Generously sharing their time and knowledge, Rick and Martha Kimberley host many visitors on their central Iowa farm. Included are foreign trade teams, national and foreign dignitaries, environmental organizations, government officials, food magazine editors, media and more. They can host from 10 to 20 groups per year.

Located close to Des Moines, the farm is handy for visitors coming to Iowa and is a model of  how a modern farm operates. When the Iowa Department of Agriculture, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Sister States, the World Food Prize Foundation and others have a group arriving, the Kimberleys always accommodate.

Visitors learn about farming methods and how technology is used, and the importance of agriculture in helping the world achieve food, feed and energy security — safely and sustainably. Issues are discussed, questions answered, ideas and opinions shared. “We learn so much from each other as hosts and visitors,” says Martha. “It is important to represent Iowa and U.S. agriculture, and help educate people here and abroad about farming today.”

In 2012, the Kimberleys hosted a delegation of Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping. Xi said he wanted the Kimberley farm to be an example for farms in China, as his country needs to adopt modern farming practices to help feed its huge population in the future.

Today, Xi Jinping’s wish for a “China-U.S. Friendship Demonstration Farm” in China is becoming a reality. Rick is an adviser for the Iowa-China farm project to be built in Hebei Province, a partner in the Iowa Sister States program.

Iowa-China connections
Rick and Martha have made a half-dozen trips to China over the years, most recently last fall with Gov. Terry Branstad and other officials to sign a memorandum of understanding for the demo farm project. They visited the site where the demonstration farm will be built.

Rick and Martha’s son, Grant, is marketing director for the Iowa Soybean Asso-ciation, and has been to China 11 times. He cites the importance of having a continuing dialogue and good relations with China, a key customer for U.S. grain and meat exports. Establishing the demo farm in China can help foster mutually beneficial collaboration between the two nations.

In addition to his ISA responsibilities and as executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, Grant helps Rick and Martha with the family farming operation in Iowa, the farm on which Rick grew up. They have one full-time and several part-time employees. Martha has an off-farm job as a real estate agent. Their full-time employee, Jack Merten, “has been with us for 34 years,” says Rick. “It’s a friendship we all deeply appreciate.”

Managing the business
This family farming operation is “run like a business that values its employees and the landowners it rents ground from,” says Brian Kemp, an Iowa Master Farmer, Class of 2014, who knows the Kimberleys.

“Rick and his family have been selfless, spending countless hours preparing, hosting and explaining their operation and agriculture, in general, to government and foreign delegations through the years,” Kemp says.

John Bergeson, agronomist with Crop Production Services, has worked with Rick for 35 years. “Rick is a good steward of the land,” says Bergeson. “He has grass waterways, buffer strips, terraces, cover crops and more. Aerial imagery is used to check fields for weeds, insects and disease, allowing for treating only the affected areas. Nitrogen is applied using variable-rate technology, as needed by soil type to get optimum yield.”

Technology put to work
A fifth-generation farmer, Rick began farming in 1972. He uses conservation tillage and, depending on slope and soil type, no-till. GPS is used for yield mapping, soil sampling, fertilizer application, autosteer and auto-shutoff on the planter. Experimenting with cover crop mixes, Rick works with a neighbor who grazes cattle on some of the Kimberleys’ fields. Rick also participates in ISA’s On-Farm Research program.

This farming operation has bins and grain handling facilities to store 90% of its production, providing flexibility to sell and haul grain to the best markets throughout the year.

As the ethanol industry developed over the years and provided more corn marketing outlets, Rick and Martha were faced with a decision: rebuild their aging cattle feedlot facilities or build more bins. They built bins and eventually exited the cattle business.

“I loved livestock,” says Rick. “That’s what the Kimberleys always did; we had a cow-calf herd and a feedlot. My great-great-grandfather went back and forth to England importing cattle and horses to the U.S.; [it’s] a part of my family history. But living in Polk County, close to Des Moines, raising livestock is difficult, and updating our cattle facilities would have been a huge investment.”

Profile of Rick and Martha Kimberley

HOMETOWN: Maxwell
FARM: corn and soybeans on 4,000 acres; once raised cattle and had a contract hog finishing facility
FAMILY: son Grant, with wife Natalie; daughter Laura Kimberley Steidler, with husband Jason; and four grandchildren
LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS:
Rick — membership recruiter for the Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Corn Growers and Iowa Farm Bureau; and speaker at schools and universities in China. Former roles: member on the local co-op board and youth athletic coach
Martha — past president of Polk County Farm Bureau
Both participate at Saylorville Church, volunteer in helping feed the homeless at the Central Iowa Shelter and host Chinese students in their home.