After returning home from the Korean War, Dale and Dorothy Pillen started farming. In 1969, Dale built a 400-head modified open-front barn and raised his first pigs on concrete.
Twenty-five years later, their son Jim Pillen built the first modern isowean 2,500-head sow farm across from the Pillen home farm. In 2003, Pillen Family Farms purchased Danbred North America, now known as DNA Genetics.
Six years later, Jim’s children, Brock Pillen and Sarah Pillen, returned home to join the business as the third generation to operate Pillen Family Farms. However, both are quick to admit this wasn’t the path they thought they would take.
“We had a lot of exposure to the business growing up but didn’t have any strategic thought that we would come back and be part of it,” Sarah says.
After obtaining a business degree in college, Sarah went to law school and practiced law in the private sector for about six years. Meanwhile, Brock also set out to get a business degree and then went to work off the farm for a couple years when he realized he wanted to return to the family operation.
“I started at the slat level power washing, then working as a herdsman before moving on to run farms and eventually take on this role as co-CEO of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics with Sarah,” Brock says.
Though the siblings have different strengths and backgrounds, Sarah says they are a team in every sense of the word.
“We are in constant communication with each other and have an infinite amount of trust in each other,” she says. “We want to make sure we operate efficiently and are not redundant in our co-roles but have the same goals in mind for the best of the operation.”
As a family-owned and -operated business, they are constantly looking to the future and surrounding themselves with great people to nurture a positive quality of life for their generation — and many more to come. This requires intentionality to ensure everyone gets behind the company’s core values and mission.
“If we all have the same value set on how we treat people and how we’re going to go about doing business, it will take care of itself,” Sarah says. “When you have a high level of trust, you can do a whole lot of good.”
The last few years have proven just how important a tight circle of trust is to running a successful business and operation. In January 2023, their father, Jim Pillen, was sworn in as Nebraska’s governor.
“We’re incredibly proud of him,” Sarah says. “Until you get into the shoes he’s in and the shoes our family is in, you can’t really appreciate what it all takes. I’m proud of what he’s done and the difference he is making.”
As the Pillens look to the future, they are optimistic about the trend toward greater industry collaboration.
“Our founder generation had a competitor mindset,” Brock says. “Instead of working together, they were trying to be better than their peers. If you think about the problems in our industry, such as demand, there’s no one company that will be able to fix that. The whole industry has to work together.”
Sarah also sees how partnering has helped the industry endure tough circumstances.
“The more we collaborate and work together for the betterment of the industry, the more successful we will all be,” Sarah says. “We have to do all the right things to make sure we’re successful together.”
Read on to learn more about this brother-and-sister team, from their business philosophy to their views on the future of the pork industry.
Q. What is your ‘why’?
Brock: Our team is our “why.” We believe great people are the key to success, and we’re proud to work with an incredibly diverse and loyal team that believes in our core principles of: No. 1, do what is right; No. 2, do your best; No. 3, treat others the way you want to be treated. These were the values our company was founded on and continue to guide us today.
Q. Describe a typical day on the job for you.
Sarah: Like most leaders in our industry, our days vary considerably. We work hard to guide the big picture and encourage our leaders to take ownership and drive accountability, knowing that they will always have our full support.
Q. What is your business philosophy?
Sarah: Brock and I believe it’s important to surround ourselves with a great team of competent and passionate people who share our same values. And for us, we don’t believe in leading from a boardroom; we want to be engaged in day-to-day operations. At the same time, we want to make sure we empower our team to take ownership and go make things happen in a way that’s meaningful to them as well. We believe in a strong sense of accountability, but people must be given autonomy and flexibility to work within the road guards we’ve established to make a difference as well.
Q. How does your company help and work with its customers?
Brock: As producers, we understand the daily challenges our customers face. We’re able to use our own experiences to walk hand in hand with them to help solve their problems. We believe research is a valuable resource for making good decisions, but we should never overlook the firsthand experiences of team members who have invested their entire careers in barns.
Q. How has the swine industry changed in the past year?
Sarah: The industry has evolved considerably over our lifetimes and will continue to change in the years to come. But if the past has proven anything, it is that we are an industry of innovation and resilience. And we couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.
Q. What are the biggest challenges the industry is facing?
Brock: The inevitable unknowns that occur in our industry every 12 to 24 months pose many challenges we must work to overcome. For us, the biggest ones are labor needs, evolving health challenges, and market volatility.
Q. What are the greatest opportunities in the swine industry today?
Sarah: As we look to the future, our biggest opportunities as an industry are embracing innovation and technology to drive efficiency, attracting new talent to our industry, finding a long-term solution for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), decreasing mortality and driving significant consumer demand for pork.
Q. Who inspires you?
Brock: There isn’t one specific person who inspires me; there have been many. A lot of things happen over your life and career that have different impacts on you. In general, our team inspires us.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job?
Sarah: We enjoy problem-solving and the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of our team. Every day is about how to solve problems. I think you can either let problems bog you down or you can look at them as opportunities to make people and businesses better. Every day, we are actively working on problem solving to become better as an organization.
