Ellyn Oelfke

Glencoe, MN

Faithful farmer, wife + friend

We are sixth generation farmers raising corn, soybeans, and Angus cattle in-between Green Isle and Hamburg, Minnesota. We also sell seed corn for Wyffels Hybrids and help manage two hog barn sites that consist of 4,000 pigs. A main focus on our farm is conservation, so we use cover cropping and no-till practices in order to help preserve the land we steward. We are all about regenerative agriculture!

Our farm

Corn
Soybeans
Cover crops
Beef Cattle

Yes - along with my husband, Jacob, and his sister (Jessica) and her husband (Ben), we own and operate our farm, HyTest Ag LLC.

Cooking, baking, writing, blogging, flower gardening, reading, listening to true crime podcasts, spending time with family, and shooting pictures and videos on the farm.

Sharing information about agriculture and farming is incredibly important to me because I simply love our way of life. There are real people and families behind farms, and with so many people being generations removed from active agriculture in this day and age, it is crucial that we share our stories - what we do and the why behind it all. By sharing, we as producers can gain trust of consumers and properly educate on where our food, fuel, and fiber comes from. We live on this planet too and feed our families the same food consumers do. I just also really embrace rural, small-town living. I don't want to see our way of life die, and while it may not be for everyone, it is really special and sharing about it brings attention to the fact that we as humans are all unique, striving to do what we love!

While I am a farmer in our operation, I also devotedly embrace my title of "farm wife". My primary role during the busy seasons is keeping our crew fed. I bring supper to the field, bin sites, farms, etc. every single night. During my first fall harvest, I drove up to one of the fields where we had some of our crew working. I jumped out of the car and started bagging up the meals and water, and I heard the grain cart driver yell, "Meals on wheels is here!" And that nickname has now stuck with me several years later. Sometimes those suppers I deliver are the only meals our crew eats throughout the day. So, I love being able to feed the farmers that feed the world!