ROD PIERCE

Don't go it alone.

- Cassidy Walter

Rod Pierce started learning how to farm alongside his dad as a kid, and he was 21 when he started his own operation in central Iowa.

“I had the chance to rent the farm,” he says. “It actually was a high school classmate’s mother’s farm, and she wanted me to farm it. So that was my first opportunity, 40 acres in 1973. Then I picked up another couple farms the next year, and that’s how I started.” 

Fifty years later, as his family farm has grown, Pierce says the best advice for success he can give to the next generation is to build their networks.

SF: How has networking over the years helped you and your farm?