Page 41 2026 Spring Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 2026 way using fertilizer and doing soil testing. It was Jim and Joyce Klokkenga’s hard work on the farm for many years that made it possible for Kristopher and Christina to return in 2019. Before coming back to Emden, Kristopher worked in Ghana, West Africa from 2008 to 2016. He first was a General Manager for a shea nut processing plant and then with a farm growing #2 yellow corn under irrigation. In 2014, Christina, who is from Denmark, was working on her PhD testing a smartphone app for midwives in Ghana. She was introduced to Kristopher in the summer of 2014 and they married in 2015. In 2016, they moved to Denmark where they had Caroline and Vincent. This allowed Kristopher to learn Danish and integrate to the Danish culture. In 2018, they moved back to the family farm and had Samuel and Claire. Kristopher said, “when I came back to the farm, we were only farming corn and soybeans. After we switched over to organic, we started to diversify our cropping rotation to help increase soil health. Planting a wider variety of crops helps us to achieve goals like growing our own nitrogen by using alfalfa in our rotation. We are currently growing organic popcorn, white corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and wheat but have also tried crops like canola and winter peas. They also bale about 2,500 large square bales each year to send off to places like Texas. For Kristopher and Christina, the goal as organic farmers is to produce high quality, healthy commodities. Kristopher said, “Our farming methods differ [from the previous methods] in that we are not using any synthetic fertilizers or chemicals, which is actually more how my grandfather farmed than how my father did.” Kristopher does organic farming and avoids using traditional fertilizers, he instead uses chicken manure to fertilize his crops. An article in Spruce explains the benefits of using chicken manure as a fertilizer. One benefit is the nutrients the manure provides as it “contains the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as important micronutrients such as calcium needed for healthy plant growth.” Additionally, chicken manure “is also a good soil amendment; it adds organic matter to the soil, which improves soil structure, moistureholding, drainage capability, and aeration.
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