Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

When Mark Palmquist graduated from McCook Central High School 30 years ago, he knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

“I always knew I wanted to make farming my career. I had a passion and love for it. I was blessed that my father gave me the opportunity,” said Palmquist, 48, a fourth-generation farmer who produces corn, soybeans and livestock north of Salem, S.D.

Today his two sons, Dustin, 16, and Dan, 21, share their dad's career goal. Wanting to give his sons the same opportunity he had, Mark, his wife, Deb, and the two boys are working on ways to expand their farming operation without necessarily increasing its acreage. They want their farm to eventually support the three families.

Mark and Deb also have a daughter, Beth Nagel, who lives with her husband, Carl, and their son, Lincoln, in Dell Rapids, S.D.

“With land prices as high as they are, it is important to diversify,” said Dan Palmquist, an agriculture technology student at Mitchell Technical Institute. “We need to find ways to bring in an income for eventually three families.”

Farming is in their blood

Since they can remember, Dan and Dustin have farmed with their dad.

“My dad never pushed farming on us, we grew up doing it. Every other type of job doesn't look like fun compared to farming. I like the seasons - calving, planting, cutting - all the seasons,” said Dustin Palmquist, a sophomore at McCook Central High School.

Farming has been a part of the Palmquists' heritage since Mark's great-great-great-grandfather came to South Dakota from Sweden and homesteaded just a mile and a half from Mark's farm.

When Mark decided that he wanted to farm full-time after high school, his dad helped him out by giving him livestock as payment for Mark farming his land. Once Mark had enough equity built up, he rented his first quarter of land.

Today he and his wife of 30 years own three farms. Along with corn and soybeans, they run a cow/calf and commercial feeding operation, with seven small feedlots spread out among the three farms.

Mark helps his sons build up their cattle herds, much the same way his dad did. He provides feed for their cattle in exchange for their labor. He also let them take 40 cow/calf units on shares with another producer.

“We aren't a large farm but we aren't a small farm either. If I'm going to take my two boys under my wing then we need to diversify to make it work,” Mark said. “Deb and I will also have to be willing to make some sacrifices and be open to new ideas that the boys bring to the operation.”

Grain, livestock, custom harvesting

Even though Mark is their dad, the three men make most of the farm's decisions together. When they knew that both Dan and Dustin wanted to return to the farm, the Palmquists began looking for ways to increase their farming income by becoming an even more diverse operation. Most of their planning takes place while they are working together, repairing equipment or around the dinner table.

Looking for a way to generate some off-farm income, they decided to build up their custom harvest business. They had a small side business custom harvesting silage, earlage and haylage with an older harvester. In order to grow their business they needed to update their machinery. To do this, they each purchased a third of a 6750 John Deere self-propelled forage harvester.

“The three of us went to the banker together,” Mark said. “We are hoping to grow our custom business. This gives us an opportunity to subsidize our farm income. It is also a way to pay for better equipment to put up our feed for our own livestock.”

They are also working to expand their livestock operation.

“It is hard to find land to rent,” Dan said. “So expanding our livestock operation is one way to expand on the land that we already have.”

Along with looking for ways to expand their revenue base, they also work together to cut input expenses.

“We implement a lot of marketing practices and share labor and a piece of equipment with our cousins,” Dan said.

They also buy in larger volumes and pre-pay for fuel, seed and fertilizer out of season.

“We buy everything out of season; even our four-wheeler because you can get better prices,” Dustin said.

A bright future

Even though he graduated from a rural high school, Dan says he was the only one of his classmates' that wanted to make farming a career. Dustin says the same is true for him. Both boys are members of the McCook Central FFA chapter; they have been rewarded for their dedication to production agriculture. Just this April, Dustin was named State FFA Star Greenhand at the South Dakota State FFA Convention. In 2006 Dan won the National FFA proficiency in Diversified Agriculture at the National FFA Convention.

“I see a future in agriculture. There are a lot of new opportunities for farmers today, like ethanol,” Dan said. “I have heard some people say that to be successful in farming today is based on how smart you farm, not how hard you work. I think it takes a little of both - farming smart and working hard.”