Kim Nixon has always had an incredibly strong passion for farming and knew as a child that she wanted to pursue a career in agriculture. She spent every allowable moment following her dad and learning firsthand all aspects of production agriculture. However, back then, women really didn’t take a seat on a tractor or have a real voice making daily decisions on the farm, but she didn’t let that stop her. She was very active in FFA and 4-H and received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Virginia Tech. After graduating, her career plans took a 180 and she worked for the Virginia State Water Control Board inspecting animal waste facilities and Virginia Cooperative Extension as an IPM Extension agent. At the time, she never realized that this job would lead her to Orange County, Virginia, where she would meet her future husband and her lifelong dream of farming would become a reality. In 1992, Kim married Tom Nixon, whose family had a beef farm in Rapidan, Virginia. They have spent the last 30 years building a highly diversified farming operation. In the beginning, they found themselves in a highly leveraged farming operation, where they knew they had to take some risks to help secure a better future for them and their growing family. Kim is extremely proud that both her children, Elizabeth and Robert, share in her passion of farming and have both returned to the farm. Elizabeth and her cow crew manage the cow herd and feedlot and Robert manages the crop crew. Over the years, the farm has evolved from farming several hundred acres to farming 10,000 acres with 15 employees. The farming operation now consists of a brood cow herd, beef feedlot, three turkey houses where they raise hens for Cargill, and row crop operation. During the early stages of COVID and with experiencing low commodity prices, the Nixon family decided they wanted to have a retail agricultural business. They started a retail beef business called Glenmary Reserve Meats, where they sell dry aged beef from cattle they raise and finish themselves. Beef can be purchased through their ecommerce website, shopglenmaryreservemeats.com, and can either be shipped nationwide or picked up at their farm. The second business they started is Virginia Seed Company. This business operates a seed cleaning, blending and treating facility where they also sell cover crop seed and wildlife food plot blends.