Rooted in Agriculture
With nearly 1,000 employees in our Crop Division, many have personal ties to agriculture and the farming way of life. For National Farmers Day, we're proud to share a few of their stories. Through these photos and memories, you'll find connections to family, tradition, and the generations of hard work that make agriculture so special.
Scholz Family
At first glance, this photo captures a beautiful fall day and a combine moving through a field of soybeans. What it doesn't show is the story behind the harvest.
Pictured is Janet Scholz’s husband, Trent, who farms alongside his dad and twin brother. Together, they raise corn and soybeans on approximately 1,100 acres and have been doing so for more than 50 years. Farming is not their only job. Trent also works full time as a bricklayer foreman for a large construction company, balancing the demands of two careers that both require hard work, dedication, and long hours.
During planting and harvest season, their days often begin around 4 a.m. and don't end until well after dark. Family dinners are rarely around a table this time of year. More often, they're eaten on a tailgate or from the cab of a tractor or combine, wherever the work happens to be.
Farming is built on far more than what can be captured in a photograph. Behind every harvest are countless hours of planning, problem-solving, worry, and perseverance. This image, taken during the fall soybean harvest of 2025, is a reminder of the commitment farmers make every day to care for the land, provide for their communities, and continue a tradition that spans generations.
~ Janet Scholz, Associate Underwriting Supervisor, Kansas
Koehler Family
Harvest season is filled with long days and busy schedules, but it also creates opportunities for some of the moments families remember most. For Samantha Koehler’s family, those moments occasionally happen in the cab of a combine.
Samantha’s husband, Ethan, typically manages the farm's grain bin site and drives one of the semis during harvest, so opportunities for the kids to ride along are few and far between. But on the days he gets to run the combine, everyone takes advantage of the chance to pile in together. This photo captures Ethan alongside August (7), Parker (5), and Briggs (2), sharing a moment in the middle of a busy harvest season.
Farm life is about more than the work being done in the field. It's about family traditions, time spent together, and creating memories that children will carry with them long after harvest is complete.
~Samantha Koehler, Associate Underwriting Supervisor, Illinois
Wattier Family
Growing up on a farm often means learning life's lessons in unique ways. For some, it's developing responsibility at an early age, like Shawn Wattier's daughter, Sidonia, caring for and working with her 4-H calf. For others, it's building relationships and creating memories that last a lifetime, like Shawn's son, Beau, spending time on the farm with his future wife, Andrea.
Farms are more than fields, livestock, and harvests. They're places where children learn the value of hard work, families spend time together, and lifelong connections are formed. Whether it's raising an animal, helping with daily chores, or sharing a quiet moment during a busy season, these experiences become part of the story that shapes the next generation.
~Shawn Wattier, Senior Business Developer, Nebraska
Weiss Family
This photo captures more than a family farm. It represents a journey that began across an ocean and through some of history's most challenging circumstances. During World War II, Kristen Weiss’s grandparents were separated in Eastern Europe before reuniting after the war. In 1952, they immigrated to the United States, leaving Europe behind and arriving with little more than determination, hope, and a dream of building a better future.
Starting from scratch, they bought a farm in northeast Iowa in 1960 and laid the foundation for a family legacy rooted in hard work, perseverance, and gratitude for the opportunities they found in their new home. Decades later, though the buildings and bin sites have changed, the farm remains a testament to their resilience. What began with one generation's courageous leap of faith has grown into a thriving family operation, with a fourth generation now being raised on and working the same land.
~Kristen Weiss, Business Development Specialist, Iowa