Come fall in Nebraska and you are likely to find corn stalks standing 9 feet tall in the early autumn sun. These stalks stand on acreage that’s been run by the Tiemann family for a number of generations. After the corn is harvested, in about a month, you may find it travelling down the road to an ethanol plant in the next county. Or it may be heading for a grain elevator in the next town over. But some of the corn from this farm is slated to be transformed and ultimately make its way halfway around the world to Taiwan and Mainland China.

Alan Tiemann greets us at the farm, “I’m Alan Tiemann. I’m a corn and soybean farmer in Southeast Nebraska here in Seward County. Basically I started farming with my dad when I was probably, my first FFA project was when I was probably 15 when I got my own piece of ground to farm, and never looked back.”

Close at hand Alan’s parents, Orville and Opal Tiemann introduce themselves as does Alan’s wife Lori. Alan smiles as he talks about their marriage, “Lori and I have been married for 28 years. We were high school sweethearts. Got married right out of high school. 28 happy years. We farm little over 3000 acres all together.  All corn and soybeans. Right now we have three generations farming together.”  Nearby you’ll find Alan’s son. He smiles as he says, “I’m Dan Tiemann, Alan’s Son. And I’m the one who does the work around here.”

While Alan works the farm with Dan, he says Lori works in town, “Lori works at Cattle Bank. She’s been there over 25 years now. She serves in many capacities there. We’ve kind of got a little bit of history in our town. With the courthouse square. We have a beautiful courthouse square in downtown Seward. The sign outside town says 65-hundred people. It’s a real family oriented community. We really enjoy living here. “

Alan and his wife are getting ready to join us on a journey that will take us all to Taiwan and Mainland China. Alan is shooting some footage for us and he points the camera at his bag as he says, “Going to start getting ready for the trip and started packing tonight. Throw some clothes in there. It’s 4:12A.M. Just getting ready to depart for Omaha.” Lori bends over to scratch the family cat,“We’ll bring you back a toy that’s made in China. Be good.”

Are you ready to travel?