Everyone loves an adventure, right?

Filed Under: All Posts, Winsome on July 30, 2010

Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to spend my weekend on a good old Nebraska adventure. No we didn’t scale any mountains or get chased by any wild animals but we did get to see the adventurous spirit of Nebraska entrepreneurs. The Nebraska LEAD Alumni Association and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce have made it their mission to demonstrate to people within the state and without that entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the Nebraska economy. Some of these entrepreneurs come in the most unlikely of packages. Like a car salesman turned farmer turned racetrack owner. Delmar Friesen has always loved racing and after years owning and operating the local car dealership he decided it was now or never for him to realize his dream of owning and operating a dirt race track. Junction Motor Speedway at McCool Junction was born from this man’s determination to bring his passion for racing to others.

Another amazing and unique business, and also a GROW Nebraska member, is Ely Farms near Grafton. Neal Ely was looking for a project to complete his FFA requirements. Asparagus grew wild in all the ditches in the area until all the plants were killed off one year after the ditches were sprayed for weeds. Neal, recognizing a void that needed to be filled began by using some of his family’s farm land to plant ½ acre of asparagus. Using his mother’s pickled asparagus recipe they canned approximately 500 jars the first year a crop was available. They now plant over 5 acres with asparagus and produce over 14,000 jars of their specialty, pickled asparagus hiring 9 people in their busy season. Neal won national FFA awards for his business and has been a GROW member for five years.

Brad Bish, owner of Harv’s Farm Supply in Giltner is yet another example of a strong entrepreneurial business. Taking over the business his father started in the 50’s he ships customized combine heads all across the nation and has over 40 employees In the early days of farming with motorized equipment Brad’s father recognized a void in the availability of combine heads that could be interchanged depending on the crop being harvested. Not one to sit back and wait for others to catch up he decided to create his own. That spirit of entrepreneurship has carried over to later generations with Brad and his wife as they continue to create customized parts for all types of combines.

Entrepreneurship has always been the backbone of the economy in Nebraska and agriculture plays a large part in that economy. One in every three jobs in this state is dependent upon agriculture and many of our entrepreneurs depend heavily on it in some facet. That includes some of the stops that we made along the way on our tour. Stops like the Junction Motor Speedway, the Aurora Coop, Prairie Loft, Wessels Living History Farm, Weeks Enterprises, Gottsch Cattle Company and many others! I encourage all of you to learn more about the entrepreneurs within our state and a great way to do that is to get on a bus with others that want to know more and take an adventure!

For information regarding the LEAD Alumni Ag Adventure tours please contact: Nancy Eberly at neberle@mainstaycomm.net.

For more information about Nebraska entrepreneurs visit grownebraska.org or e-mail info@grownebraska.org