It started with one simple question asked to no-tiller Lee Scheufler at a winter meeting: “Why do you plant soybeans with an airseeder on 7½-inch rows?” A farmer icebreaker if there ever was one. 

The question did more than break the ice. It started a years-long (and still going) dialog that opened flood gates, built bridges, and lifted our family out of a dark time. 

When I asked the question, I was at my worst. I had been kicking the world’s tail, growing my own farm and custom farming operation, growing good crops, and cashing in on strong markets. Then, in 2016, there was a price correction in the wheat market. All of a sudden, we were broke. Broken financially, broken of confidence, and nearly broken in spirit. 

It was at this point I was ready to listen to others’ ideas, be open to different ways of doing things. It took almost losing the farm to be able to sit down and listen to someone else — I’m terrible at both. But I’ve learned you should always be asking questions and always listening — and not just at the lowest point of your business or life, but the whole time.

While our first conversation was short, Lee saw…