Ultimate Entrepreneurs: Meet 5 Farmers Who Balance Risk and Reward

Technology and automation are signatures on Mark Hanna's Iowa farm. “I like to see new innovations ... the newest thing that’s coming out there on our own farm,” he says.

A pilot by training and a farmer by trade, Chase Larson runs his Kansas operation more like a Fortune 500 company than he does a farm. "We’re very entrepreneurial driven,” he says. “We’re not afraid to fail, to figure out a mistake here or there. You’re not going to grow without constant change and being outside of your borders.”

Big dreams in the Big Apple led Kimberly Ratcliff on a journey back to Texas and her family's ranch where she started a direct-to-consumer beef business. “The first thing I support is my local food bank,” she says. “Every week, every month, I make sure they are stocked with every protein I can provide. I don’t want them ever to have to worry about buying protein externally.”

During Dalton Dilldine’s senior year of high school, his dad unexpectedly passed away, leaving a limited succession plan and a teenager with a big decision: take over their Arkansas operation, start his own farm or go to college. Dilldine chose all three. “I knew I wanted to farm and really couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” he says.