For on-farm business founders, ISU support can make all the difference

AMES, Iowa – Ashley and Zach Wenke are just-go-for-it types.

In the backyard at their farmstead near Montezuma, a boiler installed by Zach – an agricultural engineer, by training – heats the house and some of their four greenhouses. Inside those high tunnels, the couple grows vegetables year-round, despite little prior experience before moving to the 7-acre property seven years ago. They kept going for it as a personal garden blossomed into a roadside stand, then a farmer’s market booth, then even wider distribution through local food cooperatives and direct sales to larger clients.

“We’re accidental produce farmers, really. People started wanting to buy from us, and it just got bigger and bigger,” Ashley said during a recent tour of the farm, as their four young children darted in and out of planting preparations on a seasonably warm early spring day. 

In the fall of 2023, getting bigger got more important. With the youngest of their four kids on the way, the Wenkes decided to turn Pleasant Grove Homestead from a side gig into a full-fledged business. 

“We thought it would work, so we just tried it to see if it would. We’d rather do that than not try and never know. Our personality is to just go for it,” Ashley said. 

Still, there was some natural hesitation. Iowa produce farmers can struggle with cash flow during the winter. But support from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach gave the Wenkes the confidence to take the plunge, including an intensive financial boot camp that helped them plot out revenue projections and set sustainable prices. 

“Putting data behind our decision to go for it made us a lot more comfortable,” Ashley said.

Extension horticultural advice also has been essential as they’ve scaled up, Zach said. They frequently consult with Dan Fillius, statewide field specialist for commercial vegetables and specialty crops. Advice on selecting which varieties of supposedly winter-hardy veggies can actually survive Iowa’s coldest months has been especially appreciated.

“It’s better to reach out and ask than struggle by yourself,” Zach said. “Without Iowa State’s testing, I know not to trust it. There’s just too much noise out there.”

A ‘relationship business’

The Wenkes aren’t alone. ISU Extension and Outreach is a trusted partner for many Iowans building a small business on their farm, a source of a wide range of reliable guidance for putting plans into action. While assistance can come from many extension areas, the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development (FFED) program – including its eight-person Small Farms Team – is designed to work with on-farm entrepreneurs on the issues they’re facing. 

“We are all about meeting a client where they’re at and trying to help them achieve the goals they’re trying to achieve,” said Christa Hartsook, FFED co-manager.

What that looks like in practice runs the gamut, Hartsook said. It could mean finding new customers, meeting regulatory and licensing requirements, adjusting product offerings or prices, budgeting, identifying funding opportunities or just acting as a sounding board. 

“A lot of folks just need someone to talk to, and we can serve as that connection point,” she said. “I think sometimes not knowing where to go for answers can be that immobilizing fear that keeps people from moving forward.” 

While FFED staff work with a variety of clients, the bulk of the businesses are food-related. Through its partnership with the Heartland Regional Food Business Center, a federally funded five-state coalition devoted to building local food systems, FFED worked with 120 clients across Iowa in 2024. Interest in smaller-scale specialty farming and food-processing operations is growing, in part due to heightened interest in eating local but also because of the benefits for the proprietors, Hartsook said. 

“Often, you don’t need a lot of acres to be profitable. You get to create your own market. And there are a lot of people who really enjoy that closer connection with consumers,” she said. 

No matter the business or the issue, Hartsook and her team can steer farm and acreage owners in a useful direction, she said. They take pride in being a central source for finding resources.

“We want to help businesses grow and expand, but we are really in the relationship business. I never assume someone calling me is going to be a one-and-done client. I figure we’ll be able to help them along the way,” she said. 

‘Sleep with the cows’

Dan and Lynn Bolin, owners of New Day Dairy, needed some assistance from the beginning. In 2011, the couple returned to the farm near Clarksville that’s been in Dan’s family for five generations, with a plan to add a new wrinkle: a dairy barn that doubled as a bed and breakfast. 

“I think that’s how a lot of innovation starts. You bring together multiple different experiences and ideas that no one else has quite brought together in the same way before,” Lynn said.

The Bolins built a new dairy barn in 2015 with an attached guest barn, home to a three-bedroom suite with large windows providing an around-the-clock view of the farm’s 120 or so cows. 

“Even though you’re not actually in the barn, you feel immersed by it. We call it, ‘Sleep with the cows,’” Lynn said. 

After living in the guest barn for a few years themselves, by 2019 the Bolins were prepping the space to be a vacation rental. Two ISU Extension and Outreach staff helped them navigate the unfamiliar terrain. State tourism specialist Diane Van Wyngarden guided them through lodging permit regulations. Kendra Meyer, who runs Extension’s agritourism website, Visit Iowa Farms, counseled on risk management concerns, including an emergency preparedness course that prompted the installation of a severe weather shelter.

“Farmers know that Extension is there to help them in such a variety of ways, but one of the things I’ve realized in this process is all the other facets they offer,” Lynn said. “That support really helped us.”

Working with ISU Extension and Outreach led to the Bolins being among the more than 150 entrepreneurs who pitched a business idea as part of Iowa State’s exhibit at the 2019 Iowa State Fair, where they won the Community Entrepreneur Award and a $2,500 prize. They welcomed their first guests in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold.

“We couldn’t have opened at a better time if we’d tried,” Lynn said. “People were looking for exactly what we had. They still wanted to go do something, but they didn’t want to interact with anyone they didn’t want to see.”

While New Day’s primary business remains milk production, the guest barn has added an extra income stream and a gratifying opportunity to show visitors what it takes to put milk and cheese in their refrigerators. Two tours come included with any stay, and if a calf is born while a guest is staying there, they get to name it. About half of their customers opt for the extra hands-on experience, which includes hand-milking a cow and riding a tractor with Dan. 

Lynn recalls one guest marveling at his young son’s eager anticipation the night before his tractor ride: “He was more excited than when we went to Disney World!” the father told her.

‘Helpful little pieces’

For the owners of Purple Ribbon Beef, assistance from ISU Extension and Outreach came as they’ve looked to expand, said Ashley Recknor, who owns the company along with her husband and her parents.  

The direct-to-consumer beef producer launched in 2016, as Ashley’s father, Pete Hunter, shifted from managing a large cattle operation to building up his own small herd. Recknor, who earned ISU bachelor’s and master’s degrees, minored in entrepreneurship as an undergraduate but hadn’t planned on getting involved in the cattle business. But her husband, Jess, had started working with her father, and turning to retail made sense.

“I really like local, I really like small and it was a way I could be involved with the farm,” she said. 

Purple Ribbon’s first direct sales were at the Ames Downtown Farmers’ Market in August 2016, where they remain a mainstay. Back then, they were selling four products and had a herd of about 30 cattle. Now, the herd is 200-head, more than 40 beef products can be ordered for nationwide shipping on Purple Ribbon’s website and, starting last summer, their farm near Britt has a retail store.

As they’ve grown, Iowa State resources have been crucial, Ashley said. They’ve used the Iowa Beef Center’s tools to aid in pricing, taken classes at the ISU Meat Laboratory to better understand butchering and conferred at times with Judi Eyles, director of ISU’s Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, who Ashley got to know in her years on campus. 

Most recently, Ashley’s mother, Cindy Hunter, has been working with FFED food business specialist Penny Brown Huber on adding a commercial kitchen to the on-farm store. The expertise has been valuable as they traverse the various logistical and legal requirements for the kitchen, which would allow them to host farm-to-table dinners or prepare meat-and-cheese trays for to-go sales. 

“You know you’re going to get inspected, so it’s great to have a resource that can make sure you’re ready. You can ask a question for free and not worry that you’re asking the wrong question,” Ashley said. 

Brown Huber also helped Purple Ribbon find and submit an application for a grant that could cover another freezer to increase storage capacity, and she’s connected them with a vendor who can create custom packaging labels in reasonable quantities.  

“There have been so many helpful little pieces, and I think there are more to come,” Ashley said. 

‘Right there for me’

The Wenkes, the “accidental” produce growers, have another major transition coming, after last year’s first season as full-time farmers. They recently purchased a larger farm about 30 miles to the south near Fremont, a 37-acre property providing plenty of room for expansion. 

For this season, they’re still at the original farm, and it could take a few years to fully move the operation, including their 300 laying hens. They have moved into the new residence, a work-life split which is temporarily affecting one of the major personal benefits of running Pleasant Grove Homestead.

“The main thing for me about going full-time is that my kids are only so big for so long,” Zach said. “The farm allows me to watch them grow and teach them, and I’d rather be broke than miss that. You can be the richest man in the world, but if you don’t get to see why you’re doing it, was it worth it?”

Plus, having their children at their side can make a produce farm’s to-do list less of a grind, Ashley said.

“It’s really incredible to see how much fun my kids have throwing potatoes in the ground. They don’t see it as work, so it makes it seem not much like work to us, either,” she said.

Eventually, the new farm may help the Wenkes lean into another satisfying aspect of their business: feeding the community. Ashley said the added space could allow for on-farm experiences like self-picking and farm dinners. 

“This is really the sweet spot for me, getting to see something harvested and bagged and delivered to a customer. Some of them send me pictures of what they made with it. So many people are so thankful for fresh food that tastes good,” Ashley said. “I really want people to be connected with us and know their food came from right here.”

Ashley has been talking with Hartsook about building a commercial kitchen at the new farm, which could double as a processing facility for local jam and jelly makers. And they’re looking at a more sophisticated labeling and bar code system, which would smooth their produce processing and tracking and possibly open the door to new markets. 

As with all her contact with ISU Extension and Outreach, the support has been accessible and dependable, she said. 

“I can just email Christa and say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about a commercial kitchen,’” she said. “It’s always trusted information. I’ve never really been steered wrong by the resources I’ve used from Extension, and it’s kindly and conveniently delivered. It’s quick and concise and right there for me.”