Brother and sister duo Jacob and Margret Pekarek of the East Butler FFA Chapter grew up helping their dad on the family’s vegetable farm. Jacob and Margret always loved looking through the flower sections when their dad received seed catalogs for the vegetable operation. Now, with financial assistance from the Nebraska FFA Foundation, Jacob and Margret are supplying locally grown flowers to their community and learning what it takes to be entrepreneurs.
Jacob and Margret Pekarek started J&M Flowers as a floriculture SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) in April 2023. They grew half an acre of marigolds, sunflowers, snapdragons, cosmos, and zinnias in a plasticulture mulch production system. The flowers were cut with clippers in the field, placed in buckets with water, and then taken to the shed to be trimmed, placed in a bouquet, and then stored in a cooler. The flowers were initially sold in retail fashion off the farm, marketed online on the family farm website, and at two small-town farmers’ markets.
Recently, however, J&M Flowers has shifted its focus to supplying local flower shops. When they have flowers, Jacob and Margret contact local flower shops once a week and communicate their inventory. The flower shops tell Jacob and Margret what they want, and their orders are then packed and delivered.
Through their SAE, Jacob and Margret have gained insight into being entrepreneurs.
“We have learned a lot about responsibility. Caring for the flowers took a lot more work than we realized, but we stayed disciplined so that we could succeed. We have also cultivated good relationships with other local flower growers who support us and flower shops we can help,” shared Margret. Additionally, Jacob and Margret say they have gained skills in time management and making business decisions for their operation.
In the future, Jacob and Margret hope to expand J&M flowers into the agritourism industry by hosting weekly flower-picking activities where customers can come to their farm and pick flowers themselves. Jacob and Margret would also offer assistance in arranging floral compositions if customers expressed interest.
The duo says that the SAE grant they received from the Nebraska FFA Foundation helped them explore flower production, marketing, and entrepreneurship. It also allowed them to have more independence.
“We were able to buy supplies for our business and not have to rely on the tools from our dad. He helped us get started, but the grant allowed us to purchase items to make the business our own,” Jacob said.
The impact and purpose of grants from the Nebraska FFA Foundation are demonstrated excellently in Jacob and Margret’s story. With vision, preparation, and dedication, J&M Flowers has developed into a well-functioning flower operation that supports their community, and we can’t wait to see what these entrepreneurial siblings do next!
