Beginning farmers say they learned a lot this past year on how to adapt, adjust and cut back with the downturn in the farm economy, yet they remain optimistic about their future in agriculture.

Brent Parizek and his wife, Amy, were among the nearly 500 attendees at the 2017 Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmer Conference Jan. 27-28 in Des Moines. The Parizeks said they wanted to learn more about business planning and marketing tools to help build their 400-acre...