member feature
Business on
a Handshake
Stanton Brothers focus on
building rapport with customers.
By Joann Pipkin
Tucked in the shadows northeast of the college town, few combines roll on this autumn day. It’s been a year full of
hurdles with rain hampering fieldwork at what always seemed like an inopportune time. Today is no different with sun
only peering through the dark clouds.
As we venture off the four-lane, the charm of the countryside returns. Autumn’s palette paints the sky as generations
till the soil and reap harvest’s bounty. Some traditions become distant, making room for the next generation and
agriculture all its own.
Barely a stone’s throw off the narrow rural road west of Centralia, Andrew and Judy Stanton, along with sons
Dustin and Austin, live out the legacy set forth by Andrew’s father and grandfather on family land dating to pre-Civil
War times. While much of the Missouri’s heritage is rooted in corn, soybeans, cattle and hogs, the Stanton’s bring a new
dimension to farming today. Touted as the largest free range poultry operation in the nation, Stanton Brothers poultry
business has truly cornered the market on farm-to-table agriculture.
laying the groundwork
Born in the 1850s, Andrew Stanton’s grandfather walked Civil War battles on land the family now farms. Andrew’s
dad was born in 1912 and his dream was for his only child to carry on the
family farm and someday pass it to his own children.
But, it hasn’t been easy for that dream to come to reality. “Margins
in farming were tough back in the 1990s,” Andrew recalls. “When the
boys started the chicken operation, I never thought it would take off like
it has. We farm about 2,000 acres and this is a way for them to stay on the
farm.”
With the help of a small, beginning farmer loan through FCS
Financial, Dustin was able to purchase land adjacent to the family’s
existing operation. Diversifying the farm to include the poultry operation
has become a way for the family to farm together.
Stanton Farms, operated by Andrew, includes milo and soybean
production as well as a 100-head cow/calf operation and a few hogs.
Stanton Brothers, a partnership owned by Dustin and Austin, includes
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HEARTBEAT | WINTER 2015