Cattle, Corn, and Digital Agriculture with a 4th Generation Farmer

July 1, 2022·26 min·2 clips

Jacqueline Leffler's beef sales skyrocketed from 20 to 170 head during COVID, reaching over 1,000 customers.

This episode features host Clint Schaffer interviewing fourth-generation Kansas farmer and rancher Jacqueline Leffler. Leffler operates Leffler Farms with her father, growing corn, soybeans, and wheat while also backgrounding cattle and running a direct-to-consumer beef business called Leffler Prime Performance. She also appears in the documentary series "A Farmer's Journey." Leffler explains her beef business grew from selling 20 head annually to over 1,000 customers after expanding during the COVID-19 pandemic. She details a challenging spring with excessive rain delaying soybean planting by about a month and causing wet holes that may require replanting in some corn silage fields. To manage rising input costs, her operation locked in fertilizer, chemical, and fuel prices in October 2021, and secured interest rates through a Frontier Farm Credit program. Leffler participates in leadership programs with Kansas Farm Bureau, including a fellowship that involved a trip to Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Finland in August to study global agriculture. She uses social media, primarily Facebook, for about 95% of her beef marketing and to maintain connections with farmers internationally. Leffler's operation utilizes the Climate FieldView digital platform for tasks like advanced script writing for planting and even monitoring pasture grass via satellite imagery for cattle rotation. She helped host a local Farm Bureau event for fourth graders featuring activities like sheep shearing and tasting different flavored milks. Leffler was recruited for "A Farmer's Journey" after a phone call she initially thought was a scam. A surprising insight is her use of drone imagery from an agronomist to assess flooded fields that are too wet to physically access. She expresses greater concern about input costs for the next growing season rather than the current one. Leffler values digital tools partly because, unlike her father and grandfather, she cannot rely on memory alone for hybrid seed placement. Her furthest beef customers drive eight to ten hours for local pickup, sometimes incorporating it into vacation plans. The conversation is casual, friendly, and educational, reflecting a practical exchange between two farmers. The tone is optimistic and forward-looking, focusing on adaptation and community connection. Listeners interested in direct farm marketing, integrating technology into mixed operations, or navigating current agricultural challenges will appreciate this episode. Those seeking highly technical agronomic deep dives or contentious debates might find it too broad or conversational.

As heard by us

A grounded farm-business conversation that links fieldwork, cattle, and a broader global view.

The episode treats the farm as a working business with several moving parts: corn, soybeans, wheat, backgrounding cattle, and a direct-to-consumer beef side.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a farm story that ties together cattle pens, corn rows, and a wider ag perspective.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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