Dad's wisdom: part 2 with Dave Nelson (son)

Shay

Foulk: Hey podcast, this is part 2 of our first ever 2-part Dad's Wisdom series. Here we listen to the son, Dave Nelson, talk about his father and why he thought he would be a great fit for the Dad's Wisdom series. If you haven't already, go check out part 1 with Gary Nelson and see how these 2 podcasts uniquely tie together. If you have someone in your life who you would like to be featured in Dad's Wisdom, please email us at agviewpitch@gmail.com or call at 319-533-5703. Enjoy. I'm just gonna start recording this so that there's no break there.

Basically, I'll hand this to you, and I just want you to introduce yourself and, you know, who you are, why you reached out to us, you know, why you reached out to us, and why you think that the Dad's Wisdom segment brings value, and why you think that your dad is a good fit for it, you know, why you wanted to have that as a legacy to learn more about him. So I mean, just—

Dave

Nelson: you're gonna close your eyes. So my name is Dave Nelson. I farm with my parents, Dave and— sorry, I'm startled. So my name is Dave Nelson. I am— I farm with my wife, but we farm with my parents, Gary and Carmen Nelson, and from Fort Dodge, Iowa. We own a company by the name of Brokaw Supply, and Brokaw Supply was kind of my hog barns or trucking business, if you'd say, for me to be able to get back to the farm back in 2007, 2008. And so we bought that business together, my father and I, with my wife and my mom, of course. And we've grown that business and let it mature into the company that's become. And through that time also, it gave me the chance to come back and farm with my dad. My dad started farming out of high school in 1973, 1974. They were married farming right out of a senior in high school.

I came along in 1975 and of course grew grew up on the floorboard of the tractor, and it got in me enough that I am now back. Um, in 2007, first of all, went over to Iowa State to agronomy, spent 10 years with Monsanto, 2 years with Caterpillar, and then in 2007 is when the opportunity came to buy Brokaw Supply. And it was so much of God's timing of putting everything together, like everything else in the world. But, um, came back and bought Brokaw, started farming with mom and dad, and I heard the podcast here of Dad's Wisdom here about 2-3 weeks ago. I think it was the first one that Chris did with his father-in-law. And just, I was working on the combine, mom and dad were gone, and I was putting on Yetter Devastators on the bottom of the combine. I'm like, hey, it popped up on Facebook. And so I'm like, I'm gonna listen to this.

And I listened to it, and within the first 2-3 minutes, just the tagline Dad's Wisdom caught me, and knowing that Chris was doing it got my attention as well. Been watching really what he's been doing. And right away it's like my dad has been my foundation and my corner post to making me the man, the man first of all who I am, as well as the businessman that I am. And I went out and learned so much at Monsanto and Caterpillar, but when it comes to the man and the businessman and the farmer that I am, I mean, that started with my dad when I was 5 years old, watching him and the struggles he went through, the successes he went through, how he did things.

And so we are probably the most opposite as we could be of his personality to mine, but they mesh so well and they, they complement each other so well to where, I mean, we're best friends and we're business partners at the same time, to where we own Brokaw together and run that together. We've now merged to where there's another group involved in it as well, to where It's a little bit different as it was in day one, but just like any business, we took Brokaw from where it was with 4 employees, grew it to 42 employees. Brokaw was ready to take that next step, and we couldn't do it by ourselves. And that's when the opportunity came about for us to merge with another company called Riggins in Missouri, and now we call ourselves Ag Solutions Group. And so Brokaw, just like a kid going through high school, junior high, high school, we took Brokaw, we took it another step.

We're now a part of the next step Brokaw's be coming with a, with a bigger group. And I mean, today is actually my first day of stepping out of the business and farming full-time. And so when hearing Dad's wisdom, and coincidentally it's this first year of Dad starting to take some Social Security and me coming in the farm full-time now, it's just timing has been everything of God's hand in this. And, and now today we sit here on the first day I'm farming full-time and talking about Dad's wisdom of The things that he's taught me to get me— he's given me the keys to the operation back in 2007, 2008 and said, here, let's, let's drive. But I mean, he's so trusted me with so many things. And so many times you see the dads hold the keys until the dad is practically in the grave. And then here stands the son that he's a great tractor driver, great mechanic.

But when it comes to managing the business, because farming It is a lifestyle. It's always been a lifestyle, but farming is more business now than it is lifestyle, I feel, to where he's given me the opportunity to bring back the corporate America things, apply them in Brokaw obviously, but also apply them in the farm to where there was a time that I was tagging along with him and there's a time now where he's kind of tagging along with me and it's, we're doing it together, but it's fun being able to use the things he's taught me. And his passion— he's got such a passion, as watching him with me and my two sisters, but his passion is, is young people as well. To where, I mean, to be that mentor to that, to that young guy that don't have a dad for whatever reason, or is farming on his own and things like that.

To where it's— when I heard the podcast, it's like, my dad would be perfect for that. And so it's neat to be able to— I don't know, Chris is interviewing him right now, and it's neat for the two of them to visit without me in the room because it It's in Dad's heart, and so for him and Chris to kind of pull that out of his heart and share his story and his wisdom of, I mean, here's what I went through. By no means has it all been rosy, but I've learned this from it, and if I can help anybody avoid that stumble or that problem, I mean, here's my wisdom to take and use it. And so I'm proud of him. I'm excited that he's doing it.

Shay

Foulk: Well, and another thing with Wisdom. The best part of this is there's still a whole lot more story to be written. Oh, we're just, we're just, we're just getting started here. Now, I guess while I got you here, I think you hit on a really important point of— Chris says this a lot— we're a business that just happens to farm. And you came back into the operation with 800 acres. You know, when you started, you know, helping out back on the farm and you were able to be in the area with Brokaw with 800 acres, talk to me a little bit about how that looked for your expansion, you know, moving to the point where you are today and how your dad helped guide that along the way.

Dave

Nelson: Yeah. So when I came back in '07, Dad was farming 800 acres and today we're, we're a lot more than that by a long shot. And I, I, the growth didn't come because Dave come back. The growth came in the right time. Dad had built a foundation. Dad had built a reputation in the neighborhood to neighbors, to business people, to farm managers, to bankers. That was Dad's reputation and foundation. So when I came back, I was able to come back and it allowed us to partner with the two things that we both had individually. I had ambition and a lot of labor and a lot of sweat. To be able to put in the operation and a lot of things from the business world. Dad had all the foundation of everything he had brought to the table. So we both brought two very major pieces to the puzzle. And when you put those two pieces together is what allowed us to grow into who we are today.

To where farming has always been a way of life and a livelihood and things like that. And it's still very much that today, but farming is so much more of a business today than it's ever been before to where you can see the separation separation of— sometimes you say the separation, the men from the boys— but you're going to continue to see the separation of who wants to just treat it like a livelihood, but who wants to treat it as a business. To— I don't want to say to the success of each, each different direction, but— and it's not about growth, it's not about growing acres, it's about making money at the end of the day and providing for your family. So it's not one thing about how many acres do you farm or how many head of cattle do you have, It's about number one, providing for your family, as well as running a good business with a good net income.

I mean, if you were in town working or started a business in town running a tire shop, it's about net income and running a good business. It's not about how many tires you sell a year, it's about net income at the end of the day. It's about your employees, it's about how your employees feel a part of the operation. Good people attract good people. You're only as good as your people that you surround yourself with. So whether it's labor, people that are part of your operation, or whether it's part of your peer group or part of your trusted advisors to where I have probably 3 trusted advisors that I look to on different subjects, probably 4 or 5 when you really start and think about it. You go to a doctor for health consultation and you pay him, right? Yes. Just like going to a business advisor or a tax man, you pay them for the, for the expertise they're bringing you.

You go to a mechanic to work on your car because you're not a mechanic. Just like bringing in a good agronomist, I pay him, I pay him. Maybe it's through margin of the products I buy him for. Our agronomist, we pay a consulting fee to because we value that. Yeah, we can get it for free, but sometimes you get what you pay for. And so this whole growth period that we've gone through in the last 12 years— well, since I was 7, here we are 11 years later, 12 years later. It's been pretty neat, but it's been a lot of hard work. It's been honesty, integrity, and again, it goes back to the foundation Dad started and had and what he built, what I brought back from the farm of my 10, 12 years out in the career world, and whether if you want to say the degree helped some too, but it's putting those two together and where we've grown from there, of from the business standpoint.

We're treating it like a business. It's about communication. It's about trust, honesty, integrity, business aspects. It's not about just, I'm a farmer lifestyle and I hope to rent the neighbor's 80 someday. I mean, that's going to happen, don't get me wrong, to those guys, but you got to build your future. I mean, you're not going to write the whole script for your future, but you have to drive your future of driving your operation and where you're going.

Shay

Foulk: And I think a great point on that too is You know, you talked about making a business for providing for your family and that sweat equity. And when you look at your dad as, as the mentor and the, the guide for that and really allowing you to come on board, he recognized the potential he had in you, right? Because you said you hire the right people, you pay for the consulting for the right people, and you want to be associated with those people. Well, the wisdom that he has today, to some extent, and what we see with a lot of the, the generation that we have so much to learn from, is at the time they might have thought that they were just putting in their sweat equity. You know, that's what it was to them. They were putting in sweat equity and they were providing for their family.

And now it's come to the point where the big picture of that is you get to be involved with that and you get to farm with your dad as he transitions to enjoying some of the things in life, being on the farm and tinkering in the shop and enjoying those hobbies, you know, it's really a cool thing to, to see with that. Anything else that you want to say, you know, on your father and why you chose to, you know, reach out to us and have us come here today to talk with him?

Dave

Nelson: I mean, it's just, it's been all the memories of watching the sweat equity and the hard work he's put in. I mean, he went through the '80s, the late '70s and early '80s, and just about, I mean, he was encouraged to fold it up and walk away. But he went to every one of his creditors and said, "I am not taking bankruptcy. I will repay you with whatever interest that you want to charge me, but if you will work with me, I will pay you back, and I am not going to quit farming." And so that, to me, if there's one phrase or one just stake drove in the ground, How many people in this neighborhood took the opportunity to just take the eraser and wipe everything clean? And some of those guys came back and bigger and fancier and owned more ground and all that kind of stuff, or rode Dad's shirt's tail and things like that. But they couldn't manage, they still can't manage.

I mean, it's just, that's the thing that I look back at Dad is he had enough honest and integrity to go back and say, I'm not doing that, I screwed up, I know it. Some of it was timing of corn prices and all that, but I bought too much new equipment, overextended myself. I screwed up, I get it, but I'm gonna pay my debt back. I am not gonna walk away. And a lot of people walked away. So for me, number one, that's so proud as of a son to say, yeah, that's my dad. Too many times, so many times you see the dad saying, yeah, that's my son. But this is a no, that's my dad moment. And one of the things dad has always said is, My ambition or my goal is to be a great businessman and an average farmer. And so when you really stop and think about that, a lot of times as farmers we want to be the best tractor driver or the best mechanic or the straightest rows, the cleanest beans.

At the end of the day, his statement of I want to be the best businessman and an average farmer, and that ties right back into, I mean, as we're talking and discussing this of It's a business. It's not just a farming operation where you drive tractors and take it to the elevator and raise pigs and things like that. It's a business at the end of the day. And too many times, and I'm so scared for a lot of people of, if you're going to continue to just be a farmer, I mean, you're going to self-select your destiny to a point. Yes, there's timing and bad luck and things like that. But we all, I mean, At the end of the day, we hold the keys to where we're going in life, with God's help, either direction. But we hold the keys as to where we're going. And today's economy and the world and the government and just agriculture in general, I mean, you hold the keys as to where your path is heading.

And so we're trying to take the best steps and learn from Dad's wisdom, bring back the corporate world that I went out and experienced, and reaching out to our peers and the people that we trust and asking for help to be, how would you do this, and help being guided along the way.

Shay

Foulk: What's your favorite memory on the farm that you have with your dad or of growing up or, you know, the lifestyle with, with your family?

Dave

Nelson: It's good and bad. I mean, so dig it out from the '80s. It was about how hard you could work on the least amount and being the most conservative with your spending to where it was both good. It taught me to be a workaholic and not have a lot of extra fun. But it also taught me is we didn't have the extra things growing up. So it really drove home of it's not the extra things or the four-wheeler or the fancy vacations or the boat. It's the memories you make with your mom and dad or your brothers and sisters or the whole family or with Grandma and Grandpa. It's not about spending money to make memories. It was memories of just getting in the back of the truck and going in town for ice cream. It was the memories of just being together and working hard together, but playing together. But still again, not having all the material things.

At the end of the day, material things are just temporary and you get tired of them and want the next thing and the next thing. So the biggest thing growing up remembering is just, it was the memories made with your hearts and time together. It wasn't memories made of, "I have to have a boat or a four-wheeler or everybody has a snowmobile," or material things. It was The memories are just what they've instilled in us by just spending time with us and showing us things and just spending time as a family together.

Shay

Foulk: With that being said, so many stories that you hear from your parents and grandparents is they want better for the next generation. And you've seen that and put the, the work into that and have built that for yourself and your family. How are you taking those values that you learned and passing that on to your children? You know, how is your dad's wisdom being formed in, in your sweat equity and your story right now? How is that being passed on in your family?

Dave

Nelson: So it's been a challenge, and that's one of the reasons we sit here today and I'm now farming full-time and not trying to farm full-time, trying to run a business full-time. I'm stepping out of brokaw permanently other than helping in the wintertime. Because I don't have the physical minutes with my kids like I need to where they tag along with me and come along as much as they can. But I'm jumping to my office, jumping to the farm, jumping to a meeting, jumping back to the office and things like that to where they've not been able to be with Dad like I was with Dad. Being able to now run the farming business, I mean, I use the example of when a guy is a doctor that son never got to go to work with his dad, probably one day, and tag along with his dad as a doctor, lawyer, or an engineer, or just whatever his career was in town.

Yeah, you got to go see where dad's office is, but you didn't get to be with him practically 24/7. I got to be with dad 24/7 doing everything he did.

Shay

Foulk: You didn't get to be a doctor or an engineer as that lifestyle.

Dave

Nelson: No, but exactly.

Shay

Foulk: Those kids didn't get the opportunity to be a doctor, but you got the opportunity to be a farmer.

Dave

Nelson: I'm a farmer. I'm a doctor and engineer of farming because I did it every day with my dad growing up to where that is one thing that me and my wife are working really hard on. And we're kind of turning— this is a huge transition, not just me and my wife farming, but this is a transition for me and my wife with our kids too, to where dad's around more. You know what, the two boys, you go with dad today and you're just on the farm all day today, or time for my daughter to come out and spend. I mean, it's just, it's, it's, it's a transition again of not just a career, but this is truly a transition time for my wife and I with my kids to be able to spend more time of just time together making memories, whether it be working together or doing the recreational things we'd like to do together.

And again, we don't have— we haven't spent the money on all the fancy toys And that in itself is a learning experience with our kids of, well, they've got, they each got snowmobiles and we got one junker. Yeah, we do, but we really appreciate it and we keep it running and we have fun when we do ride it versus it's a material thing. At the end of the day, the material things aren't gonna, it's not what keeps the family together and it's not what creates a value in your heart. It's that time together and being together, playing together, praying together. That's what we see is this isn't just a transition of going farming. This is a transition in our home as well.

Shay

Foulk: Well, congratulations on taking that step and first day here on the job, as you can say. But, you know, obviously been a part of it for a long time, making the big step for you and your family. And we appreciate you reaching out to us. Very excited to hear the other end of the story and how that plays out and leads to this moment right here. So thank you so much for being a part of that.

Dave

Nelson: Thank you.

Shay

Foulk: Yeah. And like I said, we'll—

Dave

Nelson: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Dad's Wisdom. Please make sure to leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts. And for any questions or ideas that you would like discussed, please email us at cbarron@agviewsolutions.com. Have a great day.