After graduating from Iowa State University in 1973, I came back to Osage and started farming with my father. He was on a farm he purchased in 1968 so it was not a long-term family farm for us. We rented our own farms and shared labor and some equipment with Dad. In 1992 we purchased our first farm. After Dad’s retirement in 2002 we started farming his land in addition to ours. I raised hogs from 1965 when in FFA up to 2007 when we discontinued the swine operation. Our work in the soybean family began a year later and continues till the present and filled that time slot we had when we left the pork business. Our passion has been the adoption of many conservation measures on our farm such as no-till, strip-till, cover crops, pollinator habitat, waterways, windbreaks, and a nutrient Bioreactor. Speaking on these practices and soil health changes on our farm keeps me busy throughout the Midwest.