Tabor Kalcevic-Erker’s roots in her family farm run deep. As in, 127 years and six generations worth of deep.
Kalcevic Farms, established in 1898, are located 15 miles north of Bennett in Eastern Colorado after moving from their original location in 1948. The operation began long before cars and tractors became familiar sights on a plot near where the Boulder Turnpike now shuttles thousands of cars daily in the heart of the Denver metro area.
And for Tabor, husband Jake Erker and daughter Macey, there’s no place they would rather be.
“I went back to the farm because of my connection to the legacy,” said Kalcevic-Erker, who graduated from Colorado State University in 2019 with a degree in agricultural business. “I wanted to build on that for the next generation. Growing up I saw my dad doing something he loved, and that always inspired me. I want to be able to pass that on to my children – and beyond.”
Kalcevic Farms includes several thousand of acres for dryland farming of wheat, corn, sorghum, beans, sunflowers and other crops. Tabor, officially, is the research and innovation organizer, but you’re just as likely to see her operating a combine during harvest as you are working at a computer in her office.
“I love being out in the field,” she said. “We cover a lot of miles and a lot of acres, so it takes a team. I enjoy that aspect of farming.”
Her time at CSU, she said, reinforced her desire to return to the family farm – a somewhat uncommon thing these days in the ag community. In addition to her ag business classes in Fort Collins she studied soil and crop science. A first-generation student, Kalcevic-Erker did several internships, joined the agronomy club and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, and spent a semester in New Zealand as part of the Study Abroad program.
“My dad didn’t get the chance to go to college but he always preached lifelong learning,” she said. “Through my education at CSU I was able to say that I truly want to be in the ag industry and help my family farm thrive.”
Fittingly for Kalcevic-Erker’s lifelong learning quest, she was selected to be in the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program. CALP (CSU is a major sponsor) is a two-year program focused on developing leadership capabilities of men and women committed to the future of Colorado agriculture and the state’s rural communities. Kalcevic-Erker is nearing the end of her two-year CALP journey and will present her final project at the annual Ag Forum in February.
“CALP really opened my eyes into the amazing variety of Colorado agriculture,” she said. “We got to travel to different parts of the state and see how each is an important piece of the Colorado ag puzzle, and in the second year we traveled to different parts of the country, including Washington, D.C.
“One of the big takeaways for me has been the networking and learning how to connect with people from different areas. I tried to fully immerse myself in the program so I could get the most out of it.”
In the meantime, Kalcevic-Erker will continue working on the farm and preparing it for the next generation.
