Have you been dreaming of starting an ag business to diversify your farm income? It may be easier than you think to make that dream a reality.

Farm Progress partnered with University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the 2024 Husker Harvest Days event to present a new program, Women in the Field. A series of speakers on Wednesday shared perspectives on topics ranging from work-life balance to prepping harvest meals.  

Farmers Jena Ochsner and Mary Pat Sass shared tips on how to make the jump into a new farm business during their Women in the Field session: Cultivating Success: The Power of Risk-Taking and Diversification for Family Farms.

Ochsner, a Nebraska Farmer, started a direct-to-consumer beef company called Double O Farms, and Sass leveraged her passion for documenting her family’s farm story by creating Grounded Journals. While the two businesses are unique, they share similar stories of leaving corporate jobs to diversify income on the farm.

Start the journey

It’s easy to just sit around on the idea for a business. But Ochsner and Sass challenge fellow farmers to take action. Start having conversations that include questions like:

When it comes to that last question, time, money and fear of the unknown are common hurdles.

Related:Women in agriculture lead conversations at Husker Harvest Days

“Time is one of our most valuable resources,” Ochsner said. “Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s really easy to say, ‘I don’t have time.’”

Instead of saying there’s not enough time, Ochsner challenges others to say, “That is not a priority of mine right now.” Ochsner explained we will always make time for the things that are most important to us.

For folks still nervous about taking the first step on their business journey, Sass encourages evaluating these questions:

The big decisions

One big decision along the journey for both Ochsner and Sass was the decision to leave their full-time jobs. Not only did those jobs provide financial support for their families – they also provided health insurance.

In addition to joining share networks for insurance coverage, the decision also involved hard conversations about financial needs and goals.

“For example, we bought a house that was built in the 1980s with original bathrooms, and we had plans to remodel,” Sass explained. When she became a mom and decided to leave her full-time job, those plans were no longer a priority.

Related:5 tips to juggle work-life balance in agriculture

Another big decision for beginning business owners is deciding the right time to go to market with a service or product.

Sass reminds others to find the minimal viable product – it doesn’t have to be perfect to get it in front of customers. For her journal business, that meant providing downloadable templates and prompts for farmwives to begin journaling. Later she was able to refine her business model and develop the tangible products she now offers.

Ask for help

“One of the questions Jena and I get asked a lot is, ‘How do you do it all?’” Sass said. “And the answer is, we don’t.” Ochsner quickly chimed in.

“I think sometimes as women, we have a hard time asking for something that’s going to make life a little stressful for someone else,” Sass explains.

After struggling, Sass decided to hire a babysitter for two days a week. Now during those two days, she can pour energy into her business or help on the farm, and she knows they are being taken care of.

Similarly, Ochsner found herself struggling to focus with clutter around the house. She decided to hire a cleaning lady. “We reworked our budget to fit that in so that I could be a better mom, have a better life and run a better business,” she said.

The Women in the Field program was developed to recognize the contributions of women in agriculture, increase female representation across the Farm Progress brands and foster long-lasting relationships that align with the future of the agriculture industry.