Episode 275: 2026 Best Young Farmers and Ranchers

DTN’s 2025 Virtual Ag Summit has just wrapped up, with farmers from across the country convening to discuss what to expect, and how to prepare, for an uncertain year ahead. The event also gave DTN Progressive Farmer’s Senior Editor Dan Miller a chance to show off some of the stellar producers honored in the 2026 class of America’s Best Young Farmers and Ranchers.Today, we’ll drop in on the conversation between Dan and two of Best Young Farmer honorees, Lucas Dull and Lillie Beringer-Crock. First we’ll meet Lucas, General Manager at Dull’s Tree Farms in Thorntown, Indiana, where they grow Christmas trees, pumpkins, and operate an agritourism business that attracts more than 80,000 guests a year. Then, hear from  third-generation farmer Lillie from Beringer Family Farms in Cascade, Iowa, who together with her husband Brian runs a feedlot, a cow-calf operation, and a farm store shipping products direct-to-consumer. They talk about their return to the family business, how they started and continue to build the unconventional sides of their businesses, and how they’re preparing for more uncertainty in the years ahead.