Farming, Fatherhood and Fun

Daniel Anderes didn’t have a traditional start to his agricultural career but has become more passionate about farming through continued learning opportunities.

He jumpstarted his career in agriculture by selling farming equipment but eventually found he was ready for a change and the opportunity to spend more time with his growing family.

Now, Anderes works alongside his father-in-law, brother and nephew in Junction City, where they raise soybeans, corn, wheat, sorghum (milo), alfalfa and cattle. A fun-loving father of five kids, Anderes expressed the importance of family time.

“I had more opportunities here on the farm,” he said. “We get to ride on the ATVs, we get to do all of the cattle activities together, we get to go to baseball games, all the fun stuff.”

But being a parent on the farm isn’t just fun and games, especially during the busy months of production.

“Growing up on a farm instills a lot of different values and character traits,” Anderes said. “You have to be responsible for what you’re doing, and you have to work hard to maintain it. This follows through for everything. That’s through college, or anything they choose to do. Or it won’t work out.”

While Anderes keeps busy with his family, he also invests his time with the Kansas Soybean Association. Starting with the Emerging Leaders Academy in 2015, Anderes’s experience with the organization was an important steppingstone for his growing involvement within the farming community.

“Emerging Leaders is a step-in program that allows people to get a broad understanding of the industry, what Kansas Soybeans does and what’s going on in the state of Kansas,” he said. “It has opened my eyes to what you can be involved in and how to be involved.”

Additionally, Anderes was part of the American Soybean Association’s Corteva Young Leader Program, where he worked to improve his leadership skills and communication.

“You met people from all over the county that grow soybeans. Or people that are not involved in the soybean industry but had a different mindset and way of looking at the industry,” he explained. “For me personally, the Young Leader program taught me how to talk to the consumer at Walmart or the person down the street. It made us think of ways to discuss things with them that we have never thought of before.”

When looking at the future of the farm, sustainability is crucial to Anderes as he looks to keep the farm operations running for generations to come. He and his family use conservation practices such as cover crops, crop rotation and buffer strips to ensure soil health, as well as grazing pasture to keep important nutrients in the ground.

Providing a soybean with the right nutrients and instilling conservation practices, gives the crop its best opportunity to emerge and continue to grow into a healthy plant.

“When emergence happens, you have a chance,” Anderes said. “Without emergence, you have no product.”

Although soybean emergence is important to Anderes, so is providing a “high-quality product that is safe for all consumers” and ensuring the creation of that product can endure into the future.

“On our farm sustainability means leaving this farm in better shape for future generations so they can continue to use it how they see fit.”