Hi! My name is Jennie! My husband, Chris, and I farm near Wolford. We raise wheat, barley, canola, soybeans and corn. Chris and I were married in 2005 and that is when I moved to our farm. Chris grew up farming about 15 miles from where we live. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota where we raised small grains and had some cattle and hogs. We have 3 children, Bria, Braden and Beric who also help us on the farm. I’ve always been on the farm and feel blessed to be able to raise our children on a farm.
We farm to provide food to the world and it is what we enjoy doing. Farming is a very rewarding lifestyle. It is a challenge at times, but it teaches us and our children the value of hard work and how to overcome challenges and trying times. We love being outside and working with the land. Watching our crops first come up in the spring all the way to when they are harvested in the fall gives us a great sense of satisfaction. It shows us that the work we put in to care for those crops has been worth it.
Our son, Braden, has a YouTube channel, Brossart Farms, where he shows what we are doing on our farm during different times of the year from planting to spraying to harvesting different crops. Seeing him develop his passion for farming and agriculture makes this lifestyle so rewarding to be raising the next generation of farmers.
One of our biggest struggles are the weather. We are always at the mercy of what the weather is like. That is one factor that plays a critical role in our crops that we have no control over. Prices are also a struggle as that is another factor we don’t have much control over. Input costs can be affected by many things that happen locally or halfway around the world. We aren’t able to set the selling price for our crops and have to watch the markets and sell crops at a price we are comfortable with.
I think farmers are different than other people. We have to be continually optimistic. If we have a bad day, week, or year farming, we have to be optimistic that the next day, week, or year will be better so we can continue to provide nutritious food for consumers. Our technology in farming is also continuing to change to help us be more efficient and we need to be open to that change and adapt so that we can become more efficient in what we do.
I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up, but as I got older I realized that was not the career path for me. I didn’t see myself on a farm as an adult, but I thank the Lord that I married into the farm life that I grew up with.
Farmers and ranchers are doing the best we can to provide safe and nutritious food to feed the world. We truly care about our crops and livestock and work extra long hours to provide that food to you and your family.