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Texas Agriculture Archive

November 15, 2002

Korvan Kreusler—
Farming's a way of life...

By Mike Barnett
Editor

Ask Korvan Kreusler if he has a job, and
he'll tell you no. Ask if he has a career and
you'll get the same answer. Farming, instead, is
a way of life for this 31-year-young agricultural producer, and he wouldn't have it any other
way. Agriculture has run in the blood of the Kreusler family ever since Korvan's great-
great-grandfather came from Germany and settled near New Braunfels in the 1800s.
Korvan and his wife Jill live in a beautiful old stone house his grandfather finished in 1906.

"I really enjoy working with animals a lot," Korvan says. "I really enjoy working out here on the land, seeing the crops grow. I don't see myself doing anything else other than what I'm doing right now."

This young producer will tell you diversity is key to his successful farming venture. As important is his focus of making each aspect of his farming and ranching operation reach its full potential.

"This is done by constantly making improvements ranging from increasing the yield per acre for our crops to increasing water retention for livestock and wildlife," he says.

This farmer and rancher grows corn, milo and wheat on the flat blacklands east of New Braunfels. His ranching operation, which consists of sheep, goats and cattle, is located in the hills west of the city.

Both operations are located less than 15 miles from one of the most rapid growing urban areas in the state, which causes some problems.

"Urban sprawl in our area is becoming kind of a nuisance for farmers and ranchers in general," Korvan says. "When you're moving big equipment down the road, people, they just don't realize, how slow that we're going. Up at the ranch, with goats and sheep, domestic dogs can sometimes cause a problem. Urban sprawl is becoming a problem for us. It's a shame to see this nice, black farmland that we have getting more and more houses on it."

Urban sprawl could become an even bigger problem in the future as Korvan leases most of his land. He keeps leasing costs in line with a two-thirds/one-third cropping arrangement.

"The landowner does have some risk involved in leasing the land to us," Korvan says. "But we feel that the reward in the long run is better because they tend to make a little more than what the leasing rates are. In return, our risk is a lot lower because we don't have 100 percent of the inputs in it."

One goal Korvan is working toward is storing all of his grain crop.

"I want to be able to store 100 percent of my crop so I can control it for as long as I want to," he says. "I feel that we try to raise as good of product as we possibly can and I feel that we can get a little bit of a premium if we can sell it to the local mills."

Other goals include growing the cattle operation, putting more emphasis on raising goats and sheep for show purposes, and managing more for the wildlife aspect.

Korvan also serves as a seed representative for Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Besides extra income, it allows him to keep in touch with area farmers.

Jill is no stranger to the farming part of the operation, as her father was in the horticultural business in nearby Blanco County.

She currently works in the training department for a mutual fund company, but loves the farm life.

"I always knew that I wanted to find somebody that was in this type of business," Jill says.

She looks toward the future when the two of them will raise their children on the farm.

"We talk about it all the time," she says. "I will probably not be working when we have children. I'll stay home and raise the family. And just growing up with animals and 4-H, the same lifestyle that we both had when we grew up."

Both say Farm Bureau is an important part of their lives.

"When you have the voice of thousands of families, the legislators really listen," Korvan says. "When Farm Bureau helps us get certain legislation passed or keeps certain bad legislation from passing, that really affects the bottom line of farmers and ranchers in this state."