By Lura Roti
Advice Brad Greenway received from his college adviser 40 years ago guides him to this day.
“He told me, ‘Don’t ever start something you are figuring on failing at,’” recalled the third-generation Mitchell farmer.
It was the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, and Greenway wanted to farm full time but thought he should get a welding degree just in case farming didn’t work out.
After the conversation with Myron Sonne, he decided to major in agriculture and joined the Mitchell Technical College Livestock Judging Team.
“Myron’s was just the upbeat message I needed — if you put your mind to something, you can succeed,” Greenway said.
With the success of his family’s farm as his focus, Greenway worked to build a sustainable, diversified crop and livestock operation.
Together with Peggy, his wife, and partners Brent Greenway, their son, and Thomas Smith, today Greenway Farms raises row crops and a cow/calf herd, is a partner in a sow farm and owns a wean-to-finish hog operation, raising 14,000 pigs each year.
Greenway Farms team members are proud to sell about half of their pigs to Wholestone Farms, a packing plant they co-own with 230 other pig farmers.
“Our farm truly is a full-circle, sustainable operation. The manure from our pigs is applied to the corn fields. The corn is harvested and fed to our pigs,” Greenway said. “Our cattle graze land that should not be farmed.”
Wind turbines are yet another sustainable aspect on their farm, generating energy for the confinement barns.
Sustainability motivated Greenway’s 2006 decision to transition from raising pigs outdoors and in hoop barns to modern confinement barns.
“We were not producing enough pigs to earn a living,” Greenway said.
After decades of raising pigs outdoors, investing in a large confinement barn was a big decision. Greenway credits the support and encouragement he received from progressive producers he met through involvement in South Dakota Pork Producers.
“It really was the support from other pork producers that gave us the confidence we needed,” Greenway said.
In the first year of operation, Greenway could see the move to confinement was the right choice. “Our pigs’ comfort used to keep Peggy and me up at night. If there was a blizzard or an extreme heat event or rain event, we could only do so much to keep the pigs comfortable,” he explained. “Today, I don’t have to worry because we can keep our pigs’ environment constant and comfortable.”
And because his parents, Tom and Janice, were still raising pigs outdoors, Greenway was able to see the cost savings. “Feeding pigs in the hoop barns was more than double the feed cost than what it was in our new modern confinement barn. The only difference was the more comfortable indoor environment.”
When the Greenways put up their first confinement barn, they used it as a way to share their story of animal comfort, environmental stewardship and sustainability of South Dakota’s No. 1 industry with the more than 400 community members who came out to their farm for the open house.
Advocacy is yet another way Greenway works toward a sustainable future. “Farmers have done a tremendous job improving how we take care of the environment and our animals, but we have done a really poor job of telling consumers how we do it,” Greenway said.
He first became involved in Pork Producers after receiving a $200 college scholarship from Davison County Pork Producers. Local involvement led Greenway in 2000 to serve on the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. He was elected state president in 2005 and 2006.
In 2003, Greenway became involved in the National Pork Board, serving as an Operation Mainstreet presenter, sharing his farm’s story with more than 150 civic organizations, dietitian groups, meat packers, retailers and others throughout South Dakota and across the nation.
“Even in Mitchell, South Dakota, consumers have questions about how we raise their food,” Greenway said.
Although Greenway received advocacy and media training from National Pork Board, he said he is comfortable speaking in front of people because of public speaking experience he gained as a 4-H member and collegiate livestock judge.
Recognized for his service to South Dakota agriculture, in 2014 Greenway was named the Governor’s Ag Ambassador. In 2016 and 2017 he was elected vice president of the National Pork Board. He served as chairperson for U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance in 2016-2018. And in 2016, the National Pork Board named Greenway America’s Pig Farmer of the Year.
“My passion has always been raising pigs, farming and talking to people about what we do,” Greenway said.
Greenway will be honored for his contributions to South Dakota during the 2024 Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family and Community recognition banquet held at the McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center on the SDSU campus Sept. 20.
Honorees are selected by the SDSU colleges of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and Education and Human Sciences.