Carrolls found a way to connect business performance with high-level responsibility.

“Managers are responsible for providing a risk-free rate of return at no cost for their enterprise,” Carroll explains. “The owners don’t have to pay the manager anything for just returning a risk-free rate of return. Over and above that, they get a percentage of the profits.”

The Carrolls tend to use 3.5% for that risk-free rate of return, which represents the interest an investor would expect from a risk-free investment over a period of time.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

This structure is an innovative way to compensate family members, says Paul Neiffer, CPA with CLA.

“If someone wants to drive a combine, they will get the market rate for labor,” he says. “But if they want to provide management, then here’s how you’re compensated for management. If you don’t do a good job, you don’t get compensated. If you do a good job, you’ll be compensated on sharing in the profits.”

Master the Three C's of Succession Planning

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 17:51:23 GMT

After the uncertainty of a global pandemic that spanned many months and confusion over potential changes in tax policy, your succession plan has probably ground to a halt. Yet, the risks of simply doing nothing are tremendous. How can you get back on track with your succession plan? Focus on these three areas.

Contingency Plans

This is planning for getting hit by the proverbial beer truck. Your goal is to be able to explain, in simple terms, how your assets would flow if an owner died, says Dave Specht, director of the Global Family Business Institute at The Drucker School of Management . “Successful families put contingency plans in place, which is basically a ‘Plan B,’ in case everything doesn’t go according to the bigger plan,” he says. “On the management side, we need to look at the knowing-versus-doing gap between the people who currently make decisions and those who would fill in if that person were gone.”

Cash-Flow Plans

Calculate your economic farm unit (EFU), which is the amount of farm profit (after servicing debt) divided by the number of families, says Paul Neiffer, CPA with CLA . “If a family generates $300,000 of contribution margin each year and the amount of family compensation is $100,000, the operation has three EFUs,” he says. “If two or less families are involved, the EFU is manageable. If three families are involved, there is no room for a hiccup, and with more than three, the farm operation should expect to be under extreme stress.”

Communication Plans

Succession discussions are stressful. “We don’t want to talk about someone dying,” says Rena Striegel, president of Transition Point Business Advisors . “Even families who communicate well tend to have a hard time being open.” If you fall into this category, Striegel suggests working with a mediator or facilitator to help ease the tension and encourage honest dialogue. Communication is about creating expectations, Specht adds. “Ultimately everyone is creating an expectation about the future of the farm, and that expectation can be founded on reality, or it can just be made up in our minds,” he says. “I try to get farmers to realize it is better to set the expectation than for your kids to dream it up.”

Listen to a podcast episode of with Dave Specht on “The Farm CPA Podcast” with Paul Neiffer:

Top Producer: Meet the 2021 Cover Farmers

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 17:08:09 GMT

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.”

Read more.

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.

Read more.

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.’”

Read more.

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.

Read more.

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.”

Read more.

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.

Read more.

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.”

Read more.

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.”

Read more.

With Nashville as the backdrop, Top Producer Summit brings together the nation’s top producers for networking, education, entertainment and more. Take time away from the farm to discover business opportunities, gain invaluable insights and increase your competitive advantage.