Meet Jenny Burgess

Geoff and Jenny Burgess of Burgess Hill Farms may have grown up more than 4,000 miles apart, but their passions for agriculture closed the distance. Geoff came to Sterling, Kansas from England in 2000 on an agricultural exchange program and ended up doing custom harvest for about three years. Four years after meeting at a local restaurant where Jenny waitressed, Jenny and Geoff decided to unite their dreams of farming by getting married and starting their own farm.

“We both grew up on hobby farms and enjoyed that life as kids,” Jenny said. “We wanted our children to grow up in the same atmosphere as we did with the same livelihood of working hard and seeing the outcome.”

Jenny said she's constantly amazed by her fellow Kansans.

"When the chips are down, your neighbors and friends will have your back," she said. "Even it’s their own shirt! It’s not perfect here. We have our issues; but in the end we all get along. One of the main reasons my husband moved here was because of the people in these small rural towns. People always ask him, 'Why Kansas?' His answer, 'They have beautiful sunsets, amazing and kind people, and my family in it.'"

Being first generation farmers, however, presents a unique set of challenges as the Burgess’s don’t have the capital that fourth or fifth generation farmers have.

“Everything is operating loans,” she said. “When it comes to marketing our grain, we can’t afford for those markets to bounce back up because we’ve got bills to pay and we don’t have those cash reserves or that capital built up where we can hold on to that grain.”

Despite the challenges they face, Jenny says she and Geoff enjoy being able to take care of their crop, watch it grow, and see its potential.

“It’s always exciting to go out to the field and say ‘I grew that’ and I think that’s one thing we both agree on,” Jenny said.