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Young farmer has no regrets

Even with a down ag economy, a young Nebraska farmer tells Brownfield he has no regrets about returning to the family farm.

Thirty-one-yield Shawn Sullivan of Wallace, Nebraska returned to the family farm in 2005, the very beginning of one of the greatest economic booms agriculture has ever seen. And even though the ag economy has turned sour in recent years, Sullivan says he wouldn’t change a thing.

“Oh no, I’d do it all over again,” Sullivan says. “Farming is a lifestyle. It’s not just an occupation, it’s a lifestyle—one that you have to be really passionate about, as I am.

“It’s a family tradition—family pride—and you’re going to take the good times with the bad. I wouldn’t give any of it up for the world and I hope that my kids, when they get grown, that they’ll do the same thing.”

All the same, Sullivan is hopeful an economic turnaround is coming soon.

“But if you’re going to be in the farming business—like Dad and I always said—you’ve got to be optimistic. If you’re going to be pessimistic, you might as well sell the farm.”

We spoke with Sullivan at the Buffalo Bill Farm and Ranch Expo in North Platte, Nebraska.

AUDIO: Shawn Sullivan