Hello there!
My name is Ashley Skarsgard and I’m serving my third and final year on NDFB’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. Last month, I was elected as the chair and I’m looking forward to the year ahead. I absolutely love being a part of this great committee, having learned a lot and made many new friends so far during my tenure. I have been involved in Farm Bureau for close to 15 years now, after meeting my now husband, Aaron, during his time serving as District 8’s YF&R representative.
When I first met Aaron, I was a college student playing volleyball at Minot State University. I had recently transferred from UND to be closer to home and family, especially my aging grandparents. It was kind of a chance encounter how we met, being briefly introduced by a mutual friend before parting ways thinking little about it. Fast forward a few weeks and there I was, running his 2188 Case IH combine on my only weekend off from a busy volleyball season. He was strapped for help, the forecast called for rain, and there were hundreds of acres of durum and canola to be cut. I volunteered my time to help him out, and well, I guess here we are. We've been married for over 12 years now with three wonderful, adventurous and busy children: Cooper (10), Sawyer (7) and Landri (4).
My mom’s parents farmed and ranched northeast of Tioga, while my dad (and his dad before him) farms just south of Powers Lake. I was always around agriculture growing up, but I became fully immersed in it after meeting Aaron. Together we have grown our farm to over 5,200 acres, raising a variety of crops including wheat, durum, canola, flax, soybeans, peas and barley.
There’s something so satisfying about being a farmer. It’s kind of hard to explain, but essentially, you put a bunch of seeds into the ground each spring, then hope and pray with all you have that they grow into something that allows you and your family to see a profit when the season comes to an end. Obviously, there’s a whole lot more to it than that, but I find myself explaining it that way to people I meet who aren’t familiar with agriculture.
You can have the best machinery, the highest quality seed and plant in the most perfect spring conditions, but none of that can guarantee you a good crop. There are so many "uncontrollables" that come with agriculture. The weather would be the biggest one, for both farmers and ranchers alike. You can’t make it rain when moisture is needed, or make it stop raining in September when it’s time to harvest; you cannot halt the wind or deter the hail from wreaking havoc; you can’t turn the temps down in mid-July when things start burning up; you cannot lay blankets over your beautiful green fields to protect them from an early September freeze.
Commodity prices and input costs are also out of a farmer’s control. Thankfully, there are some ways to mitigate the uncertainty, such as forward contracting and locking in input prices (for things such as fuel, fertilizer, seed and chemical) by prepaying in the fall if you have the space and ability to store them through the winter.
Every year is a new adventure, which is what I love most about farming. Being able to set an example of hard work and perseverance for my children is important to me. The busy season comes with long, seemingly endless days of hard work. It can be taxing on the kids when they’re so young. But when winter rolls around and school sports are in full swing, I am on the sidelines or in the stands at every opportunity. I help in the kids’ classrooms as needed, chaperone field trips and help coach tiny tots gymnastics too. There’s a trade-off for sure, but I fully believe the benefits outweigh the struggles. In no time, the kids will be beside me, helping run the farm!
It’s truly a blessing to be involved in agriculture and to carry on this way of life through yet another generation. I hope one (or more) of our kids decides they want to take it over someday down the road!
