Farm Business Built From the Ground Up

When it came to choosing a career, you might say Travis Dixon found himself torn between "rock" and a "heart place."

The northeast-Missouri native grew up on a farm, but there wasn't a spot for him in the family operation when he graduated high school in the early 2000s. Higher education propelled him into geology and mining engineering. His occupation took him to mines and quarries across the country before he eventually took a position overseeing five quarries in north Missouri. Yet, for all his success, something was missing.

"It never felt like 'home,' you know? I never felt like my heart was into it," he says of his quarry career. "I'd be in Idaho to work at a mine, but I'd be eyeballing every farm I drove by, asking myself what I needed to do so that I could farm. I needed something more fulfilling than just making money. Farming was where my heart was and the setting where I really wanted to raise my kids."

HOG AND HOPE

With the support of his wife, Bethany, a registered nurse, Dixon left behind his six-figure quarry job and embarked on a foray into farming. While he had his sights set on raising row crops, he needed to get a foot in the door and establish some operating capital. A friend at church suggested raising pigs.

"We lost our butt in the '90s on hogs, so at first, I couldn't imagine going into that," he recalls. "My friend assured me it was different today. Now, I joke that guys raise cattle because they like cattle, but guys raise hogs when they need money."

The Dixons built a 7,340-head wean-to-finish production facility on property near Travis' boyhood hometown of Laddonia, Missouri, and began raising hogs on contract in 2012. He also started doing custom work locally, including anhydrous application for a local ag retailer.

"I was doing upward of 7,000 acres of that a year," he says. "Every piece of equipment I bought, I asked myself, 'How is it going to make me money?' For example, when I bought a skid steer, I started cleaning up brush and tree lines for folks. Anything to turn a dollar."

In 2017, Travis' 98-year-old grandfather, who the Dixons had been living with and taking care of for two years, passed away. The young couple was presented with an opportunity to purchase the small farmstead -- lock, stock and barrel.

"So, we bit off everything we could with our lender and then some," Dixon says. "Then, Dad's like, 'I feel like I need to retire,' so I took over what ground he had rented. That's how I started row-cropping with 487 acres."

DRAG RACER MENTALITY

In 2023, Dixon sold the hog operation, and today, the 39-year-old farms roughly 1,700 acres spread over 40 miles around his home in Audrain County, Missouri, raising corn, soybeans and winter wheat. He equates the success he's achieved to the mentorship he's received both locally and through joining the Total Acre program, which connects him to a network of growers nationwide looking to improve their return on investment through operational efficiency as well as best practices.

"I'm a firm believer that you need to put your agronomy in your own hands," he says. "The best thing you can see in the field is your shadow. Every field is different, so realizing that and figuring out how to make sure the crop gets the nutrition it needs when it needs it has upped our game."

Pushing plant performance reminds Dixon of drag racing, one of his past hobbies.

"I love tinkering and seeing if what I did made something better," he says. "That's kind of what we're doing with these plants. We try things and see what happens, because if we don't think outside of the box, we're not going to stay competitive."

Such a mindset has led Dixon to adopt certain management practices on the farm. For instance, he sprays all fungicides and foliar fertilizers himself, applying them at night when air temperatures are cooler, evaporation is reduced and plants are more receptive.

"I'm not running them down, but the co-op isn't going to do that," he adds. "Having my own sprayer, I can source the products I want and apply them when I'm going to get the biggest yield bump."

Efficiencies aren't just realized in the field. This year, Dixon erected new grain bins and a drying system using proceeds from the sale of his hog facility. Now, he can harvest corn at higher moisture, capturing "phantom" yield loss and allowing for more grain-marketing opportunities.

LESSONS TOWARD A LEGACY

Dixon's approach certainly has paid dividends. His crops have improved across the board, with per-acre yields averaging 70 bushels in soybeans and 100 bushels in winter wheat. This year, he broke the 300-bushel threshold on at least one corn plot, something he was told was "impossible" on dryland clay soils.

Yet, there are other intangibles that have been key to Dixon's operation, lessons he says anyone who wants to build a farm should keep in mind.

-- Remember your business goals. "Filter every decision by what is financially sound. What gets you closer to your goals?" he asks. "Keep your eyes off the equipment at the neighbor's place. If you spend money on shiny new paint just because it's shiny, you'll soon be working just to make an iron payment."

-- Build your mentor team. "Find folks who you trust, and let them take you under their wings," Dixon says. "Find folks who are doing it right. Figure out what's making them successful. What are they doing differently?"

-- Know your limitations. "Your bandwidth is only so wide, so admit when you're not the best at something and get the right people around you," he says. "I didn't know anything about grain marketing. Calls and puts and HTAs (hedge-to-arrive contracts) were all foreign to me, so I hired someone. It's way worth the money."

-- Abide by the golden rule. "When you do a business deal, make sure it's good for both parties, or it won't be sustainable," Dixon says. "Do the right thing for people, even if they're not doing the right thing for you. If you burn some bridges in this industry, you're done, because that gets back to the coffee shop, and your name is mud from then on."

-- Work hard at working hard. "You need to be disciplined. Put your boots on and go to work," he says. "You've got to have stalwart perseverance. See things through. If I hadn't just absolutely been a bulldog, I wouldn't have made it."

-- Protect your priorities. "Your kids -- that's your legacy, so spend time with them. Get in the house and eat supper with the family," says Dixon, who has two daughters, Kylie, 9, and Kinsley, 8. "Take a Saturday off now and then. Make time to go to church on Sundays."

While he'd like to own more acres closer to home and rent fewer acres, Dixon says he isn't looking to expand his farming operation just now. He's focused instead on continuing to tinker, increasing yields and maximizing his return on investment.

"Right now, I'm building equity. I'm building my foundation," he says. "I don't want to get bigger just because having 10,000 acres would sound good down at the coffee shop. I'm not ready to become a farm manager just yet. I still like being the guy who's doing the actual farming."

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