hometownsource. com / heartland / Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, April 19, 2026 Page 5
Pietrzak and her siblings helped on the farm throughout their childhood by milking cows, feeding the animals, assisting with the care of the farm’ s few crops and other farm-related duties.
When they weren’ t on the farm, the siblings attended Milaca Schools where Pietrzak joined the school’ s FFA program, further immersing herself in farm culture.
“ As a senior in high school, I remember asking my parents if I could get a dairy management degree and come back to the farm. They pretty much told me,‘ The farm will always be here, but you need to go out and do something else first.’ I didn’ t like that answer,” Pietrzak said.
Pietrzak knew she wanted to farm full-time in the future, but she was encouraged and felt drawn to another path before that dream could become a reality.
“ I knew I wanted to go to college. My mom pretty much told all of us we had to go to college, that was our option,” Pietrzak said.
So, Pietrzak attended the University of Minnesota and graduated with a degree in agriculture education.
“ I really enjoyed it, I’ m really glad I did that,” Pietrzak said.
Her first teaching job was in Pine City where she worked in a level 4 EBD classroom helping students with special needs.
“ I was not prepared for it, but there were no open ag teaching positions. So, I took the job and it probably made me a better classroom teacher,” Pietrzak said.
After a year in Pine City, Pietrzak moved to a position in Mora where she taught for seven years up until the position of an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor opened in Milaca. Pietrzak found her niche in her hometown community where she stayed and taught for 10 more years.
“ While teaching, my husband, Chad, and I would farm on evenings and weekends and during the summer,” Piterzak said.
It got to the point probably two years ago when my dad offered for one of us to come work on the farm full-time.
“ I truly enjoyed my teaching job, and I would still be doing that for the next 15 to 20 years if I didn’ t have this opportunity,” Pietrzak said.“ But that transition piece is really hard and there’ s a lot to it.”
Since she left high school, Pieterzak and her family have been waiting for the day she could come back to working on the farm full-time. In order to make that happen, the farm had to be able to support the incomes of Pietrzak and both her parents, Tammy and Calvin Beumer.
“ A livable income compared to when we transitioned onto the farm is totally different,” Calvin Beumer said.“ I remember that first year we made $ 10,000 and that was quite a deal. Nowadays, that doesn’ t really get you out the door.”
Piterzak and her parents communicated with each other over her 18- year teaching career about her future transition to the farm.
“ It was just never the right time,” Pietrzak said.“ As frustrating as it was that it was never the right time and just wanting to be here( on the farm), it had to wait until now.”
“ My husband and I are in a place where we can manage a smaller paycheck, and my husband carries our health insurance, which isn’ t exciting to think about, but it’ s a real
Lone Pine Farm located between Milaca and Hillman houses 100 head of dairy cows alongside 40 cow-calf pairs as part of its beef herd. The dairy farm is owned and operated by Calvin and Tammy Beumer alongside their daughter Leann Pietrzak who recently transitioned from working as a full-time teacher.
thing,” She added.
Pietrzak’ s experience as an agriculture educator further prepared her for the transition back onto the farm through the talent of multitasking and always being prepared for the unexpected.
“ There’ s always something different every day,” Pietrzek said.“ There are random little things like the pressure washer wasn’ t working, so I fixed it. If I wasn’ t a small engine teacher, I wouldn’ t have known how to do that.”
While she loved teaching and misses her students and former coworkers, Pietrzak feels she’ s where she’ s meant to be.
“ I was completely content teaching, and I would’ ve done that until I retired, but this is truly something I’ ve always wanted to do,” Pietrzak said.“ I feel like I finally get to do what I’ ve always desired to do.”
Similar to her own story, Pietrzak believes that many young farmers are feeling a push to receive a higher education and build a career outside of the farm before they can make the decision to return.
“ I think most farms today are telling kids to go get a job and see what that life is like before deciding to come back to the farm,” Pietrzak said.“ I would say most are being encouraged to go into ag-industry( opposed to farming) to see what that life has to offer.”
These individuals also face more challenges in entering into the family farm business compared to their parents and grandparents, largely due to the cost of goods.
“ I think for the average, younger individual looking to start a farm, their biggest roadblocks are going to be the prices of land, equipment and input,” Piterzak said.
According to Pietrzak and her parents, milk prices right now are extremely low making it more difficult to make a profit.
“ The base price for milk is $ 14 per 100 pounds. We got that in 1983,” Calvin Beumer said.“ You used to be able to buy a tractor for $ 30,000, and now it’ s closer to $ 200,000. Everything has gone crazy.”
“ Because your profit margins are so thin, your care of animals has to be your priority. You can’ t get away with overcrowding or not paying attention to your breeding program,” Pietrzak said.
Pietrzak went on to describe the number of dairy farms in the area she’ s witnessed disappear over the years.
“ The United States is so dependent upon agriculture,” Pietrzak said,“ I want to believe that a farm this size will matter in 40 years. Our rural economy needs it, it’ s so important. I think maybe the reason why our farm is still a dairy farm is because we’ re diversified enough to get through the hard years.”
Pietrzak’ s three children – Blake, Luke and Brooke – have grown up on Lone Pine Farm, following in her footsteps. With the kids now in high school and middle school, they help out with farm chores after school.
“ School comes first, always, but( one of them taking over someday) is something we think about a lot,” Pietrzak said.“ I think if we make sure we’ re diversified enough, it could happen.”
“ Kind of like my parents said to me, I want them to go do something else first and bring a skillset back,” She added.“ I want them to see what’ s out there.”