The Welty Family Carries a Love of Farmland Forward

Image: Hertz Farm Manager, Clint Kaller, John Maxwell, Amy Welty, Richard Welty, Karen Welty-Wolf, Paul Welty, and Eric Hill

When Paul Welty Jr. talks about helping the next generation appreciate the family’s Iowa farmland, his advice is simple: get them out on the land.

“But if you’re not setting foot on the property and not feeling the land, then you cannot appreciate it,” he said.

Image: Paul Welty Jr.

That belief has guided the Welty family for decades. Longtime clients of Hertz Farm Management, the family has worked with Hertz farm managers across generations to care for approximately 1,100 acres of farmland in Story County, Iowa.

When we last featured the family in our newsletter in 2011, Paul spoke about sharing information with his children and encouraging them to return to Iowa. Fifteen years later, those children are helping guide the farms’ future, bringing their own questions, interests, and commitment to caring for the land.

Today, Paul and his three children, Richard Welty, Amy Welty, and Karen Welty-Wolf, work with Hertz Farm Manager Clint Kaller of the Nevada, Iowa, office. Although their lives have taken them across the country, the family’s Iowa farms provide a shared connection and responsibility that now reaches into another generation.

A Connection That Started Early

The Welty family’s farmland ownership reaches back more than a century. Paul recalls his grandfather purchasing the Hilltop farm east of Nevada around 1915, with other farms added over the years.

Although his children grew up primarily in Florida, Iowa remained part of their lives. Visits to their grandmother brought them back to the area, where conversations about the weather and the farms were part of everyday family life.

Karen remembers longtime Hertz Farm Manager, Jim Frevert, stopping by and sitting at the kitchen table. Learning about the farms happened naturally, alongside time spent with their grandmother.

“I think the coming into ownership has really just been a really gradual and very natural evolution over time,” Karen said.

Their grandmother also helped make that connection tangible. With Jim’s guidance, the three siblings became owners of a farm while they were young. Its name, ARK, came from the first letters of Amy, Richard, and Karen. Once they owned a share, they began receiving farm reports and learning what farmland ownership involved.

For Amy, the connection deepened when her research into plant and microbial partnerships brought her to Iowa State University. Having the family farms nearby gave her opportunities to visit the fields and connect her scientific interests with agriculture. Her daughter helped in the lab and in the field, creating another generation’s connection to Iowa.

Image: Paul Welty and Farm Operator Eric Hill

Shared Goals and Open Questions

Today, the family’s conversations with Hertz Farm Management center on how to keep the farms productive while caring for the soil and surrounding communities.

“We happen to own it, but we have a duty to preserve it and maintain it for the long haul,” Richard said.

When Clint began working directly with the family about five years ago, their priorities were clear: maintain strong relationships with their farm operators, improve conservation, and thoughtfully evaluate financial opportunities.

Those priorities guide his farm management recommendations, but the family stays actively involved. Clint brings information and ideas; the Weltys ask questions, research the possibilities, and discuss them together.

Karen appreciates both his interest in conservation and his use of data. The family values its history while remaining willing to consider new practices that support its goals.

“I think it helps us come to Clint with questions and I find that he has good answers and he respects our questions, which is really important to keeping up a good dialogue and communication going forward,” she said.

That approach has led to opportunities to test practices before making broader changes. Amy recalled a conversation with retired Hertz Farm Manager, Tim Pick, and Clint during the management transition, when both managers and the family discussed how to evaluate a new product on a small scale.

For Clint, their curiosity makes the partnership rewarding. Trials involving reduced tillage and new products offer opportunities to learn what may improve production or reduce costs on their particular farms.

“I love their openness to continue and try new things and continue to develop and learn as landowners as that helps me continue and develop as a farm manager as well,” he said.

Putting Farm Management Plans into Practice

Some of the most significant recent changes on the Welty family’s Iowa farmland have involved seed corn production. Their land lies in an area where seed companies contract with growers to produce the seed planted by other farmers.

With Clint’s guidance, approximately 172 acres went into seed corn production in 2025, increasing to nearly 265 acres in 2026. Securing those opportunities involves attention to drainage, fertility, and operator experience.

On one farm that grows seed corn, the family invested in drainage tile to support production and help position the farm for future contracts. Cereal rye cover crops following seed corn harvest and reduced tillage on a portion of the acres also support their conservation goals.

The family’s long-term approach to farmland ownership helps shape these decisions. Clint explained that the benefits of conservation practices build over time, and an investment in drainage is easier to evaluate when owners intend to hold the land for decades.

Clint also helped the family respond to an opportunity to sell a less productive farm to a buyer interested in its location. Through a tax-deferred exchange, they acquired a fully tillable farm with greater income potential.

Each decision reflects the same ongoing discussion between the family and their farm manager: how can the farms better meet the family’s goals, now and in the years ahead?

Image: Amy Welty and Karen Welty-Wolf 

Relationships That Keep the Family Connected

For the Weltys, successful farmland management also means knowing the people who farm their land. Clint works with four farm operators on the family’s behalf, including one relationship that extends back decades.

During a recent visit, the family began with a meeting at the Hertz Farm Management office in Nevada, Iowa, to discuss production, rainfall, grain markets, and farm improvements. They then headed out to see the farms and spend time with operators, including a new operator on a recently acquired farm.

Jim Frevert also stopped in that morning to greet the family, a reminder that their relationship with Hertz Farm Management has always extended beyond the professional side of managing farmland. Over the years, the Weltys have developed personal connections with their farm managers that have been especially meaningful to Paul and his children. Those relationships have helped build a foundation of trust that continues today.

Keeping those connections strong takes attention as the family grows. Written updates, financial reports, and virtual meetings allow relatives to follow the farms even when they cannot make the trip to Iowa. One of Paul’s granddaughters has joined meetings from New York, and Karen’s children receive the information and emails that keep them involved.

Paul acknowledges that busy lives make it difficult to bring everyone back. Still, the family continues creating opportunities to learn, ask questions, and visit.

Sometimes, that connection travels in an unexpected form. Paul once asked Clint to send corn from his Iowa grain bin to North Carolina so he could mill it and make cornbread. Clint shipped the corn and is still hoping Paul brings him a slice on a future visit.

For a family spread across the country, even a bag of corn can bring a piece of the farm home. The reports, conversations, and guidance from their Hertz farm manager help keep them informed, while returning to the fields gives them something Paul has valued all along: the chance to feel the land for themselves.

Image: The Welty Family (Amy Welty, Karen Welty-Wolf, Richard Welty, and Paul Welty)

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