Jordan Hansen, 39, has become an integral part of the family-owned Hansen’s Dairy in Hudson. And if she looks right at home there, it’s for good reason. Hansen herself grew up on a dairy farm in Decorah.
“I never imagined I’d be on a dairy farm again, but I am proud of where I grew up” she said. “When I told my dad I was marrying a dairy farmer, he was glad I was going to continue the dairy legacy.
“It’s a different experience,” Hansen said of life on her childhood farm. “It’s a private lifestyle.”
Contrast that with Hansen’s modern-day experience, which includes public tours, marketing events and a continued passion to promote agriculture, feed her community and sustain the farm’s way of life
Beyond the many responsibilities she handles at the farm – she is the bookkeeping, human resources, public relations and marketing person – Hansen is heavily involved in volunteer work on many levels.
Hansen has been a Black Hawk County Extension Council member for two years. The council helps support agriculture and economic activities through the Youth Fair, 4-H, health sciences and more, Hansen said.
“Just helping people live a better life,” she said.
Hansen also is active with the Cedar Valley Regional Food and Farm Network coalition.
“We are tasked with finding local foods in the community, such as community gardens, and gaining access to local food. It’s a holistic way of looking at food in the community.
“We support the farmers,” she said, “but it can be a struggle. There are barriers, like money. But there are a lot of people with a lot of passion.”
She also sits on the Partnership Panel for Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area Partner Site Designation Program.
“We visit sites in the area,” Hansen said. “We’ve worked with Hartman Reserve, the Dyersville tractor museum, county museums and historical sites, the Carrie Chapman Catt home, Fossil Park, Living History Farms.
“We can help them implement social media, online reservations, online advertising. We can help them achieve their goals by helping them tell their story to the public. And then different sites can network and learn from each other, support each other.
“Some you don’t automatically think of as agriculture sites, but they have ties to agriculture. And a lot of times they are run by volunteers.”
Hansen Dairy also donates to local events and gives nearly 600 gallons of skim milk to the Northeast Iowa Foodbank weekly.
Hansen also is active in her church, the Community Church of Hudson, with the youth board, teaching, outside activities, singing with the praise team and decorating the youth space.
Hansen was named one of six 2019 “Women Impacting Agriculture” by the Iowa Stare University Extension and Outreach Women in Ag program. The women were recognized for “making positive changes and creating a more sustainable Iowa by improving economic resiliency and stability; conserving natural resources; and being influential agricultural leaders, family members and community volunteers.”
“It was nice to be acknowledged, and I’m in really good company,” Hansen said. “I’m not one of those women working outside, but my dad told me what I do is just as important.”
Hansen attended North Winn High School and graduated from Wartburg College with a degree in journalism and graphic design. She then worked at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier on the copy desk and did page layout. She married Blake Hansen, one of four brothers who now own Hansen’s Dairy, in 2005. The farm has been in the family since 1864. When the couple had their first child, a daughter Reese, in 2009, Hansen decided to stay home.
“I could do marketing, advertising, branding (for the farm) as a stay-at-home mom,” she said.
Now that the kids are in school (Jordan and Blake also have a son, Beckett, now 8) Jordan is involved in tourism at the farm.
“Our season is April through October,” she said. “We have school groups, families, bus tours, adult tours and virtual tours.
“It is a walk-along tour. You can see the live process. People love it. It is educational and entertaining.
“For some people, it’s the first time they’ve milked a cow, or fed a calf or pet a kangaroo. (The farm has six kangaroos.) There’s something romantic about it. Kids see how milk gets from the cow to the table.”
Hansen’s opened a store front in Waterloo in 2006, followed by a Cedar Falls store in 2007, which is undergoing an expansion and remodel.
“We will offer grab and go food, and ice cream parlor, snack and deli items utilizing local food,” Hansen said. “We’re hoping to be done (with the remodel) by the end of the year.”
The Hansens also were able to tend to their community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We offered home delivery and curbside service.”
The dairy also sold items off a truck in smaller communities such as Wellsburg and Jesup.
“We thought we would take our products to them,” Hansen said. “We had a very good response. People appreciated us coming, and we appreciated the support.”
Jordan Hansen sees her mother-in-law, Jean Hansen, as a role model.
“She’s as passionate, or more so, as I am about agriculture. She would drop everything to take care of someone.
“(We) feel very proud (we) feed the community,” she said. “We’re still out there, changing, growing and adapting.”
“We support the farmers. But it can be a struggle. There are barriers, like money. But there are a lot of people with a lot of passion.”
– Jordan Hansen
“We support the farmers. But it can be a struggle. There are barriers, like money. But there are a lot of people with a lot of passion.”
– Jordan Hansen
