Meet Jill Casten

What does Jill Casten of Casten Farms, LLC wish people knew about farming?

“There’s an actual farmer behind it,” she says.

This sounds obvious, but Jill says people don’t always have a face to put with farming. She wishes more people could have a one-on-one connection with farmers.

That’s what we’re all about here at KFFC! Since many people don’t have daily access to farmers, we introduce you to farmers throughout Kansas, highlighting what they do and what running a farm is like. And they generously share their stories.

When we talked with Jill, we got to learn more about her family’s farming business. Farming is a noble profession. After all, farmers feed the world! But they also have to make a living and be profitable, which means they have to run their farms as a smart business.

Jill’s farming business is an equal partnership with two of her sisters.

Several years ago, Jill’s father told his daughters he planned to retire and that his last crop would be harvested in the fall of 2017. Jill and her sisters had their own lives — works, kids, husbands — and no one wanted to take on the responsibility of running the farm. But no one wanted to give up the farmstead that had been in the family for generations.

“There’s lots of farming knowledge in my family, but there was no clear frontrunner to take over the farm,” Jill says. “So, we started talking about what would it look like if we tried to do it together.”

Jill and her sisters had lots of “honest conversations” about what could happen (divorce or death in the family), and what running the farm would entail (they would have to keep irregular hours because of their day jobs). When they decided to give it a go, they consulted with a lawyer.

They wanted to make sure they protected themselves — that their individual families weren’t put at risk by the business — and that the structure was fair and equal. They also looked at the accounting aspect of different businesses and decided to form a three-part limited liability company (LLC).

Forming a legal partnership was the best way to structure it, Jill says. They have equal ownership, but each has a specialized area where they contribute, like agronomy or billing.

They are still in their first year, but so far things are going well.

“My dad is still blown away that we are not at each other’s throats yet,” Jill says with a laugh. “The key has been communication. There are a lot of different things you can disagree on and fight about. We’re very transparent with one another and use technology to communicate.”

They check in a lot using group texts. That way, the families can make decisions quickly and collaboratively.

Even in the farming community, people are a bit confused by the three of them working together. But sometimes it takes several families to operate a farm.

“We can run the farm better together than as three individual families,” Jill says. “Casten Farms LLC is multigenerational with three families working together to coordinate everything. We just happen to work together under the umbrella of a corporation.”

To learn more about Jill’s family’s journey, read their profile on Today’s Farmer Online. 

Since this article was originally published, Jill lost her battle with cancer and passed away. Kansas Farm Bureau, where she worked for many years and inspired countless farm families and consumers, has created a memorial fund in her honor. We have kept her story as originally written to showcase her spirit and passion for farming.