July 2025 - Journal FINAL - Flipbook - Page 15
Customers
Drager Farms of Minnesota Lake, Minnesota is proud to be a four generation operation. Pictured here are three generations.
(front): Michael, Bruce, Logan, Charlie; (back) Mitch, Orland, Bill, Bob, Dusty, and Jordan Drager.
Bruce re昀氀ects on what handing over the reins really
means: “Our father wanted us to continue this tradition
in agriculture. He kind of just turned things over to
us and said, ‘I made plenty of mistakes. You’re gonna
make mistakes too, but you can still be successful. You
just have to learn from them.’”
In Their Corner
Now, Bruce, Bill, and Bob are offering that same
opportunity to the next generation—to try, to fail, to
succeed, and to 昀椀gure it out.
That input has helped shape everything from barn 昀氀ow
to long-term planning. The structure and accountability
have been especially helpful as the third generation
steps up. “They come here and meet, and you can say
all this stuff, but they expect you to follow through and
do what we talked about,” says Jordan.
While the Dragers value their independence, they also
lean on trusted partners like Pipestone to help them
improve. “They push us to be better,” says Bill. “They
recommend things we never thought of, all focused on
increasing throughput and reducing cost.”
“I made plenty of mistakes. You’re gonna make mistakes too, but
you can still be successful. You just have to learn from them.”
Orland Drager, Drager Farms
SUMMER 2025 | 15
