Membership Spotlight-Matt and Kelli Miller
Matt and Kelli Miller
Sugar Creek Farm
Osage, Iowa – Mitchell County
Members since 2004
Main enterprises: pasture-grazed beef, heritage pork, pasture-raised broiler chickens
The Millers own and operate Sugar Creek Farm as well as work off-farm jobs. Matt works for Osage Utilities and Kelli is a software developer.
What motivated you to join or renew membership in Practical Farmers of Iowa?
K: We joined in the first place because, even though we both grew up on farms, we were both new to the niche marketing aspect of farming. We joined for the help and the networking and the knowledge that everyone so freely shares. We still find value in the organization and want to support PFI’s efforts to support beginning farmers.
M: I also enjoy reading all the publications on field trials.
What is your connection to agriculture?
K: I grew up on a small 150 acre farm, kind of traditional, with corn, soybeans, hay, a small cow-calf herd, and farrow to finish hogs. We actually don’t live to far from where I grew up.
M: I actually grew up with foster parents. They were in their 40’s when they got me. They had a dairy when I was younger and then they were raising beef cattle, hogs, goats, chickens, and they did lots of gardening. They actually were producing all organic back in the ’70s and early to mid ’80s. I grew up with that.
Besides farming, what are your interests, passions or hobbies?
K: I play piano and have played at our kid’s school productions. We spend a lot of time in the bleachers watching our kids play sports. Somebody’s always playing something.
M: I like to fish and ride motorcycles, not that I always have the time for it!
Do you have a favorite or memorable PFI moment, memory or experience you’d like to share?
K: For me, the conferences I’ve been to and all the neat people I’ve met. It’s the experiences you hear about and the food you get to eat!
M: I enjoy all the research and opinions and all the people that we’ve met.