The 2018 article “10 Successful Farmers in 2018” profiled ten farmers and farm families for innovation—not as a ranked list of the most profitable operations. Its examples ranged from cover crops and crop diversification to precision agriculture and public storytelling. The figures below are those reported when the article was published on December 28, 2018; they are historical, not verified current totals.
What “successful” meant in the 2018 list
Successful Farming said its editors selected people they considered innovative and making a difference in agriculture, starting with their own operations. The editors did not use a formula or scorecard, so the list is an editorial collection of profiles, not a ranking or an audited assessment of performance. It also does not show that any one practice caused profitability.
The ten examples are different in scale and kind: some focus on production and soil management, some on new business directions, and others on technology or communication. The descriptions and numbers that follow reflect the article’s 2018 reporting.
Farmers focused on soil and production practices
Trey Hill — Rock Hall, Maryland
Hill used cover crops on all 13,000 acres of his operation, according to the 2018 article, and planted green into most of them without sacrificing yields. He said, “The environment has become a priority that factors into most of our decisions.”
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Doug Toussaint and sons Nick and Brad — Wahpeton, North Dakota
The family planted into green cover crops. Nick Toussaint described planting without special planter attachments: “It looks amazing. The soils are so mellow that it’s like planting into a garden.” The article presents this as the family’s experience, not a yield comparison or universal recommendation.
Steve Reimer — Chamberlain, South Dakota
Reimer’s soil-and-water approach combined surface residue, cover crops in the rotation, and grazing cow-calf pairs on cover crops. He explained the goal this way: “We wanted, instead, for the water to stay where it fell.”
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Adam and Seth Chappell — Cotton Plant, Arkansas
The brothers farmed 8,000 acres and changed their practices in response to herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth. The article describes a rotation of non-GMO corn, cotton, soybeans, and rice, along with no-till and cover crops on every acre.
Farmers pursuing diversification and new business directions
Shelby Smith — Ames, Iowa
After working at a bank in Dublin, Ireland, Smith returned to her family’s row-crop farm and developed cricket farming as a niche. The 2018 article described a cricket farm with a population of 250,000. Her father encouraged her to pursue a distinct business idea: “If you don’t want to fight the whole corn and soybean thing like I have for the last 30-plus years and want to come up with a niche, go for it. We’ll help you get started.”
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Bill Prestage — Clinton, North Carolina
The profile described family-owned Prestage Farms as a pork producer and vertically integrated turkey producer, and reported 175,000 sows in 2018. Prestage framed continued growth as essential to business: “You are either building and going ahead or you’re standing still and sinking. I think you’ve got to keep on going. That, to me, is the fun part of business.”
Bill Beam — Elverson, Pennsylvania
Beam’s farm business included soybeans, corn, wheat, and a sawdust business. The article also noted non-GMO corn, high-oleic soybeans, and a trial of hemp that year. These details illustrate diversification across crops and business lines; the profile does not provide comparative financial results.
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Farmers adopting tools and sharing their work
Lora Howell — Danville, Ohio
After her husband died, Howell took on leadership of the family farm and decided to adopt precision agriculture tools. She recalled, “My husband, Dave, and I purchased our 500-acre farm more than 25 years ago and built it from the ground up,” and, “When he passed away, I had to decide what I was going to do with the farm.” The article did not name the tools, vendors, or measured outcomes.
Brian Scott — Delphi, Indiana
Scott shared farm experiences on Facebook and other social media through The Farmer’s Life. The article reported that the page had nearly 60,000 followers at publication. Scott said everyday details can be compelling to people unfamiliar with farming: “People that are interested in learning about farming will be surprised to find out the small little things, mundane stuff we do every day. It’s very interesting to somebody who’s got no experience with it.”
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Matthew Sligar — Gridley, California
Sligar used Rice Farming TV to document medium-grain rice production, from planting through draining fields and harvesting. He said, “I really enjoy the creative process.” The profile presents video as a way to show the work and connect with viewers, not as evidence of a particular business return.
What the profiles show—and what they do not
Across the ten profiles, the common thread is experimentation or innovation, but the examples are not directly comparable. Cover crops appear in several accounts; other approaches include no-till, varied crop rotations, livestock integration, niche production, precision agriculture, and farm storytelling. They address different goals and operate in different places and businesses.
The article does not establish present-day acreage, herd size, audience totals, ownership, or business status for any profile. Its 2018 figures should be treated as snapshots from that year, not current measurements. Nor does the list establish that a practice will improve yields, reduce costs, or raise profits on another farm.
For a reader looking for ideas, the most useful way to read the list is by the question each example raises: how might soil management fit a local operation, what diversification is feasible, which tools address a real management need, or how could a farm communicate its work? The profiles offer examples to consider, not a universal prescription.
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