A Day on Tanner Hento's Farm with Kennedy Frick

On May 26th I had the opportunity to visit a farm in Avon, South Dakota with Hungry for Truth. There I was able to meet Tanner Hento, a fifth-generation corn, soybean and alfalfa farmer that, at one time, had no desire to return to his family farm. He told me that when he had just graduated from the University of South Dakota with a bachelor's degree in Biology and English and was on his way to medical school, tragedy struck and he lost both of his parents within the span of three months. Tanner made the difficult decision to forfeit his plans and return to the family farm to help his brother take over the operation.

I was reminded of my own family when Tanner was telling me this story. When my mom was 22 years old, my grandpa was killed in a farming accident after falling through the crusted over corn in one of their grain bins. At the time my mom was going to school at SDSU, her younger brother was a senior in high school, her older sister lived in Georgia, and her older brother lived in Oklahoma.

After the accident they all returned to the family farm to be with their mom and keep the family farm alive. I was standing in Tanner’s yard listening to his story thinking how odd it was that we both had personal ties to family tragedies that brought members of the family back to farm together. The special thing about these sad stories is that not only did each family rally together to do what needed to be done, so did the communities they were a part of.

Agriculture is the #1 industry in the state of South Dakota meaning that the state economy heavily depends upon our farmers yielding a strong crop. It also means that a high percentage of our state’s population depends on agriculture to provide for their family. The lesson that Tanner reaffirmed to me was that South Dakotans always show up for each other. 

We stepped outside of the shed and everywhere we looked was land that Tanner’s family had settled on or land that they farmed to make a living. We were standing in the yard of the house that he grew up in; a few miles to the east you could see his grandparents' house; and just beyond that you could depict the black roof of his own home. Not only that but everywhere we looked we could see fields of corn, soybeans, and alfalfa planted and harvested by him and his brother.

After we were caught up on the history of the Hento farm we took a look around the rest of the yard. He showed me some of the retired equipment that belonged to his dad. Equipment that was no longer the most efficient to use due to the expansion of technology but was special enough to keep around as a reminder of his dad and the earlier generations that farmed the land before him.

We stepped back out in the yard to see pallets of seed and containers of chemicals that were needed to wrap up the remainder of their planting season. Tanner mentioned that everything had been delivered just before we arrived that morning, so he was eager to head out to the field and get to work. Coming from an agricultural family myself, I was eager too. 

When we got out to the field, I saw a 48-row planter hooked up to a John-Deere green tractor. Tanner explained that he had started planting corn in the field we were standing on the day before but there was still probably 7 hours of work to be done to finish. While the technology was firing up in the cab of the tractor, we checked on the corn that was planted the day before. Tanner brought me to a row of planted corn and started digging with his soil knife and spotted the pink corn seed.

He said while there is plenty of technology to ensure that the planter is doing its job, he prefers to double-check that the seeds are planted properly – about 2-2.5 inches deep and another few inches spread apart from each other. He explained that seeds planted too shallow or too close together can negatively impact their yield in a big way.

When we saw that the seeds were positioned correctly, we jumped in the tractor to plant a few more rows of corn. I was able to see how the use of new technology allows them to be more efficient by planting more seeds in fertile ground and fewer seeds in the ground that is less fertile. The screen displayed on the right side of the steering wheel showed colors of green, yellow, red, and blue. The areas colored in blue marked what had already been planted, and the other three colors displayed the fertility of ground that still needed to be planted.

When we drove over the ground that looked green on the screen, the planter automatically planted more seeds as the ground was fertile enough to sustain a higher crop count. Then, as we crossed over yellow and red areas, the planter decreased the number of seeds going into the ground. While this technology undoubtedly improves the efficiency of the planting process, it definitely comes at a cost.

Tanner explained that there’s always something bigger and better as far as equipment is concerned, and while you may think that newer machinery and more advanced technology will result in a higher profit, there’s always risk in the form of flooding, droughts, hail, etc. that cannot be controlled. 

We were rounding the corner of our second pass when I asked Tanner what the hardest part about being a farmer was. He said that he doesn’t feel like a lot of people outside of the farming community have an appreciation for what they do. He really hopes that people understand that he’s more than a guy just driving a tractor. Tanner, specifically, utilizes his degree to understand the chemistry of the soil, to mitigate the unknown in the economy, and to market their harvested crop for the highest profit.

Farmers are extremely intentional about the work that they do and if you’re not involved directly in agriculture, it can be fairly easy to dismiss all that plays into it. The other thing that Tanner mentioned was how lots of farmers struggle with mental health challenges – something that he feels very passionate about. Farming can be a lonely job.

They work long hours, there’s a lot of risk involved, and even if everything is going right, they still receive quite a bit of scrutiny over the decisions that they make for the crops that they are growing. While he feels fortunate that mental health is not something that he personally struggles with, he made it clear that he doesn’t want anybody to ever feel alone in their battle. 

We were nearing the end of the row when Tanner said, “It’s so crazy to think about how many people have come before me.” The ground we were planting is his family’s legacy – he had a lot of pride in that, rightfully so. It was neat to see his appreciation for the work his dad, grandpa and other ancestors had done during their time on the farm despite him never getting the chance to work with them himself.

Tanner said that the most rewarding part of his job is expanding the operation and knowing that the younger generation is excited to come back to the family farm and continue on the legacy. He said knowing that the next generation is there to carry on the tradition makes the late nights and hard days worthwhile. Understanding the value of carrying on the tradition of generational farming is extremely important, especially in a state like South Dakota.

So, the next time you’re in the grocery store, please take some time to appreciate where your food is coming from. And the next time you see a farmer, please thank them for all that they do.