For the Adams family of Grand Forks, N.D., last season’s harvest was practically made-to-order.
“Conditions were ideal, and we only had one shutdown,” said Chris Adams. “It was very dry, but we were done quickly. It was the smoothest harvest we’ve ever had. Planting was late because of the wet spring, but there was average sugar content and the average yield was close to 30 tons per acre.”
Chris and his parents, Steve and Darla, operate the Adams Family Farm, which covers 6,500 acres in the Red River Valley region of North Dakota and Minnesota. The family grows around 1,900 acres of sugarbeets, as well as hard red spring wheat and dry beans, including dark red kidneys, pinks and cranberries.
Keys to success
Although Mother Nature has the final say, the Adams’ key strategies to a successful farming operation are innovation, education and diversification, along with good old-fashioned hard work.
“We told Chris early on to never ask anyone to do something he wouldn’t do himself,” said Darla Adams. “He started at an early age, did the grunt work and worked his way up.”
Steve, 54, and Darla, 53, both of Grand Forks, met in high school and were married in 1981. Darla is a nurse anesthetist with a doctorate in teaching and learning and is the associate dean of the College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines at the University of North Dakota.
“When we got married, we decided that Steve would farm and I would work in nursing,” said Darla. “It was our way of diversifying amongst ourselves so that we wouldn’t have all our eggs in one basket. My education was our insurance policy and a steady income for the family to live off of so that we could invest the farm’s profits back into the farm.”
Steve and Darla’s oldest daughter, Angela Kunz, 35, lives with her husband Josh and their four children in Grand Forks. They own Northern Valley Electrical Service Inc., an electrical contracting service that specializes in the oilfield industry and operates primarily in the Bakken formation of North Dakota. Their son, Nick Adams, 31, is a physician in Grand Rapids, Mich. He and his wife Alissa have one daughter.
Chris, 28, graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2010 with a degree in biology. He met his wife, Kelsey, when they were assigned to be lab partners in organic chemistry class at UND. They were married in 2012. Their daughter Olivia is 18 months old, and the couple is expecting their second child in February. Kelsey, 28, is originally from St. Paul, Minn. She is a registered nurse and is currently studying to become a nurse practitioner.
Drawn to farming
Chris joined Steve in the family farm in 2011, but had to get his college education first.
“We told our kids that the question was not if they would go to college but where,” Darla said.
While Chris briefly considered attending dental school, farming is what he always wanted to do.
“His heart is in the family farm and everything else was on the backburner to that,” Kelsey said.
Chris is the fourth generation of the Adams family to farm in the Red River Valley. The farm was originally founded by Steve’s grandparents, Ralph and Ruth Adams, in the 1930s.
“They started out by renting land and borrowing equipment in Buxton, N.D,” Steve said. “It was a challenging time for them. Ruth was a small woman but she ran the horse and plow on the farm. Ralph started growing sugarbeets, and in his time, beet stock was selling for $100 per share.”
Ralph Adams retired in the late 1970s, and Steve’s father Darrell Adams carried on the family farm.
“Darrell received the ‘High Sugar Producer’ award for 1973 from the American Crystal Sugar Company for the East Grand Forks factory area. He produced 6,747 pounds of sugar per acre that year,” Steve said. “He really expanded the operation but had to downsize in the ’80s. Interest prices went up and farming prices were down. There were about 2,500 acres when I took over the farm in the mid-80s, and we eventually expanded from there. It was dry beans and wheat when I started and I got back into sugarbeets in 1998.”
Staying current
Steve, who grew up helping Darrell on the family farm, has seen many changes over the years.
“The equipment is bigger and then there has been the advent of GPS in agriculture,” he said. “There is also more mechanization and better varieties and chemicals.”
The Adams strive to embrace change and continue moving forward by implementing new technology, practices and perspectives into their operation.
“We are working hard to take our operation from being a family farm to a business,” Steve said. “We have gone from being one entity to having several. In addition to the farm, we also have a commercial snow removal business that my father Darrell started, and we are currently researching international trade opportunities for specialty beans.”
According to his parents, technology is the main thing that Chris has brought to the table since he joined the operation.
“He stays up on technology and looks for new ways to use it,” Steve said. “He got iPads for the farm employees in order to better manage farm data, and he is also working on a farm website and Facebook page.”
The family wants to use the website and social media to connect with and educate the American public about farming, according to Chris.
“There is so much that people from non-agricultural backgrounds don’t realize about farming,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to talk with them and show them what we do and the risks we take as farmers.”
Kelsey joked that she would like the American consumer public to know that Chris does not wear bib overalls.
“I was a city girl,” she said. “When we first got married, I had no idea about what farming was like and the long hours involved. My high school friends tease me about marrying a farmer and think that he does wear overalls. They have no idea how it actually is here.”
Harvest time
The family said they are looking forward to another successful sugarbeet harvest this fall.
“This season’s planting was a month earlier than last year, and it was dry,” said Chris. “We had a couple of fields where we were planting in dust and those are the lightest stands we have. Rains came at the perfect times, like we ordered them off a menu. One big storm could change it all though.”
The Adams operate 24-hour shifts and run two 12-row lifters and 12-to-14 trucks. They haul the majority of their sugarbeets to piling sites at East Grand Forks, Minn., and Reynolds, N.D. Their typical haul distance is between 10 and 12 miles.
“The sugarbeets are looking good,” Steve said. “There is a big crop, and we’re expecting a good yield.”
Darla said that while there will continue to be challenges such as the rising costs of technology and production, the family looks to the future with optimism.
“Steve and I started so young, and there was a lot of fear of failure at first,” Darla said. “It has been wonderful to watch Steve thrive in something that he loves to do. We are also thankful to have been able to lay a good foundation for the future for our family and to establish opportunities in farming for Chris and Kelsey.”
Challenges often bring opportunities and the Adams say they strive to make the most of those moments when they arise.
“It’s never too late to do the things you want to do,” said Darla.