(rock music with wordless vocals) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

Today we're gonna talk with a fourth-generation farmer.

That's what we do in agriculture.

We talk about how many multi generations we have.

It's a feel-good thing, but today we're gonna talk with somebody that truly appreciates it.

Sara Fuller from Bloomington.

How you doing, Sara?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- I'm doing pretty good.

I think everybody knows where Bloomington is.

- Right in the smack dab of the state.

- Now, are you Bloomington or abnormal?

- We're Bloomington.

- Okay.

It's like a bridge that divides it, right?

- It's like normal sits inside of Bloomington.

- Oh, it's an island?

- Yeah.

- A normal island, huh?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Fourth-generation farmer, so you grew up on a farm?

- Yep.

Grew up on a family farm in Bloomington.

We raised corn, soybeans, and used to raise pigs.

- [Rob] Used to, no more.

- Used to, no more.

Not after I got done showing.

- Oh, that was the catalyst?

- Yep.

- That you guys were, how many siblings?

- Just one.

I have one older brother.

- [Rob] Okay.

Did he show, too?

- He did for a while.

He more enjoyed the feeding and letting me show.

So, I did most of the showing, and he did some of it until he was about 20 years old, and then he just fed the pigs for me.

- [Rob] How young did you start showing?

- Eight.

- Eight?

- Eight.

Actually- - Eight.

- There's a peewee show.

- Eight years old.

- Yeah.

There's a peewee show at our county fair, which you can start at four, but you're not technically in 4-H till you're eight years old.

- What grade are you at eight.

Is that second?

- Like, first or second.

Yeah.

- Okay, were like full-sized pigs?

- Yeah.

- Really?

- Yep.

- Do you remember that?

Was it like intimidating?

- I mean, I grew up around it, so it wasn't intimidating to me.

- Okay.

Do you like those videos where they show the people like showing pigs and they're all intense with their whips and that?

- Oh yeah.

- Was that you?

- Yeah.

- You had the weird stare?

- Oh, I had the stare down.

- [Rob] Did they teach you that?

- Yeah, you're supposed to make eye contact with the judge and you always keep the pig between you and the judge.

- You're supposed to make eye contact, but you're not supposed to stare past his soul.

- (laughs) Well, they like when you make eye contact and you're staring at them.

You know, they know that you're paying attention to them in the show ring and you know where to go and where to move.

- I used to show cattle and my dad would tell me, "You're supposed to keep one eye on the steer, one eye on the judge, and one eye on me."

- Yep.

That was pretty much what my dad said, too.

- Okay.

I'm glad it made sense to you.

(laughs) So from ages eight to 21 you were showing.

- Yep, in college.

- Okay.

Any that stood out?

- Any years?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

My 2016 was one of my best years showing pigs.

- What was a pig's name?

- I didn't have a name for 'em.

- Good.

- (laughs) I didn't name my pigs.

- I'm so glad you said that.

(laughs) What happened in 2016?

- I won the 2016 Illinois State Fair Open Barrow show.

- Which is huge.

- It is.

- Yes.

So, I mean, not everybody listening is, you know, in agriculture now.

First of all, Barrow is kind of a boy.

- Kind of.

- It used to be a boy.

- Castrated male.

Yep.

- Castrated boar.

Yeah.

And then the open show, explain what that is.

- So you have two days of showing at the state fair.

You have the junior show, which is your 4-H age kids that can show.

In the open show, anybody can show in that.

So you can be 60, you can be two, and still show in that.

And all the pigs are the same pigs from the junior show unless they won the day before.

They're not allowed to show in the open show.

So I was up against all the same pigs as the day before and I won my Duroc class and then won the breed champion and then went on to the grand drive with all the breeds of pigs, and ended up winning that.

- So, Duroc is a breed?

- Yes.

- So you won that.

- Yep.

- And then you went to the bigger one, where it wasn't mainly people your age, or did you have a bunch of old- - Mainly it is.

I mean, for the Illinois Open Show, it's mainly all the same showmen.

Some little kids go out there, like siblings that aren't the age for junior show yet to practice and get out in the ring more.

- Some people have other people show their pigs, right?

- Mm-hm.

Yeah.

- Is it because they, I don't know, they're ugly or what?

Why would you do that?

- Better showmen.

- [Rob] Really?

- They can show 'em better than someone else can.

- I mean, what makes you... How do you do that?

What makes you a good showman?

- Practice, a lot of practice.

- I don't understand what you practice.

You just sit there, you whip a whip and you guide the pig.

- Yeah, I mean, you have to learn to, like showmanship was one of my favorite things to do.

So you have to learn where to cross.

Like you don't wanna cross in front of the judge.

You don't wanna let the judge see you cross to keep like the pig between you and the judge.

And you don't ever wanna cross in front.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Could that cost, like if you have a superior pig, right, I mean, this pig is money, but the person's a nimwit and he keeps like, I don't know, doing the wrong stuff.

Would that cost him?

- It could, yeah.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- [Rob] Just depends on the judge?

- Yeah.

I mean, if the judge takes showmanship into a really big deal in his judging, it could cost him.

But mainly, showmanship is in the showmanship, like concentrated in that area, but they still look at that when you're in a regular showing class.

- So in 2016 when you won the Open Barrow show, I mean, do you bribe the judge?

- I did not.

- Or how do you win?

- I mean, I've heard of people bribing the judge, but I never did.

(laughs) - It'd probably work.

I mean- - It probably would work in Illinois.

- When you won that, does that go to like when they have the Sale of Champions?

- No, so the junior show does, so that would be the day before.

If you win the junior show, you go to the Sale of Champions.

The open show, we just got our platters and gotta take 'em home that night.

- Oh, you ate it?

- Yep.

- Okay.

- The next day he went to the butcher.

(laughs) - Because the ones that win those, the day before they go for like $100,000.

- Yeah, they do.

It's crazy.

- You should have won that one.

- Trust me.

I know.

My dad says the same thing.

- [Rob] Maybe that person bribed the judge, right?

- Maybe.

- Do you miss it?

- I do, I do miss it a lot.

- [Rob] I mean, you could still do it, right?

- I could.

It's just not as fun when you're not a junior.

- Oh, okay.

That you're gonna have the pig and then have someone young show it.

- Yeah.

- Gotcha.

All right, a fourth-generation farmer.

You went to college.

Where'd you go?

- Illinois State University.

- [Rob] Which is like right there.

- Right in Bloomington, Illinois, Normal, I guess.

- [Rob] How long of a drive?

- 10 minutes down the road.

- You didn't think about like going to Southern or somewhere, and getting away?

- I didn't.

I almost went to Western, but I was told I couldn't come home every weekend if I went there.

- Oh, you wanted to come home?

- Yeah.

(laughs) - All right, just to hang out with people?

- Help Dad, farm, and my pigs.

- So the farm, you're just crops now, I'm assuming it's corn and soybeans?

- Correct.

- [Rob] And how did harvest go this year?

- Very well.

No rain.

Excellent yields, way better than we expected.

- Everybody says that.

It was great 'cause it didn't rain.

I was really tired.

- Yeah, everybody was tired.

- There was no days off.

- Tempers are high.

- Yeah.

Do y'all get a little short-tempered during harvest?

- Me, my brother, my dad don't.

It was more of our truck driver sometimes got a little tempered and the other auger cart driver who helps us.

Everybody was just getting tired.

- Okay, first of all- (bell chimes) - For running 30 days.

(laughs) - This is because you used the right terminology.

It is an auger cart, right?

- It is.

- Yeah.

- So you have the combine, right?

That's going through the field.

It's picking the crops and then it fills the hopper behind you, and then it dumps, as you can see, the arm dumps into an auger cart, or auger wagon.

Here in Central Illinois, we are the only ones that refer to it as an auger cart or auger wagon.

The rest of the people, grain cart, grain wagon, chaser buggy.

- Yep.

(laughs) - Some of the weirdest stuff, but if you ever wanna say it right, auger wagon.

- Auger wagon.

Yep.

- Okay.

All right.

So, what'd you get your degree in?

- Ag business.

- [Rob] Mm-hm.

What did you want to do?

- You know, I really wasn't sure when I left college.

I worked for my dad until October after I graduated.

So I helped him get through harvest and then, that's when I started applying for jobs.

I really wanted to farm, but I knew I needed to probably get a job off the farm.

And so I applied, my first job was working at First Mid Farm Ag Services, so I was helping all the farm managers.

- Like doing what?

- All the bookkeeping.

- Oh no.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Are you good at that?

- I like to think I am.

- So, you know like assets, liabilities, and all that dumb stuff.

- Yep.

- Okay, and how long did you work there?

- I worked there for about a year and then I got into crop insurance.

- Ah.

Was that intimidating, because that is confusing.

- It is.

You had to learn a lot and you have to take your insurance test to get your insurance license.

- [Rob] You do?

- Yeah.

- Really?

- Yep, and there's one page in that test on crop insurance.

The rest of it's just regular insurance.

- So you can sell me like car insurance?

- Yeah.

- Okay, but are you focusing on crop?

- Crop, yep.

We do all of it at the place I work now, which is ag insurance.

We do farm, home, auto, and your crop insurance.

- Okay.

So can you explain what crop insurance is kind of in a nutshell?

- Yeah, so crop insurance is, it protects your crop out in the field during spring all the way to when it's in the bin.

So it protects against hail, wind, fire, liability, like if you even like bushels, so if you don't have enough bushels like you were planning on, we can protect that as well.

And pretty much really anything that happens, we can cover it.

- Even like the revenue insurance?

- Yep.

- Yeah, so, that's very confusing.

- It is.

- Do you understand it?

- Some of it, not all of it, I'll be honest.

- [Rob] I don't either.

- I'm still learning.

- Yeah.

So, every year we've insured our crops against hail.

Recently we've added the wind to it.

It's basically like any other insurance, right?

You can just keep adding on to protect yourself.

So, do you push your customers into, like, if you really think this wind policy is gonna be beneficial from 'em, or do you just kind of sit back and figure they know what they're doing?

- I mean, we offer them advice of what we think is best, but in then end we just kind of, if they don't want to take it, we're not gonna push you to take it.

- Okay.

You're much better than my crop insurance salesman.

- Someone pushy.

- You still help with the farm, though.

- Correct.

- Yeah.

It sounds like you really love the farm.

You loved showing pigs.

- I do.

- In fact, we've got a picture here.

Is this 2016?

- That is 2016, the night that I brought him home after the show.

- Okay.

Where are you at?

- That's me.

I don't look the same.

- Okay.

Which is the original color?

- The darker.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

All right.

Well, they say blondes have more fun.

Was it true?

- I guess.

(laughs) - You're engaged.

- I am.

- Where'd you meet this guy?

- We met through mutual friends, and he showed livestock, and so we knew of each other and we reconnected a couple years ago.

- [Rob] Did you meet in a bar?

- No, we did not.

- Okay, you literally met through friends?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Where does he live?

- Nokomis.

- And he farms too.

- He farms and raises cattle and confinement hogs.

- So, I mean, you're gonna go through with it, right?

- Yep.

- Really?

- Really.

- Because it's not too late.

- It's too late for me.

(laughs) - Is the plan to farm somewhere?

- Yeah.

Down there he farms.

It's him and his dad right now, and so, I help out as much as I can down there when I'm down there.

And then when I'm full-time, I'll probably be helping him full-time.

- I got a feeling you're okay with that.

- Yeah.

- Is that really, I mean, is that the dream?

- Yeah.

- [Rob] Okay.

Is he the dream, or is the farm the dream?

- Both.

(laughs) - He just gets in the way.

- Yeah.

- You said July?

- July.

- You're getting married?

- Yep.

- Okay.

That's exciting.

- Yeah.

Very.

- That's a fun time of life.

- It is.

- Are you in the time of life where you are literally going to weekends or are going to weddings every weekend?

- Yes, all summer it seems like that.

- Yeah.

My daughter's doing that and she's like spending so much money being bridesmaids and all that.

- It's expensive.

- It's ridiculous.

You gonna remember that when you get married or you're like, "No, I had to pay for everybody else."

- I'm trying to keep it as low-cost as I can.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- Is it gonna be farm-themed?

- No.

(laughs) - Really?

- Well, okay, so the ceremony is at the farm, because I've always dreamt of having my ceremony in a cornfield.

And so my dad seeded grass so that we're standing in front of the corn at our farm.

- Oh, okay.

We interviewed a guy one time that they cut a hole in a cornfield and then they brought in combines and then they put out the augers and then they put a tent over that, so that was it.

You can do that.

- Yeah, I could.

He was gonna put a hole in the corn field and we'd get married right in the corn.

But in July, you never know.

It might be 95 degrees.

- [Rob] Oh my gosh, you could be roasting.

- Yeah.

- Everybody's got pollen on them and everything.

(laughs) Planning for the wedding, is that enjoyable?

- For right now.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Everything's gone smooth.

- Do you have a dress and all that?

- I do, I have a dress, the venue.

I have pretty much everything booked besides flowers.

- Oh, you just like it corn.

Corn could be your flowers.

- Yeah.

- You went through a thing called ALOT.

- I did.

- It's Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow that's put on the Illinois Farm Bureau.

That's a big-time commitment.

- It is.

- Tell me about that.

- Yeah, it's a eight-week-long program that the Illinois Farm Bureau puts on and is based on leadership, so you learn how to become a better leader, and you're with, I think there was 30 in our class, so from all over the state.

I mean, Southern Illinois, Northern, Central.

Everybody's different ages, different careers.

Some don't even have a career in agriculture and are in it.

So you learn a bunch about other people and what they strive to be a leader for.

And you learn about different ag sectors, the farm bureau policies, parliamentary procedure, and all kinds of stuff.

- I went through it and it kind of seemed like it was maybe a two-pronged approach as they want to teach you how to, you know, be a voice for agriculture, and they also want to expose you to different things.

- Yes.

- Kind of, we in farming kind of sometimes like to stay inside our fence posts and they want us to look outside.

- Yep.

- Yeah.

Were you forced to look outside?

- I mean, yeah, I learned a lot of different stuff that I didn't know about and I was just astonished about how much I learned how to be a voice and how to go to meetings and do all kinds of different things outside of just like our farm.

- They evaluate you.

- They do.

- I did very poorly on one particular section.

- Yeah?

- Do you wanna know what that was?

- Let me take a guess.

- What?

- Public speaking.

- I did, so they said, I did so bad that they literally like spent an hour talking about what I did wrong when I was up there presenting.

- I don't believe that.

- God's honest truth.

Yeah.

- I mean, look at you now, though.

- And it's not because of them.

(laughs) It is a good program and I like it that it it does.

I mean, it was during the Desert Storm that I went through at the Iraq War, and you know, they were bringing in people from Iran to tell their side of the story because we're all like, "Yeah, hate those guys and that," but you know, you put a human side to it.

It's stuff like that.

It's not just like, oh, we need to tell a corn story and soybean story.

Yeah, it was different.

- Yeah, I'm sure it was.

- Are you gonna do the other one in Illinois?

The Illinois Ag Leadership?

- I would like to.

I need to find the right time to do it because that's a big commitment.

- No time like the present.

- I know.

- Yeah, I did it before we got married.

- Yeah, well, I'm getting married in eight months.

- So you're gonna have to push that back.

- (laughs) I don't know if I can do that.

- Okay.

Well then, yeah, maybe afterwards, 'cause if you did it, yeah, you'd have to invite 'em all to the wedding.

You don't wanna do that.

- I already got a big guest list.

- Yeah.

I don't remember seeing my invitation.

- (laughs) It hasn't gone out yet.

None of the invitations have gone out yet.

- All right, these guys, do they get one?

- Sure.

I'll just send more.

- He's coming.

(laughs) You could tell he's coming whether he gets invited or not.

Do you deer hunt?

- I do.

I haven't been in the past couple years.

- [Rob] Yeah?

- Yeah, I got in an accident one year going deer hunting, so, it kind of threw me off for a little bit.

- Like when you were deer hunting, or... - On my way deer hunting, I rolled my vehicle.

- Oh no.

- Yeah.

- Oh, do you break anything?

- I didn't, 'cause I was in all my hunting clothes.

- [Rob] Oh, so you bounced around?

- I did.

(laughs) - You actually rolled the vehicle?

- I rolled down the side of an overpass on the interstate.

- Oh no.

- Mm-hm.

- Gosh.

I'm guessing you probably didn't go on to hunt that day.

- I did not.

(laughs) - What was your first deer?

- My first deer was a 10-point buck.

- Uh-huh.

Did you hit it with a car?

- I didn't.

I shot it.

- Okay.

That's quite a... Was it a big 10-point?

- It was.

Well, I didn't think it was at first 'cause my brother actually gave me his spot that night, and I was sitting there and I was super sick and I just did not wanna be out there.

I'm like, "I'm gonna go home."

And he was like, "No, there's two headed towards you."

And so I was like, "Okay, fine, I'll wait."

And they walked up and they were like right in perfect shooting, and I shot and he dropped to the ground, and my brother calls me.

He goes, "Did you just shoot?"

I said, "Yeah."

He goes, "Did you get it?"

I said, "Yeah, I did."

And he goes, "What is it?"

I said, "Oh, a little four-pointer," and I walked out.

It's a 10-pointer.

- Okay.

(laughs) You know, every deer hunter is not liking you right now.

- Yep.

- Uh-huh.

Well, that's cool, though.

- It is.

- Are you gonna hunt again?

- I'm gonna try this year.

- [Rob] Does your fiance hunt?

- He does, yeah.

- Okay.

Has he shot a deer bigger than the one you got?

- I don't know if it's bigger.

- [Rob] That's gotta bother him.

- It probably does.

- So on your farm, you talk about your mom, and you do meals?

- Yep, we feed all the guys every night and she helps run the grain cart.

I run the grain cart.

We tend seed, pretty much do it all.

- It takes a lot to keep a harvest crew going.

- It does.

- It's amazing the amount of time that's, on our farm, anyway, to get parts.

- Yeah.

- Do you have a dealer close to you?

- We do.

We have Birkey's right in town, and then we deal with Central Illinois Ag out of Atlanta.

- [Rob] Oh, do you?

- We run red.

- I was not told that.

- Yeah, we run Case.

- I'm not sure what to do now.

- Not a good thing?

- How much time we got left?

Oh man.

Okay.

You got any hobbies?

- I mean, I have a dog that I love spending time with.

- Case.

- Yeah.

- I thought when we were talking before, you ran an X9.

- We did.

- Well, what happened to that?

- Dad wanted to test one out.

- There's no way you could have a John Deere on your farm and go, "Oh my gosh, the superior equipment.

We gotta get rid of all this red John Deere we got running."

- I know.

I don't know what his deal was.

He wanted to try one out and he loved it.

- It's not as big of a deal anymore.

It used to be, when I was a kid, you were red or you were green, so you had these (indistinct) but now it's, I don't know.

It seems like everybody's like whatever.

It's the dealer that's closest to me.

That's what we're gonna go with.

- Yep.

They all break.

(laughs) - Some break more than others.

(laughs) How about your fiance's farm?

- He's Deere.

- Okay.

All right.

I'm liking this guy.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'm learning to run a Deere instead of a Case.

It's a little different.

- It's better.

- I don't know if it is.

- It is.

We brought the stuff on there, the machine sink this year so I can run the auger cart from the combine.

- Yeah.

- Do you guys have that?

- I think Case has it but I drive.

- Yeah.

If it was a Deere, you wouldn't have to.

- Yeah.

- Okay, we'll get off that.

All right.

So are you gonna miss that with your family farm, because now you're going to another family farm.

- I know.

I will miss it.

I'm probably still gonna come up and help a couple days in the fall and spring.

- Do you think you'll stay with the insurance gig?

- I would like to.

I enjoy it, and it's different every day, so I would like to stay with it if I could.

- That takes a fair amount of time.

- It does.

- But it's the time that it, it doesn't really hit with planting or harvest, though.

So does it work well with farming?

- It does.

So like in the fall we're pretty slow because during harvest we're waiting for all your guys' production numbers to come in for us to do.

And then in the spring when planting, we're waiting till after planting to get all your acres planted to do acreage reports.

So it's kind of off a little bit from the farming seasons.

- What percentage of your customers do you have to hound 'cause they never get you the information?

- You know, ours are actually really good.

We get 'em pretty quick.

- Mine, not so much.

- Are you one of the last ones?

- I am the last one.

- Are you?

- Yeah.

And then it's generally my agent, she'll call and call and call and then she's like, "To heck with it," and then she calls Emily, my wife, and it gets done.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

It's a system.

- It is.

- So your fiance's farm, you said cattle.

- Cattle.

Angus cattle.

- Okay.

That's a whole different ball game there.

- It is.

Yeah.

They have about 50 cows, and they calve every spring and fall, and then they sell bulls, too.

- Is that a learning curve for you?

- Yeah, 'cause I've really never been around cattle that much.

- When you guys get married, you get down there, I mean, is that gonna be, I mean, are you gonna be helping with that, or is that kind of his thing?

- I mean, I help now I help 'em feed all the bulls and everything and tender to the calves if they need it.

- So you're engaged.

Have you worked cattle with this fiance of yours?

- I've never worked them.

That's him and his dad.

(laughs) - Okay.

Do you think maybe that might be a good idea?

- It might be.

- [Rob] To make sure- - I mean, I can run the grain car for him, so.

- I don't think he- - It's not safe.

- I don't think you can compare.

I think you need to work cattle with him.

- Probably.

- You'll probably hear him say some words that maybe he hasn't said around you before.

- I can guarantee it.

- Yeah, and maybe he'll learn a thing or two about you.

- He might.

- Are you on social media?

- I am.

- You are?

Where can people find you?

- I'm on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.

- Okay.

Is there a handle involved?

- Yes, SaraFuller123, or Sara E. Fuller is usually what it is.

- Fuller's got two Ls in it.

- Yep.

- Okay.

Do you do that on purpose?

- That's the name I was given.

- So your parents.

(laughs) Well, Sara, it's been fun to talk to you.

I love seeing young people in ag.

I love seeing young people with a passion for ag, and you don't have to talk to you very long before you realize how passionate you are about agriculture.

So I think you and your fiance, what's his name?

- Austin.

- Austin the John Deere guy.

- Yep.

- I think you guys are gonna have a lot of fun.

I think you're going to continue farming and bring lots of John Deeres into this world.

- Yep.

- So, Sara, thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

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