South West Iowa Farmer Partners

Kelly Tobin has always wanted to farm, and besides the two years he spent in the military, that is what he has spent his whole life doing. He grew up on a farm in Northwest Missouri, met and married his wife Irene who had a career as a consumer science teacher, and had four children. Later the family of six moved to a farm in Taylor County, Iowa. Kelly always wished he had the opportunity to attend college and went back at age 54 to take classes at Iowa State University while farming and earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural business and agronomy in 1987.

Randy has been no-till farming for over 30 years. When the 1985 farm bill mandated conservation practices, Caviness purchased a planter for no-till, but didn’t think it would work. After 10 years, tests showed that the organic matter in his soil was increasing, and is ongoing.

Barbara Johnson and her husband, Stanley, farm in Page County in southwest Iowa. They have several farms that are divided into CRP, crop acres and pasture. Some of their land is rented to area farmers.

When he was 10 years old, Seth Watkins nursed a chilled calf back to health, an event that sparked his interest in farming and ultimately led him to his career today. Seth is a fourth generation steward of his family farm in Clarinda, Iowa.