Some people are lucky enough to know what they were born to do. Others have to try various pursuits until they find the lifestyle and career that fits them.
Jill Chi and her family – her husband Andy, and their two children, ages 4 and 2 – moved to the Annandale area four years ago, when they purchased their roughly 27-acre farm 10 miles north of Annandale.
"I come from a long line of farmers, almost everyone in my family since they emigrated from Sweden," said Jill Chi, who has been selected to take part of the Beginning Farmers Institute from the National Farmers Union.
"It did skip a generation, though, my parents raised us in town. I spent a lot of summers on the family farms in Nebraska and Iowa, though, and it was something I was always interested in," Chi said.
Chi grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and has spent several years moving from place to place, including spending time in California, where her husband is originally from, and in Oregon, where she lived for five years.
She plans to be in Annandale for a long time, to raise her family and tend to her farm.
"It took a while to get here, but we’re finally here," she said.
Chi did not study agriculture in college, and doesn’t necessarily have much practical experience, but has instead found success in farming through trial and error, reading, and learning from experienced area farmers.
Chi said she lost her old job when the Great Recession of 2008 hit, and it was at that juncture she decided to pursue farming.
Now, Chi primarily raises beef cattle, but also tends to chickens and goats.
Off to farming institute
Chi will travel to Washington, D. C. next month, with the cohort of 20 beginning farmers selected nationwide to be in the Beginning Farmers Institute. She will also travel to California in November, to learn the more practical aspects of farming, and to Washington state in March.
The BFI program, according to a release, "will emphasize the challenges beginning farmers face in their careers, such as business planning, access to capital, land acquisition, marketing and more.
"Additionally, women and veterans have been some of the most active participants in the program’s history, representing more than 60 percent of the 96 beginning farmers who have completed the program and 14 of the 20 participants announced for this year."
"I found out about the program through the Minnesota Farmers Union," Chi said, explaining how she learned about the BFI. "They sent out a call for people to apply, so I did some research and it sounded like such an amazing program."
Chi explained that the goal of the program is wide-ranging. BFI works with beginning farmers to help them navigate things like farm funding and insurance and how to make connections and be leaders in their respective communities.
"I’m looking forward to going to Washington, D.C.," said Chi. "I’ve never been there before, and there we will learn a lot about the policy aspect of farming, such as the Farm Bill."
The federal Farm Bill, due to expire in September, has been a prime focus in national politics lately, with Minnesota representatives and senators advocating for its passage.
Tariffs, too, affect farmers nationally. The "trade war" with China has resulted in tariffs being slapped on numerous Minnesota-made goods, such as pork and soy, in retaliation for tariffs placed on Chinese aluminum and steel.
The steel tariffs have favored Minnesota’s Iron Range, an economic "boom or bust" region largely impacted by imported steel, but the agricultural tariffs have negatively affected Minnesota’s farmlands.
"I don’t think the tariffs affect beginning farmers hugely," said Chi. "But when the big farmers are hurting, the small farmers are hurting, too.
"The people who have been most helpful to me are the people in this immediate vicinity," Chi continued. "We don’t want to see any of them hurting, so we’re hoping the (tariffs) get resolved.
"That’s why I’m looking forward to learning more of the policy side of things, to learn how to better advocate for family farmers," said Chi.
Challenging, yet rewarding
Chi said that farming has its own sets of rewards and challenges.
"It’s all challenging, but not necessarily in a bad way," said Chi. "We’ve definitely had some hardships, losing livestock we weren’t expecting to lose, losing crops.
"It’s part of nature, you can’t control the weather, you can’t control death or accidents or anything like that," Chi continued. "You have to get into that mindset: that failure and death are a part of farming.
"It’s sometimes a hard learning curve, because I care so deeply about my animals and I don’t want to see them suffering. A lot of it is learning to mitigate the risk as much as possible."
"I think, far and away, the most rewarding aspect is doing this with my kids," said Chi. "So rewarding seeing them watch me do this, learning about hard work and taking care of the land and taking care of the animals. they love to be a part of that, and they’re pretty fearless about it."
To learn more about Jill’s farming adventure, contact jill@bevarafarms.com or follow her on Instagram @bevarafarms.