Technology and automation are signatures on Mark Hanna's Iowa farm. “I like to see new innovations ... the newest thing that’s coming out there on our own farm,” he says.

A pilot by training and a farmer by trade, Chase Larson runs his Kansas operation more like a Fortune 500 company than he does a farm. "We’re very entrepreneurial driven,” he says. “We’re not afraid to fail, to figure out a mistake here or there. You’re not going to grow without constant change and being outside of your borders.”

Big dreams in the Big Apple led Kimberly Ratcliff on a journey back to Texas and her family's ranch where she started a direct-to-consumer beef business. “The first thing I support is my local food bank,” she says. “Every week, every month, I make sure they are stocked with every protein I can provide. I don’t want them ever to have to worry about buying protein externally.”

During Dalton Dilldine’s senior year of high school, his dad unexpectedly passed away, leaving a limited succession plan and a teenager with a big decision: take over their Arkansas operation, start his own farm or go to college. Dilldine chose all three. “I knew I wanted to farm and really couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” he says.