Becoming brothers-in-law made Kalan Steinle and Adam Reinert family. Farming together made them partners, but when they began building A Bar K Farms, they weren’t starting from the same place.
Adam had been raised in agriculture. Kalan married into it. One came to the partnership with a lifetime around farming; the other was learning an entirely new industry.
In many ways, their story is a good reminder that there is no single definition of a beginning farmer.
Around 2017, the two young producers joined forces to build A Bar K Farms near Dimmitt, Texas. Today, they grow alfalfa, corn, milo and wheat, raise mama cows and run stocker cattle during the winter.
Different Roads to the Same Farm
For Adam, farming was always the plan. Raised in a farming family, he left home to attend West Texas A&M University knowing where he ultimately wanted to end up. “I always knew I wanted to come back and farm,” Adam said. “I went off to college at WT, decided to come back pretty quick. I was ready to be back on the farm.”
Kalan’s path was different. Born and raised in Dimmitt as the son of a coach and a teacher, he had some distant agricultural roots in his family, but he wasn’t raised in the day-to-day life of a farm. Then he married into Adam’s family. Kalan and his wife began farming together about 13 years ago, giving him an entirely different introduction to the industry.
Over time, he learned the business and found his own place in agriculture. When he and Adam eventually came together as partners, each brought a different perspective to the operation they wanted to build.
Growing as Young Producers
Starting an agricultural operation comes with a steep learning curve, even for someone who grew up farming.
There are decisions about land, equipment, financing, crops and cattle. There are opportunities to pursue, risks to weigh and plans that have to change when weather, markets or circumstances do. For a partnership, those decisions are shared.
As Kalan and Adam have navigated the early years of A Bar K Farms, AgTexas has helped them work through those decisions and pursue opportunities for the operation. “AgTexas really has played a role,” Kalan said.
Supporting young and beginning farmers is an important part of AgTexas’ purpose, and the story of A Bar K Farms illustrates why that support can’t always look the same from one producer to the next.
A beginning farmer may have spent his entire life working alongside his family before taking on an operation of his own. Another may be learning agriculture while simultaneously learning how to run a farm business.
Kalan and Adam came to A Bar K Farms with different levels of experience, but they shared the responsibility of figuring out how to build something sustainable together.
A Partner in What Comes Next
For Adam, the relationship with AgTexas has been defined by the willingness to help them move forward. “They’ve stood by us in almost everything we’ve wanted to do,” he said. “It’s been a great relationship.” That experience has also given personal meaning to a line from the AgTexas mission: Your success, our purpose.
“I do believe that they live up to that,” Adam said.
Today, A Bar K Farms is no longer simply an idea between two young brothers-in-law. It’s an operating farm and ranch, built through years of shared decisions, lessons learned and opportunities taken.
Adam brought a lifetime in agriculture to the partnership. Kalan brought the perspective of someone who chose agriculture and learned it along the way. Together, they’re building an operation that belongs to both of them.
As A Bar K Farms continues to grow, AgTexas is proud to have a seat at the table as they decide what comes next.
