Featured Operator · agriculture

Tom Vandersteen

Owner-Operator · Vandersteen Farms

Sioux Falls, SD

Fourth-generation row-crop farmer who runs 4,200 acres with 5 full-time employees and a spreadsheet older than his son.

Biography

Tom Vandersteen inherited a leveraged farm in 2007. He spent the next decade paying down debt, adding on-farm storage, and expanding into cover-crop consulting. He is known for a stubborn refusal to expand acreage faster than his people can handle it well.

Operating Principles

01
"The best time to buy land is when you don't need to."
02
"Debt is a tool. So is a chainsaw."
03
"Weather teaches humility. Markets teach patience."