#6 A Look at Identity and Communication on the Family Farm with 6th-Generation Nebraska Farmer Hannah Borg
It’s okay for your identity to change and grow with you
Hannah Borg, a 6th-generation farmer from Nebraska, joins us this week to talk about navigating farming with your family and how communication plays a large role in that. Borg is challenging her family to have those hard conversations so they can grow and become a better, more efficient system.
In addition to trying to find the balance in family and work, Hannah is navigating chicken farming. She’s learning to love her new identity as a chicken farmer, and she shared her story and advice for growing to learn something new.
Hannah is a young farmer, recently moving back home to the farm after graduating with an agricultural communications degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. When she’s not taking care of her 60,000 pullets, she can be found taking pictures and sharing her family’s farming story.
About our guest: Hannah Borg - Nebraska
Hannah is a chicken farmer in Northeast Nebraska, photographer, gardener, and history lover. She loves connecting with others and sharing her family’s story.
You can connect with Hannah on Instagram and Twitter @itshannahborg
Episode At a Glance:
[9:35]: Finding your inspiration
“She’s just really the bread and butter of what makes this area so well. She just has such a rich story of farming and family and faithfulness that really inspires me to be who I want to be.”
[17:54] Appreciating working with family
“I get to look out into the field and there’s six Borgs working together in the field. Four trucks, the silage chopper, and my dad packing. Even though it is kind of chaotic and some really hard moments of communication and expectations with each other, to cruise down into the field and look at six family members, those moments definitely make the hard moments worth it. Because I know not everyone gets to be in the field with five other family members.”
[22:45] Having big opinions
“When you’re working with family, it’s a lot easier to share your big opinions. And, we all have opinions. So, just learning to be humble in the way of knowing who is in charge and when.”
[28:18] Maintaining your emotions
“In the moment when there are those big emotions happening, that’s the last thing that helps anything; yelling at each other. Learning to be humbled afterwards and maintaining your emotions has been really helpful.”
[33:47] Building what you believe in
“It is such a gift to know them (my family) and get to work with them so much. Even those hard moments are worth it, because we’re building something that has been built for us that matters to us. And, we’re going to continue to fight for what we believe in. And that’s our farm, our family, and our future generations.”
[40:25] Growing together
“There was a lot of growth through that. We had to lean on each other in a way that we hadn’t before. And it gets better over time, and we knew it, so we just had to wade through the muck of the just heavy daily ‘we don’t know what we’re doing.’ And now, a couple years later, we’re in a way better place and I think I can value this place so much more.”
[51:22] Finding a way home
“It’s more so I’m proud to be at home raising chickens. Because, if it wasn’t for these chickens, I wouldn’t be home.”
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About the Host of Farming on Purpose, Lexi Wright:
I’m your host, Lexi Wright. I started the Farming on Purpose Podcast from a passion for sharing the stories of agriculture from generations past, preserving the skills and lessons learned along the way, and ensuring the best of that is passed onto those who will continue to lead the way into the future of production agriculture.
I’m so glad you’re here and I hope you’ll take a moment to join the conversation with me and other listeners on social media.
Connect with me on Instagram @wrightatthemoment, Facebook, and TikTok.
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