Why Boa Safra Ag’s Tyler Bruch Sees the World as an Opportunity, Not a Threat

In the early 2000s, corn prices were hovering around $1.80 a bushel. It was a bleak economic reality that pushed many American farmers, including Tyler Bruch, to think hard about a future in agriculture. But instead of retreating, Bruch saw the moment as a turning point, an opportunity to step beyond U.S. borders and gain a global perspective. It was a decision that not only shaped his career but also changed how he views international farming relationships today.

“There wasn't a lot of luster at the family farm for anybody, really,” Bruch told American Farmland Owner from his home in York, Nebraska as he thought about his views a quarter century ago.

“We looked at an opportunity, and I suppose it was a little bit of an adventurous spirit… to go down there and kind of take an initiative to look around and see how it could work.”

Global Farming Opportunities in the Face of U.S. Agricultural Challenges

That leap of faith took him far beyond his northwest Iowa roots. Over the years, Bruch has done consulting work in 15 countries across four continents. His brother spent seven years in Ukraine managing a large-scale farming operation. That global exposure, he said, has been nothing short of transformative.

“By kind of getting a global perspective, it obviously opened up some opportunities to look at other things in other places,” he said. “You take an Iowa farm kid that has got to see things kind of on a global perspective but understanding really how ag economics work… just opened up other opportunities.”

Tyler Bruch bio

• Co-Owner -- Cyclone Farms (organic farm), York, Nebraska

• Co-Founder – Boa Safra Ag

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Yet the value of traveling abroad hasn’t just been about business prospects for Bruch. It is about understanding both the successes and struggles of other farmers. “There’s probably more than once where you wonder when you're in a foreign country somewhere without a lot of luxuries that you grew up with, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’” he recalled. “But… you start to look back and realize that those experiences were some of the most valuable things you ever have done in your career or your life.”

International Agricultural Experience: Lessons from 15 Countries

The broader knowledge about agriculture helps him as he travels the United States helping American farmers and ranchers maximize tax deductions in cropland, ranchland, and timberland. Bruch’s company, Boa Safra Ag, works with farmers to convert excess fertility in their land into additional tax deductions.

Bruch and his wife, Amy, are organic farmers. So, Bruch’s company, in some cases, would be helping his competition become more profitable. But just like his outlook at farmers in other countries, he does not look at others as rivals.

“At the end of the day, anybody that's involved in agriculture from a producer level is really trying to do the best they can to probably support themselves and their family,” he said. “The problems that I have on my farm today are the same problems people 6,000 miles away are dealing with… just in a different zip code.”

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Why Agricultural Collaboration Beats Competition in Today’s Farming Industry

Rather than approaching agriculture from a position of rivalry, Bruch sees collaboration and shared learning as essential to long-term success. He points to innovations like fungicides, which were initially developed in South America to combat Asian soybean rust, as examples of global cooperation benefiting U.S. farms.

“We kind of learned off of, ‘Hey, there's a pretty big yield bump by doing some of these things,’” he said. “As much as we help others, they can help us as well.”

Bruch believes that the Western Hemisphere—home to just 10% of the global population but responsible for 45% of the world's food production—should be thinking more strategically about long-term partnerships.

“We probably need to have a little bit more of a strategic alliance,” he said. “We probably have a bigger bargaining chip than we think when you look at it from a global macro scale.”