America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers

It was a refrigerated lawn mower trailer parked near a bridge over a creek by Columbia, Tennessee, that changed Ben and Lauren Neale's lives forever.

COVID had come to the state, as it had the rest of the nation, and Lauren soon saw signs of stress among the other mothers she followed on Facebook. Grocery store meat cases had grown sparse, and the mothers voiced concern about feeding families on the 2 pounds of ground beef they were allowed to purchase at any one time.

Lauren went to Ben with an idea.

The Neales already managed a growing cow/calf herd. They also owned Light Hill Meats, a processing plant they had operated since 2017. Ben had an inventory of halves and wholes of beef -- and could process more.

POP-UP ON THE BRIDGE

What about opening a pop-up to sell meat, Lauren wondered? No limits on sales.

Soon, truck and trailer were parked down by the bridge. And, people came. "We had lines," Lauren says. "We had lines when it was pouring rain. Lines when it was snowing and when it was blazing hot. They were there every Saturday for about a year."

People brought large cooler bags. The Neales would run out of prime cuts and roasts. Customers made special requests and preordered large quantities. The Neales soon counted 1,000 steady customers, and Ben began to consider opening a butcher shop.

"Ben is a dreamer," Lauren says. "He takes considered risks with research and analysis."

"To me, it's more risky not to be doing something different," Ben says. "What some people consider risk I consider taking back control," he says.

So, let's back up. Who are Ben and Lauren Neale, of Columbia, Tennessee?

BACK OF THE BEGINNING

Ben is local. He grew up in Lynnville, population 300. Ben worked for neighboring farmers hauling hay, working tobacco and doing other farm jobs. "The farmers were my mentors," he says.

Ben attended The University of Tennessee-Martin, where he studied animal science. After graduation, he worked for two large seedstock operations. He eventually went back to school earning a pair of master's degrees -- ag operations and business administration.

He began to build his own cow herd in 2011, purchasing his first cows from Texas. He was soon selling freezer meat.

Ben was serving as chairman of National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Young Producers Council when he met a girl from Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- Lauren Chase.

Lauren experienced agriculture briefly growing up. Her grandfather owned a farm but sold it when she was young.

STORIES OF THE WEST

Lauren studied journalism and anthropology at the University of Iowa. She found an internship one summer, a communications position with the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA). It was a neat blend of anthropology and journalism, she recalls, a field study of the American West. She wrote and produced stories about the ranchers she met.

"I absolutely fell in love with agriculture," Lauren says. "I never knew cowboys actually existed." She went to brandings, trailed cattle, dealt with blizzards and fires. She sat with ranchers to hear their stories. Eventually, she produced a coffee table photo book of all she had seen and photographed.

Then, Lauren met Ben.

The two video-conferenced and played online games for a year. Lauren moved south in 2013, and they married in 2014. They are now the parents of four children: Corban, 9, Abigail, 6, Elizabeth, 5, and Sarah, 2.

After Sarah was born, Ben left his job as a loan officer at Farm Credit Mid-America to work full time on their growing butcher shop and "Gate to Plate" business. Lauren is a stay-at-home mom and communications director for the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association. She handles the social media work for Light Hill Meats.

Their farm operates on 1,800 acres. It is hilly and rocky with clay soils, and has large stands of timber. The land supports one cow/calf pair to every 3 acres. Spring and fall calving provide a year-round supply of beef.

BUILD A NEW BUSINESS

"[Ben's] true desire was to use his skill set to be an entrepreneur," Lauren says. Without a full-time corporate job, Ben had freedom to be at home with a growing family and help with Corban's special needs. Corban is diagnosed with nonverbal autism.

The Light Hill Meats Butcher Store opened its doors in late 2022 in Spring Hill. Last Christmas, the butcher shop filled orders for 242 standing rib roasts and dozens of other cuts of beef, poultry, pork and seafood, the last flown in fresh from the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (lobster, shrimp and king salmon, among much more).

Their market opportunity is appealing. Eighty to 120 people move in per day along the I-65 corridor that runs near their farm and store, south of Nashville. The largest General Motors plant in North America, the quickly expanding auto battery manufacturer Ultium Cells and other manufacturers support a modern industrial base employing well-paid professionals from all across the United States -- Chicago, New York, cities up and down the length of California. They value weekend gatherings around a good steak. Young families have an eye for minimally processed foods with clean ingredients -- all qualities for which the Neales are establishing a reputation.

CONNECT CUSTOMERS AND FARM

"Seventy percent of our customer base are not born Tennesseans. We're trying to establish buying habits they have not yet developed," Ben says. "We want to connect the [customer] back to the people who are growing it."

And, to their palates. "We try to service their regional food choices," he adds. "If you want whole fennels in your Italian sausage, we'll make that. If you want ground fennel, we'll make that. We give them food choices."

Ben values good marketing, and his chief marketing officer sits down with him every night at the dinner table.

"Lauren is amazing," Ben says. "[Agriculture] makes great products, but we don't tell anyone about them. Lauren gives people that information."

She emphasizes people in her posts. "We can share pictures of steaks all day long, but people connect with Ben's face, our butcher's face, our kids. I give our posts the human touch."

Lauren has created a campaign called "Mention Us Monday." It's simple. Customers post photographs of their plated steak, for example. Maybe with a glass of wine. Dress it up a bit. They post the photos on their stories.

VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

"I encourage them to tag us, and we'll reshare it into our network. They like that connection with us and [appreciate] the butcher shop sharing their post," she says. "Customers are our biggest advocates."

Ben also opens the farm to visitors. "I tell them they can come out, see everything we have. I sometimes joke with a customer. 'If you liked that steak, I thought about you three years ago.'"

BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES

The Neales are approaching another turn in their business and family life. Ben sees firsthand the increase in drug use and its impact on families in the area. He works with two sober living centers in the area and has decided to open his own nonprofit. It opens this month and is named Light Hills Living Stones Ministry.

"Right now, I'm the general manager [of the farm, processing plant and store]," Ben says. He is looking for general managers to handle the retail meat side of the business and the processing plant. "I want to be more of an overseer."

They also desire to have more time with their kids and connect with parents who also have autistic children.

The Neales use off hours in the butcher shop to sponsor sensory events of the type that accommodate Corban. "We've hosted sensory Easter Bunny and Santa Claus events," Lauren says. "Here, they can be themselves. The Easter Bunny and Santa know how to approach special needs kids. They don't overstimulate them."

The Neales also have donated 5,000 meals to a group home for autistic people in the area, and they sponsor a special needs baseball team that Ben coaches and on which Corban plays.

This is not a new idea for Ben and Lauren. Light Hill's vision statement has always been: "We help build better communities by bringing people together." Their philanthropic desire is not separate from management of the businesses. It has always been the reason for both.

**

-- See Ben and Lauren Neale's America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers video profile at https://bcove.video/…

-- Follow Dan on social platform X @DMillerPF

-- Follow Joel on social platform X @JReichPF

[PF_0125]

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.