15 Minutes with a farmer: Wayne Humphreys

Wayne Humphreys has traveled to more than 30 countries, served as a leader for nine years with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, two years with the U.S. Grains Council, and addressed agriculture crowds across the country. While his extensive resume has given him a global perspective, he still calls southeast Iowa home. Most of his adult life, he’s raised corn, soybeans, and pigs a short distance from where he grew up. 

In recent years, Humphreys has been intentional about passing the baton in the boardroom and on his own farm. Two of his sons now manage the day-to-day operations.

He reflected on his early days in agriculture during a conversation with Successful Farming.

Read more about his experience with strategic transitions in February's cover story: “Passing the Baton.”

SF: How did you get started?

WH: I was a national FFA officer during college. You drop out of school for a year. Then I finished up at Iowa State University. The farm we grew up on wasn’t nearly big enough for my brother and me to both start farming careers. After being an officer, there are a lot of opportunities that you think about, but I wanted to farm. I had no idea how it was going to happen.

Ralph Wilson and Lester Gipple were gentlemen in the community when I came back. They’re both long gone. Lester was the closest thing to a mentor I ever had. He was a real estate person. He got together with Ralph one day and said, “I’ve got a guy that really needs to farm.” Ralph’s sons had good careers outside of agriculture.

Ralph said: “We want to slow down. We’ve got this farm over here. We’ve got to have market price, but whatever you have for a down payment, we’ll make it work, and I’ll carry the note.” This was in 1974. That farm is where my wife, Sherry, and I raised our boys and live today.

I worked at the packing plant in the daytime and farmed at night. In the early days, my brother, Harold, and I shared machinery that my folks had sold to us. We grew our own operations that emphasized our personal interests.

That’s how it started. At the time, the house didn’t even have a bathroom.

SF: Tell me more about your early years farming.

WH: In the ’80s, things got really ugly. People were paying 18% interest and owed a lot of money. We had one kid, and another on the way. You kind of look at your resources, and I didn’t have any, except for my experience in the FFA and speaking. 

So, we sold some sows and spent about $7,000. This was pre-internet, of course. We bought feed and grain dealer directories from Iowa and the surrounding states. We went through those directories one at a time. Any place that said co-op or association or federation, we sent them a speaking brochure. We bought a 1-800 telephone number and enclosed a reply postcard. We sent out 7,000 pieces of direct mail from the living room floor. 

This was 10 years after I’d been a national officer. I still had a little name recognition with ag teachers. People started to call. I talked about people skills and investing in yourself. The acronym was ACES — attitude, communication, enthusiasm, and simple sincerity. A person’s value as a human being is far more important than their net worth. Perseverance in the face of the financial challenges had nothing to do with their perseverance as decent and successful human beings. Sometimes, things happen to you that are beyond your control, but it’s always a good idea to invest in yourself. That investment will never be devalued by outside forces.

Lo and behold, I was invited to speak at more than 100 events a year for 20 years. We only did one mailing, but you know how these things work with word of mouth. That’s a big part of how we grew the farm.

Sherry also worked as a tax auditor for the state of Iowa for over 30 years. That gave us health insurance and steady income that allowed us to pay for day care for our sons as they were born. That was critical.

SF: How did the pigs fit into your farming career?

WH: We did about everything that everyone has done in the hog business in the last 40 years.

We started out with farrow to feeder pigs. Beyond that we went to farrow to finish hogs when we had a partner. When he passed away, the farrowing became something that I could not do and also travel at the same time. So we no longer had sows and bought pigs and finished those out. Then we were part of a sow co-op. As my sons became older and we had full-time hired help, we became contract feeders.