Former banker values farming

JESUP, Iowa — Ben Riensche, a fifth-generation farmer, runs a diversified, tech-centric farm in Jesup — home to this year’s Farm Journal Field Days.

After a 10-year career in banking, Riensche returned to Iowa in 1993 to establish the Blue Diamond Farming Co., which now spans 18,000 acres.

“We’re a corn and soybean farm that tries to push (the envelope) a little bit,” he said. “We use all the newest technology that we can involve in our operation. We have rearranged our business so that we try and provide everything, every service and every activity from start to finish.”

The farm provides services ranging from soil fertility management to grain storage.

“Technology is changing agriculture so fast,” Riensche said. “There’s so many new ways to do things, safer ways to do things and more efficient ways to do things.”

As a former banker, Riensche has a value-driven approach to farming.

“Bringing our financial management forward has fueled our growth,” he said. “It’s about finding the right thing to do at the right time.”

He hopes his four children will be interested in returning to the farm, but he is encouraging them to work off of the farm for five years first.

“I would much rather they come back with skills that I don’t have in marketing, grain merchandising, finance, agriscience,” Riensche said. “My challenge is to make the farm good enough that they want to come back.”

Learn more about the farm at www.bluediamondfarmingcompany.com.