Rooted in legacy, growing toward the future: The Miller family’s mission

MARION COUNTY, Mo. — Lacey Miller is a testament to the spirit of American agriculture and community leadership in #Agri-Ready Designated Marion County. Lacey represents legacy and tradition with an unwavering commitment to the land and people around her as a fifth-generation farmer.

Alongside her husband, Nathan, and their children Reed and Natalie, the Millers have built an evolving farming operation that reflects their heritage and vision for the future.

“Just a little background on our farming operation,” Lacey shares in a press release. “We are both multi-generational farmers. I was raised in production agriculture and Nathan grew up on his family’s land. Upon high school graduation, he purchased his own cattle.”

This early start laid the foundation for a journey that would lead to a pivotal accomplishment: establishing their own farm in 2009.

“Nathan and I struggled to find where there was room to belong in our respective family operations,” she explains. “Ultimately, we purchased a farm in 2009 that we call ‘our own.’ Since then, dynamics have shifted, and we are again active producers on the family farms we were born to.”

Lacey’s family farm, a century farm purchased in 1906, carries generations of history. Nathan’s family farm is nearing the century mark, too. The Millers operate herds of commercial and registered South Poll cattle, focusing on regenerative grazing, high-quality, low-input grass genetics, and a commitment to improving the land for future generations.

Their operation is innovative while remaining rooted in tradition. They primarily market yearling feeder calves and keep a few calves to fatten. To try something new, they are innovating beyond their traditional marketing plan by participating in the Show-Me Select Replacement Heifer program. Their goal is to create a herd entirely of registered South Poll cattle seedstock. Reed and Natalie participate in the family farm and show high-quality cattle as 4-H members.

 “As a 5th generation family farmer, it’s about legacy. My family bought the land with their blood, sweat, tears and lives. The land isn’t mine; it is theirs,” said Miller. “My job is to preserve and protect what they died for.”

Her passion for stewardship extends into her advocacy and leadership. Lacey has served on the Marion County Farm Bureau board, as a young leader for the Missouri Corn Growers Association, and on the Missouri Farm Bureau Beef Commodity Committee. She has been a mentor and leader to 4-H youth for over two decades. Lacey’s commitment to her county inspired her to run for Marion County Western District Commissioner in 2024, getting elected on a platform of transparency, rural values and long-term community investment.

Lacey’s dad, Ralph Griesbaum understood the value of embracing agriculture and led the effort for Marion County to achieve #Agri-Ready County Designation in 2016. According to the 2021 Missouri Economic Contribution of Agriculture and Forestry Study, agriculture in Agri-Ready Designated Marion County contributed $144.4 million to total value added to the county’s economy, $336 million in economic output, supported 2,167 jobs and $110.5 million in household income.

When asked how farmers can support the future of agriculture, Lacey does not hesitate.

“Farming is ultimately a business. If it is not profitable, it is not sustainable. If it is not sustainable, the legacy dies,” she says. “We need to support a paradigm shift. Agriculture will always be a way of life, but we need to encourage and support future generations that it isn’t all there is to life. Work-life balance and profitability matter.”

Lacey speaks candidly about embracing change: “Just because dad and I did something a certain way, doesn’t mean you have to. We need to openly communicate to our children to respond to the production cycle of the land. What they are tasked with may not allow or require the same approach. We do better as we know better, and we never forget where we came from, but we also embrace where the legacy takes us on the next leg of the journey.”

Through her work on the farm, in the community, and as a mother and mentor, Lacey Miller is nurturing not just crops and cattle, but a vision for a sustainable, resilient and strong agricultural future, rooted in the soil of Marion County that will be carried forward by the hands of those who come after her.