Part 1: Meeting the Lillibridges

In October of 2025, local farmer Lance Lillibridge shared a post that got the attention of many. It started with the words, "I am a pissed off farmer - like most in the U.S." The full text will be at the end of this article.

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I first noticed posts from Heidi on my Facebook feed several years ago. There were many of her calling the cattle, then feeding them or just scratching their noses. From there I started following her and Lance to see the antics on the farm.

I had the opportunity to sit down with an Lance for a long chat about his life in his chosen field...no pun intended. Lance is known around the world for his career in farming. He shares farming experiences and wisdom with farmers around the world, speaking to Ph.D's, rubbing elbows with scientists at NASA, and holding interviews on every major news network across the country. He just hosted a Japanese delegation on his farm to discuss several ag issues.

As a young man, Lance had a dream. He'd worked alongside his dad and his grandpa, whom Lance said had never owned any land, except a cemetery plot. His grandpa was a dairy farmer and sharecropped his whole life with a 50/50 split. His daughter, Lance's mom, said that by the time she was 17, they had moved 14 times. One of the places they had farmed was the land where the Crossroads Mall was located in Waterloo.

Both of Lance's parents held full-time jobs to enjoy a taste of farm life. They owned a small 55-acre farm, raising cows, pigs, chickens, and horses. Lance loved every minute of it. They rented the fields to a sharecropper so they would have feed for the animals.

Then the 80s farm crisis hit. Lance remembers those times. There were farmers filing bankruptcy, ending their lives and things were so bad that even the Ag teacher encouraged his students not to get into farming. Lance said that it was hard to stomach the idea that his goal, his passion, his dream was seemingly unattainable.

He wanted the dream for himself, but his family farm didn't have an entry point for him. After graduation, he took a job in manufacturing for five years, and he said he "absolutely hated every minute of it." He was always trying to find a way to get into farming. "Would the money I make be enough to buy some land?" he asked himself, but realized it wouldn't.

So he did the next best thing. He began working full-time with a hog farmer whom he'd worked for while in high school. It was going well, he bought his first tractor, rented a little bit of land, grew some hay and he was finally in the game. Then the hog prices made it impossible for his employer to keep him on. As a result, another job in trucking opened up.

Looking back, he was glad to have had the opportunity, but it still wasn't what he wanted. He got to see a bit of the Midwest, and he got to see other farming operations. He made one delivery that still brings a smile to his face. This stop brought him right back to his dream.

He pulled his truck into a ranch in Nebraska. Like you and I, he didn't think there were ranches in Nebraska. As he arrived, he saw all of the cattle. He said he'd never seen anything like it. He thought he was a farmer...but this was unreal to him. As he walked into the office, he saw three men on a bench, in boots, spurs, chaps, and cowboy hats. Included in the scene was a spittoon sitting next to them. Outside the window, he saw three saddled horses tied up. He was asking himself, "What movie did I just walk into?" His eyes were just opened to the possibilities.

Lance met his wife Heidi and soon discovered that it was hard to date while being a trucker. So he did the next best thing and started his own trucking company. The company grew to 40 employees, 30 tractors and 100 trailers. With some of the first money that he made, he bought 80 acres. Taking a portion of it, he built four houses to start a housing development. Heidi saw that the future in housing wasn't going well, so they sold the development.

The goal was always to farm. With a nudge from his small daughter's words, he was reminded of that dream. As her mother drove past the trucking company, she remarked, "Look, Mom, that's where Daddy lives!' Lance realized then that he wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing. The trucking company had to go.

At this point, the Lillibridges were farming 900 acres. They soon grew that to a productive 2,700 acres. In 2012, he joined the Iowa Corn Producers working his way through the various committees, board room and to the executive roles. He said that Iowa leads in corn production, and "if Iowa were a country, we'd be in the top three or four in production!"

The family saw an exciting future in front of them. The good, the bad, the ugly. The family still farms, at a scaled back level now, but they are still in the game and hope to pass the operation down to the next generation.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!

Facebook post from October 2025

I am a pissed off farmer - like most in the U.S.

However, it's not the trade war with China that has me fired up. I'm going to catch a little flak about this, but let's look at soybeans... they are nearly the same price this year as last year! Last year, no one was hollering about it and Trump wasn't POTUS either. The year before, they were nearly $16. So what's the deal? In my opinion, it's the media! They all want to talk about Trump's tariffs and how they are destroying soybean farmers.

Good job ASA, for lobbying and putting pressure on the administration to take billions of tax dollars and prop up farmers while blaming Trump's trade war for this unfortunate situation! We all (farmers) know that the dollars will go to the real problem...inputs! Why the hell are you (the media) not reporting on how the farmer is constantly getting ripped off on the inputs? The monopoly of input suppliers has led to market manipulation that has caused great financial harm to farmers! Constant consolidation of these companies removes any competition in the ag space and then companies can't wait for an ag bailout because they scoop it up with higher input prices.

And on top of all this, exports remain very high!

Now, the biggest problem we have with markets (the actual sale of our products) is the USDA. The USDA has done more financial harm with its speculative reporting than all of the input suppliers combined. For the last seven years, I believe they have missed the mark drastically by a lot! This has negatively affected markets for farmers. After the marketing year, USDA makes corrections and boasts how great their methodology is. I'm guessing a large majority of farmers would love a do over of the marketing year after USDA makes corrections.

The problem in my opinion is USDA reports suck! They have bad information or have influenced information and call it fact.

The next problem is our government has allowed far too much consolidation in ag inputs and it's time for accountability in this space. Antitrust laws need to be enforced and CVD's need to be reevaluated immediately.

E15 and higher blends will help in the corn sector and there is no cost to tax payer. A Soybean bailout is absolutely the wrong move, however financially assistance will be needed in all the ag sectors until the entire mess is cleaned up!

I challenge the media to tell the real stories instead of your let's get Trump narrative!

Let's talk about the policies that have lead to this situation we face!

Rant over!

News : Part 1: Meeting the Lillibridges

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