‘Very proud to be picked’

After 130 years, Pochardts still finding new ways to grow

LYND -- Dan and Kelly Pochardt did not expect to be singled out.

​When they learned they had been selected as Lyon County’s Farm Family of the Year, their first reaction was to think of the farms around them.

​”We feel very proud to be picked,” Kelly said. “We know a lot of neighbors and other farmers who deserve it just as much if not more than us. It was very humbling.”

​That humility is familiar in Lyon County farm country, but the recognition is well-earned.

​The Pochardts were honored at the University of Minnesota Extension Farm Family of the Year recognition event at Farmfest near Redwood Falls, where 86 families from across Minnesota were recognized for agricultural leadership, environmental stewardship and community involvement.

​The program is coordinated by University of Minnesota Extension, the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

​Families are nominated by their county Extension committees, and the ceremony at the Wick Buildings Farmfest Center on the Gilfillan Estate has become a staple of Farmfest week, a moment to pause during harvest prep and recognize the multigenerational work that sustains rural Minnesota.

​For the Pochardt family, that work in Lyon County dates back to 1890.

​”Our family has been farming in Lyon County for over 130 years,” Dan said.

​The farm’s history has tracked the broader history of agriculture in southwestern Minnesota -- beef cattle, corn, soybeans, small grains--adapting as markets and equipment changed but staying rooted in the same land.

​Dan and Kelly took over the family operation in 2016. Today, Dan describes it simply: “It is a typical corn, soybean, alfalfa, cow/calf and feedlot operation with the added quirk of raising reindeer on the side.”

​That typical foundation is still the core of the farm. The Pochardts run a cow-calf and feedlot operation along with alfalfa production, alongside corn and soybean acres.

​It’s the kind of diversified livestock and crop mix that has helped Lyon County farms remain resilient through price swings and challenging weather years.

​The quirk is what most people remember. Through their Red Stable Reindeer business, the Pochardts bring live reindeer to communities, schools and businesses throughout the Christmas season.

​It started as an offshoot of the farm and has grown into a seasonal operation that takes them across the region in December, giving kids and families a hands-on connection to agriculture they would never get in a field or feedlot.

​Back home in Lynd, the farm remains a family operation in the truest sense.

​Supporting Dan and Kelly are Dan’s parents, Bruce and Crystal Pochardt, Dan’s uncle Terry Pochardt, and employee Jesse Orvis, the kind of extended network that keeps many family farms going.

​Community involvement runs alongside the farm work. Dan is a member of Zion Lutheran Church, the Southwest Cattlemen’s Association and the Lyon County Corn and Soybean Growers Association.

​Kelly teaches art and library at Lynd Public School, as well as at various events in the community. She also offers community art classes, including through 4-H, serves as a Cub Scout den leader and volunteers for youth sports and other community activities.

​Their four children, Jasper, Avery, Maverick and Paisley are not just along for the ride. They are active participants in the operation, and their list of jobs sounds like a small farm business plan of its own: helping with bottle calves, growing sweet corn, establishing a pumpkin patch, and assisting with the reindeer business and farm events.

​Off the farm, the kids are involved in Cub Scouts, track, cross country, figure skating, basketball, volleyball, baseball, theater and piano.

​For a farm that has already survived and adapted for more than 130 years, the question inevitably turns to what comes next.

​The Pochardts are intentional about how they approach it.

​”Our kids will have the option to stay and grow with the farm or go their own way,” Kelly said. “We hope that someone in the family will continue to operate the farm well into the future.”

​That transition is also, in their view, the central challenge facing family farms, not just their own, but across the region.

​”I think the biggest challenge to most family farms is the transitioning from generation to generation,” Dan said. “With land values being where they are, expansion may have to come in other ways, be it livestock or other options to grow.”

​It’s a reality many Lyon County families are navigating. With land values high and margins tight, growth doesn’t always mean more acres. It can mean adding value to what you already have, whether that’s a cow-calf enterprise, custom work, direct sales like sweet corn and pumpkins, or an agritourism idea that brings the public to the farm, or brings the farm to them, like reindeer in December.

​Those added enterprises also create entry points for kids, giving them ownership of a small piece of the operation while they decide whether agriculture is the life they want.

​If transition is the challenge, community is the reward.

​When asked what they value most about farming in Lyon County, the Pochardts didn’t point to yield maps or cattle prices.

​”The best part of farming in Lyon County is the people and the land,” Dan said. “We love being part of our rural community, and are blessed with many wonderful people who help us in many forms or ways to make it possible.”

​It’s a sentiment that came through at Farmfest, and one that has kept the farm going since 1890, a recognition that a farm family is never just the family listed on the plaque. It’s parents and uncles and employees who help, teachers and church members and neighbors who support, and kids who bottle-feed calves, plant pumpkins, and learn to lead a reindeer.