Family Farm Rooted in Diversity

Crofton, Nebraska

Nestled in the rolling countryside of northeast Nebraska, farmer Curt Arens along with his wife, Donna, continues earning his livelihood from the family land first purchased by his great grandfather in 1914, sprinkling sunflower seeds, Christmas trees and other diversification into the growing mix. Even though his young daughters are just four and two years old, Curt’s strategic plans for the farm are motivated by a desire to continue to keep Bow View Farm profitable, manageable as a family-run business and not needing to join the mega-farm trend of more acres, equipment, resources and employees. “My goal is to create income opportunities for our kids to remain on the farm,” adds Curt.

Bow View Farm consists of 600 total acres, raising 450 in traditional annual crops of 150 acres of corn, 100 acres of soybeans, 75 acres of alfalfa and 25 acres of oats. Curt also raises some hogs and manages a 50 head cow-calf operation which rotationally grazes on small grassy paddocks to conserve grass and maximize land use while minimizing wind or soil erosion. These crops and livestock business still brings in the majority of income for Bow View Farm; however, diversifying into alternative crops remains the long-term vision Curt has for the farm.

Bow View Farm’s first diversification venture came in the late 1980s when Curt briefly worked as an assistant for the County Extension. after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a BS in agriculture. “At the time, about eighty percent of the questions I was asked were tree related. I realized I enjoyed working with trees, and started thinking what could we grow that would not take up too much land and generate reliable income, so we first planted 1,000 on one acre.”

The first Christmas trees were harvested and sold in 1993 and this seasonal business continues to grow, still off one acre of trees with a variety of five to ten foot Scotch and Austrian Pines and some Colorado Blue and Black Hills Spruce trees. Loyal customers now make annual Christmas tree outings to Bow View Farm part of their holiday tradition to either cut their own tree or pick from pre-cut trees, resulting in sales of approximately 50 trees annually, totally $1,700 in sales, at a retail price of around $5 per foot with a minimum price of $25, including a free disposal bag and information on selecting and keeping a Christmas tree fresh. Curt, along with his wife, Donna, create a festive, fun mood around the holiday season, opening up their on-farm store with an open house the Saturday after Thanksgiving and free coloring books for the kids.

The falling hog market in 1994 motivated further diversification at Bow View Farm into bird seed. “Hogs were about a third of our income, so we had to do something to replace this income. We knew sunflowers grew well in this area because twenty years ago we tried them successfully when the soybean crop hailed out,” explains Curt. Today, Curt raises 25 acres of sunflowers which are harvested in late summer, resulting in 30,000 to 35,000 pounds of cleaned and bagged seeds, bringing in a rough average of 40 cents gross per pound. As animal feed, birdseed is not subject to processing regulations that otherwise accompany human food products, making it a simpler, less costly product to get to market.

With the addition of birdseed to the business mix, Bow View Farm taps into the hot and growing birding market trend. According to the American Birding Association, over 63 million Americans feed wild birds at home, resulting in $2.5 billion spent on bird seed, feeders, baths and nesting boxes, (US Dept. Interior 1993 survey). Curt admits he didn’t know much about birding when he started with birdseed, but has expanded his own knowledge base as the business grew, including building a birding trail on the farm for visitors, hosting birding workshops and selling various birdfeeders, nesting boxes and birding books in addition to the seed through the on-farm store, strong sellers during the Christmas tree season. Curt also sells the sunflower seeds at the on-farm store and a growing list of over eight local wholesale retail accounts.

Curt’s income diversification now also includes photography and freelance writing, projects he tries to focus more time on during the off-season winter months. Producing rural Nebraska postcards evolved from local market need. “Folks were saying there weren’t any local postcards to sell to visitors and we saw that as a niche we could fill, both selling postcards through the farm store and our website and wholesale area accounts,” comments Curt. In addition to the photography, forty year old Curt writes for a variety of publications focusing on sustainable land issues and rural living, including Farm Journal, Farm and Ranch Living and Nebraska Life. Curt also founded the Northern Plains Family Farmer, a quarterly on-line magazine providing sustainable agriculture information and stories, receiving over five hundred website hits a day. Donna supplements the farm income as a teacher at St. Rose Elementary school in nearby Crofton, resulting in half their household living costs and providing insurance benefits.

Curt gives full credit for Bow View Farm’s vibrancy and his family’s good life on the farm to his parents, Harold and Margaret Arens, who purchased the farm from Harold’s father and spent their working years on the farm. “The support and openness of my parents about the future of the farm is a very big part of what we have here today. There is unfortunately often resistance from parents to hand down a farm and let go control, but my folks started talking about transition plans when we were teenagers,” explains Curt. Harold and Margaret now live close by in Crofton, pitch in during busy times of year on the farm, and Curt calls on them for mentoring advice and feedback.

In addition to his parents, Curt finds ideas and inspiration from a variety of sources, including the Knox County Extension, Grow Nebraska and the Center for Rural Affairs. He is also a Food & Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP) and the Thomas Jefferson Agriculture Institute.

“It is an on-going challenge to find the time to manage a broad range of interests. Add two young kids into the mix and it is particularly challenging,” comments Curt. “Making the time to focus on marketing and thereby grow the business could always use more attention, especially making on-site visits to existing and potential wholesale bird seed accounts,” Curt adds.

Sustainable agriculture and a long-term commitment to the health of the land fuel Curt’s big picture vision and inspiration for the farm, his family and livelihood. “Growing sustainably is a different mindset, a quality of life issue,” explains Curt. “We might give up a new car or other material things to make this lifestyle work, but Donna and I are committed to this livelihood and raising our family on this farm.”