Emily Sorensen has overcome significant obstacles to run her own farm in Creighton, Nebraska.
Emily Sorensen runs her own 120-acre farm—at the young age
of 18.
“The greatest obstacle is being underage,” says Sorensen. “In
Nebraska, you’re not a legal adult until you’re 19, and I started [farming]
when I was 15.”
Despite her age, Sorensen is a fifth-generation farmer and
now has a farm where she grows corn and soybeans in Creighton, Nebraska. With
the help of her father, she was able to secure a farm that will legally
transfer to her name when she turns 19 this summer.
Farming is a family affair for the Sorensens, and Emily works
with her father, grandfather, older sister and brother-in-law. With her older
sister leading the way, Sorensen says it was easier for her to ease into the
field.
“[My sister] broke down a lot of the barriers since she started
when she was young, too,” says Sorensen. “And, she’s also a girl. There are a
lot of drawbacks of being underage and a girl, but she led the way.”
While getting her own farm hasn’t been easy, Sorensen says
the work and the opportunities to reap what she sows are satisfying.
“I like the flexibility of it,” she says. “I like being
outside all the time, and you never know what you’re going to have to do. I
like not having to have a set schedule all the time.”
Contrary to many modern practices, Sorensen uses only
natural fertilizers on her farm—a focus she says is meaningful.
“I think it’s important to take care of the environment,”
she says. “We’re only here for so long, so we can do our part to take care of
it for the next generation after us. So, we use a lot of chicken manure for the
fertilizer instead of buying chemicals. That’s our main way to fertilize
naturally.”
As a student at Creighton Community High School, Sorensen
had to figure out balancing schoolwork and farming
“Once the busy season starts, a lot of it I can take care of
on the weekends,” she says. “I have to watch the market all the time and see
what corn is doing. When I see that I want to sell—I might sell it during the
middle of the school day or I might sell it before school starts. You kind of
have to work around classes.”
Fortunately, most of her work takes place during summer
break.
“I work a lot over the summer, so it doesn’t really
interfere with school much,” Sorensen explains. “In the winter, there’s not
that much to do because you don’t have your crops growing.”
Now, Sorensen is looking forward to her first year at
Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where she plans to study business
administration. While it may seem like her plate is already full, Sorensen will
also run track in school. She expects to continue her business while away at
college, doing as much as she can while she is miles away.
“You can take care of a lot of it on the phone, such as
buying and selling corn and figuring out fertilizers,” she says. “After I get
my degree, I’m not opposed to coming back to the farm, but I’ll just have to
see where my degree takes me.”
For Sorensen, the sky is the limit, and she advises other
teens to take the same approach to their dreams of entrepreneurship.
“I would tell them to just go after it,” Sorensen says. “There
will always be obstacles no matter what you do, but if you want to do
something, you can push through and make it.”
NFIB’s Young Entrepreneur Foundation established its scholarship program to raise awareness among the nation’s youth about the critical role of private enterprise and entrepreneurship. Since 2003, YEF has awarded over 2,500 scholarships worth more than $2.5 million to graduating high school seniors who own and/or operate their own small business. Meet the other 2015 winners and learn how to get involved.
