Mitch Kline couldn’t decide between farming and truck driving.
Just look at his kindergarten scrapbook. There, in probably illegible handwriting, Mitch wrote that when he grew up, he’d like to be either a farmer or a truck driver.
“Now I get to do both,” he said.
“For me, it's been easy. I've taken advantage of opportunities that have presented themselves, whether it was working with Ed Cagney, one of my main mentors. He's allowed us to use his equipment and his farm to kind of begin everything, and that was a blessing. And Bob Coburn, he opened his doors and let us use his farm, his ground.
“When those opportunities presented themselves, we took advantage.”
Meet Mitch and Brandie Kline, your 2023 Young Farmer Achievement winners. The award recognizes successful young farmers — individuals or couples — who derive most of their income from an owned production agriculture enterprise and showcases their achievements in the business of farming.
The Klines started with 10 acres but now operate roughly 1,200 acres of hay, corn, wheat and soybeans in Scotts, near Kalamazoo. They also run a custom seed-corn harvesting business — picking upwards of 2,500 acres annually — and a trucking business.
Most of their product is sold 120 miles from the home farm.
“We had a fire in 2015, so we had to decide whether to stick with hay and reinvest in new equipment — because all our equipment was lost,” Brandie said. “We decided to go for it. It was the first kind of big jump for us.”
The Klines, who married in 2015, started with one baler, accumulating system, and Bobcat before “mechanizing everything,” according to Brandie.
“It went from hand stacking and a lot of labor to all machine,” she said. “Two years later, we added multiple accumulators, and then in 2021, we bought our first bale baron, which takes all those stacks and ties them together. This year, we bought a second one.”
The Klines are first-generation farmers.
Now they want to keep the farm going for their children.
“It’s interesting to watch them grow and see their own individual personalities and what they're interested in,” Brandie said. “We want to know we have something to give to our kids.”
As the state winners, Mitch and Brandie receive a lease on a Kubota tractor; a $1,000 AgroLiquid gift certificate; and an all-expense paid trip to the AFBF Annual Meeting to compete in the national competition.
The couple credit Michigan Farm Bureau for presenting networking opportunities and helping them get their footing in the industry.
“It’s just interesting having those similar values and being in the same place at the same time,” Brandie said.
“Farm Bureau does a really good job of hosting events where you get to meet people: You feel comfortable, you make those connections, and we've even utilized quite a bit of them with our operation. We've sold hay and straw to other Farm Bureau members who we've met through conferences.”