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Wood River farm is truly a family venture
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP)--Kenny and Randy Gleason of Wood River are one variation of family farm, with father and son combining to farm 1,000 acres in the Wood River area.
Kenny Gleason said his father was a livestock operator. Kenny didn't follow his father into the livestock business.
However, that operation ended up being another family enterprise between his dad, his dad's brother and his dad's nephew.
The Gleasons certainly don't see themselves as unusual when it comes to having two generations working in the same farming operation.
Kenny Gleason said most people need to use family connections to get started, given "the cost of new equipment and land today."
Kenny said he started farming when Randy was just 3 years old.
"I always had it in the back of my mind that he would take over," Kenny said.
Randy said he can't remember a specific day when he made a decision that he was going to be a farmer.
"It's kind of like religion," he said. "You don't know when it happened or what happened, but it happened."
Randy worked on the farm growing up, went away to college in Lincoln, then spent six years in Omaha operating an educational farm for the state.
But even when he was farming near Omaha, Randy had his own land in Wood River. He'd come back as much as he could in the spring and fall to work on his farm, with his father in charge of farming the land.
Today, the Gleasons' farming operation is a shared business with all the land being farmed as a unit.
"If it's too wet on one piece of ground, we'll go to an area where it's dry enough to do some work," Kenny said.
Having different generations work together has its advantages. Kenny said he's probably more conservative than Randy, who is more willing to try newer methods or products.
Randy is in his sixth year back farming with his father. Kenny said he's at a point that he has to start making plans to transfer the farm to his children. Aside from Randy, Kenny said his daughter, Kim, is also welcome to enter the family business.
He said the transfer likely will have to be worked out within the next four to five years.
Kenny said farmers can't be moving irrigation pipe when they're 80- years-old.
Randy himself has children, but he's not sure if they will decide to go into farming. But like his dad, that possibility is in the back of his mind.
Date: 5/12/04
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