This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Melissa Nelson Baldwin, the owner of Performance Crop Research, LLC and co-owner of South Bend Industrial Hemp.
Nelson Baldwin grew up in Kansas in a family of farmers and spent her youth participating in 4-H horse shows and advocating for agriculture in various student organizations.
Her passion for farming drove her to get into crop research and in 2018, she founded Performance Crop Research, LLC, where she and her team work with global clients to study plant pathology and the effects of insecticides and bio stimulants on crop varieties in the developmental pipeline.
Sustainability has also become a growing aspect of PCR's research as its clients listen to consumers calling for more environmentally conscious farming methods.
Nelson Baldwin acknowledged it can be difficult to strike a balance between sustainability and profitability.
"Some of the things that they're calling for aren't 100% possible," she said of the pressure from consumers to make farming more sustainable. "But you do see nitrogen reduction. You do see a lot of bio stimulants taking the place of conventional pesticides."
Nelson Baldwin farms alongside her husband and brother-in-law on their fourth-generation family farm, and together they co-own South Bend Industrial Hemp. They began growing hemp as a way to diversify their grain farming operation, but soon saw an opportunity in hemp processing.
"We had a processor back out on us and we continued to see that as a problem across the industry. And so we decided to open our own processing facility and now we work with farmers from all over the Midwest," said Nelson Baldwin. "We help them with a seed to final sale, agronomic support, really whatever they need throughout the season to be successful."
In addition to working at PCR and South Bend, Nelson also hosts a monthly radio show about farming on Eagle Radio 99.5 FM in Great Bend Kansas.
"Right now I am on the express and I have a lot of things to accomplish in a very short amount of time," Nelson Baldwin said of her busy schedule. "You never know. Every day is not given. And so I'm like, how do I maximize my day? How do I be the best that I can be? And ultimately do my job in the best way possible."
