By Farmer Matt Wissel

I call myself a professional farmer, and I come from a line of farmers who have made farming their profession in Idaho. While my first official crop was a field of potatoes behind the Wissel Farm House at just two years old, I truly marked the start of my professional farming journey at 12, when I planted two and a half acres of barley. The next year, I expanded to 11 acres of pinto beans. By 14, I started a comfrey seed rootstock business, shipping products out of the valley. During high school, I rented land from Ralph Little, a nearby Nampa farmer, and planted 18 acres of sugar beets.

In the fall of 1974, at just 15, I moved to Mountain Home, Idaho, and planted 100 acres of sugar beets. Over time, I grew the farm with my brother to 2,600 acres of beets, wheat, and pinto beans. We even had a bean warehouse to clean our own pinto beans. 

In 1978, at the age of 20, I married Benita, who became a monumental presence in my farming life. Together, we built not only a family, but a partnership that strengthened every aspect of the farm.

In 1989, Benita saw an opportunity to grow fresh produce, particularly fresh market sweetcorn—Idaho was already the largest producer of sweet corn seed, but nobody was growing it fresh for the market. I traveled across the country, learning from commercial sweet corn growers. After that, Benita and I moved to Mexico for a season, where I managed a fresh snap pea operation, just so I could learn more. This marked a whole new chapter for us.

By 1995, we returned to my family’s farmstead in Nampa, and our fresh produce operation really took off. We expanded to grow items during Idaho’s winter months—we farmed lettuce in Donnelly, Idaho, and grew corn and melons in Arizona and Southern Nevada. This allowed us to provide fresh produce year-round in Idaho and led to the opening of several retail locations across the Treasure Valley and the supply of many groceries across the Pacific Northwest. At 300 acres, I believe we were one of the largest diversified fresh market produce growers in Idaho.

Farming, however, is not without its hardships. I’m transparent about the pitfalls of farming because I know it represents the life of many American farmers. I’ve seen almost every fellow farmer from my generation forced to sell their land or make decisions that aren’t best for sustainability, ultimately leaving farming altogether. The financial and economical pressures of modern agriculture just aren’t feasible for many. We’ve had our share of struggles, including a tough season in 2013 when financial setbacks and betrayals pushed us to the brink. With nothing, we had to start over from scratch. More than 10 years later, we’re still rebuilding. It’s a tough industry, but that’s why I keep going.

Farming is not just my profession—it is my life’s work and my calling. I’m committed to educating people about what it takes to farm and what makes it so important for all of us. I stay positive, knowing that with my daughter Morgan, my wife Benita, and the rest of our family, the future we’re building together will make an impact. Through our farming and agricultural inventions (my other passion!), I hope to make farming better for farmers, better for consumers, better for the environment, and better for the future. I remain hopeful.