faith, family, farm. intregrity
est. 1871
faith, family, farm. intregrity
est. 1871
About Lewis Grain and Livestock
Our History
Our farm started in humble beginnings in 1871 when a young couple left Sweden due to religious persecution and wanted to move to the land of the free. The Pearson couple came and homesteaded 40 acres in Winnebago County Iowa in Mt. Valley township. They decided with a new life, and new country, they wanted a American last name and changed it to Lewis. 5 generations later, we still farm the original 40 acres and have expanded with every generation. Generation 4 Is Riley and Kris Lewis, and number 5 is Todd and April Lewis. Todd and April have twins, Elle and Noah Lewis, age 17, who are on their way to being generation number 6. Karey Alverado is the daughter of the family. Her and her husband Robert and two children, Jordan and Jenna live in Des Moines. Even though Karey is not on the farm, her farming roots run deep as she works for Des Moines Waterworks as a Horticulturist.
153 years later, we are still here and have no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
Throughout the years, the Lewis's operations have included, row crops, beef cattle, dairy and hogs. The livestock that stuck to the operation for 3 generations has been hogs. For over 70 years we have grown our own hogs as independent hog producers until 2022 with the retirement of Riley. Currently we raise hogs for Christensen Farms in our 2400 head livestock facility. Todd has expanded the operation to include the trucking and custom application business.
In 153 years, we have seen droughts, floods, hail outs, and farm crisis's. With out our faith in our lord and savior, we wouldn't have made it through some of them.
God is Good to his faithful servants!!!!!!
Our Team
Currently, our operation includes Riley ( retired, but still very involved with advise and support) and Todd as the family owners of the farming operations. Kris Lewis, also part owner, keeps all of us fed during the busy times and is integral also for advise from outside of the agriculture world.
We have 4 full time employees that are a integral part of our operation and numerous part time employees during our busy seasons
Listed below are our current employees that we consider family
Charlie Frascht- 17 years- Hogs, farming and trucking
Travis Hopkins- 2 years- farming and trucking
Conner Thompson 2 years- trucking and mechanic
Colby Droesller 1 year- trucking and precision tech
Our very important part time help for many years
Chad Gerdes- fall help and grain cart extraordinaire
Chad Johnson- combine operator and all around problem solver.
Thank you to all of you listed above, if not for you, our operation would not be able to function as it does now!
Our operations
On our operations, we have state of the art hog facilities that are climate controlled that allow our hogs to be comfortable and with little to no stress. On the grain side of our operation, we utilize technology for our grain setup, dryer and our field equipment, with remote monitoring, auto steer, drone scouting, variable rate planting and nutrient placement.
From the beginning, soil conservation has been our main goal. We only have so much soil on this earth and for future generations to be able to have a profitable farm, you have to keep that topsoil where it is at. With the current technology available to us, we can do a better job of controlling runoff, nutrient loss and wildlife management.
We have less productive acres that are enrolled in CRP and leave food plots for the wildlife to feed off of during Iowa's harsh winters.
diversity is key to todays farms
LEWIS FARMS TRUCKING
In 2022, Lewis Farms started the trucking division. We have grown from 1 truck in 2022 to now 5 trucks that specialize in Hopper hauling, dry fertilizer and tanker work, side dump operations, and implement hauling.
Contact Todd @641-525-5525 for any inquiries on how we can help move what you need.
CUSTOM APPLICATION
In 2012, Todd, being a beginning farmer needed to supplement his income and started Full Circle Farm LLC custom applications. The business has grown to 17,000+ acres a year custom applying row crop chemicals, nitrogen Y-dropping, and tall corn fungicide. Call for current season prices if you have acres needed to be covered.
Community Involvement
Our family, since its inception in America has always included our community. It takes a village to raise a child. Our family has always been involved in our church community ( Lars Pearson- generation 1) and a few local immigrants formed First Baptist Church in which they began meeting in family cabins until the first church was built.
Russel Lewis - generation three- was always involved in church, rotary, Farm Bureau, and a sitting board director of the local coop. Also president of FC school board.
Riley Lewis- Generation 4- Is invests his time in the church, 6 years in the Iowa National Guard, unit 194th Artillery, President of our local coop, chairman of Operation LZ, a welcoming home gathering of 4,000 Viet Nam Veterans in 2015 and is currently greatly invested in Winnebago County Historical Society as a local historian
Todd Lewis- Generation 5 has also been a community serve oriented person. After high school graduation, Todd left the farm and went out into the Rocky Mountains, beginning in Wyoming as a rookie wildland firefighter which led him to continue that career for 13 years, ending his career in aviation firefighting as a helirappeller that rappelled near active forest fires. When he moved back to the farm he became a volunteer EMT on the local ambulance for 9 years and also a member of FCFD for also 9 years. He has also followed family footsteps by serving as a board of director on the local coop board, is a graduate of American Soybean Association young leaders program, is involved in the local FFA program and seed plot program.
Never let grass grow under your feet I think has been our families moto.
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES
ZIPPER
ZIPPER
ZIPPER
Zipper is our current and longest serving customer service rep.
He may be small, but has a big personality.
STORM
ZIPPER
ZIPPER
Storm has been with the company for 5 years.
If you happen to reach him, please be patient, he's easily distracted and can't multi-task.
ROSIE
ZIPPER
ROSIE
Rosie showed up on the farm looking for a job, so we put her in accounts receivables.
Don't let her fool you, she may be a little chubby and cute, but she is very good at her job and has a fierce temperament when provoked. She can be bought and paid for with, scrambled eggs, Cheeto's and marshmallows.