She grew up raising cattle on a Century Farm. His family includes farmers, but his dad went into trucking. Both wanted to be farmers. Neither had an opportunity to join a family farm.
So, they went to work and bought a farm with the help of a Farm Service Agency 5-45-50 beginning farmer loan. What happened next is how they achieved the dream.
Caleb and Megan Hopkins of Iowa set goals, saved money and stepped carefully into the right opportunity. Eight years later, Caleb Hopkins still seems a bit amazed that they own a farm with 34 cow-calf pairs.
The couple talked and talked about their goals, revisiting the conversation over and over, but never knowing whether opportunity would knock.
“You’re saving money. You have this goal out there, right? I don’t know. Will it come? When will it come?” Hopkins says. “You’re just kind of hoping but you get ready for it to come. Then, bingo!”
As Hopkins sits in his truck telling their story, he’s 45 minutes from home. Because the fairly flat land near their home in Halbur carries a premium price, they chose the rolling hills a bit south of them, which better fit their price point.
On this day, he’s looking across the pasture where the couple started with 21 cow-calf pairs and now have 34. Some might consider that slow growth, but there’s been a lot of work done here in the eight years since they bought the land. They now have 80 acres of pasture, 67 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program, and a healthy stand of timber and rubber. “It’s a continual work in progress,” Hopkins says.
Find the right banker
But that’s not the only work that went into this place. The work started long before they signed a loan or bought a heifer. It started with a relationship banker.
And that’s the advice Hopkins, a loan production officer, gives to farmers: “Find a banker that wants to take the time you need in that relationship. We’re not all the same.”
That’s also the challenge he issues to bankers: “Be that banker a farmer needs. I’m firm, and I have no problem calling a spade a spade,” Hopkins says. “I take that on as my role to say, ‘We need to be better.’ It’s our responsibility for ag finance in this country to be relationship-based and to take the time to build those relationships.”
Farmers who hear Hopkins speak on this may wonder where they can find such a banker. He understands.
“Relationship lenders are the exception, but I think they’re challenging traditional lenders more,” he says. In five to six years, “you’re going to see the banks that are being proactive and that have those relationships are going to really start outpacing the other ones.”
On the farmer side of that, Hopkins tells friends and customers to be proactive in communicating to their banker. The more information a banker has, the greater the opportunity to give the customer better service.
How to start farming
Iowa farmer Caleb Hopkins understands the importance of relationship banking from both sides of the table. He’s also a loan production officer for Dakota MAC, a subsidiary of First Dakota National Bank. Here’s his advice:
Find a relationship banker. You need a lender who understands agriculture and will invest time in building a relationship.
Communicate. Start conversations with bankers early and regularly. By building trust, both sides make better decisions.
Set goals. Establish clear financial goals to prioritize capital allocation between personal needs and farm investments.
Lean into creative solutions. Successful young farmers often share equipment, diversify income streams and create strategic partnerships to build their operations.