Established in 1944, The Schrader Auction Company team specializes in professional auction marketing services. The previous years successes have provided the company the understanding of the need for innovative marketing to meet the market demands. Schrader answers that call by joining together an elite team of real estate and auction expertise with local, regional and national marketing. 

Schrader conducts over 200 auctions a year and is located in Columbia City, Indiana. The company has sales representatives in seven states and partners with other real estate and auction companies across the United States.  They are licensed in 28 states and have the ability to secure proper licensing in any state, with real estate auctions conducted in 40 states. Schrader is the first to conduct an online multi-tract auction on the internet simultaneously with the live auction on March 27, 2000.

Luke Schrader

Luke is a 4th-generation auctioneer and real estate broker who not only understands the sentiment tied to land as part of family legacies, but also the asset as an investment opportunity that carries significant stability in wealth-building strategies. Luke has coordinated transactions of more than $46M and is licensed in over 20 states ranging from California to the Carolinas. He is passionate about assisting clients with land transactions of all sizes and asset types, taking pride in diligently handling one of the most sought-after family and investment assets that exists. Luke manages a team of 60 sales agents located across the country from Colorado to Ohio. On top of a highly professional sales force, the Schrader Team includes an in-house marketing division and in-house legal counsel.

Along with being in the auction business, Luke grew up on an Angus farm and still manages Angus cows today. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Agribusiness.

Outside of work, he is passionate about community support, as he serves as President of the local FFA Booster Club, is President of his state Realtor Land Institute (RLI) Association, and serves as a Board Member for Love Africa Missions.

Jess Nighswonger

Jess Nighswonger helps landowners maximize the value of significant agricultural assets through strategic brokerage and auction marketing. As an agricultural real estate broker and auctioneer with Schrader Real Estate & Auction Company, a firm specializing in agricultural real estate since 1944, he advises clients on the marketing and sale of farms, ranches, dairies, and other agricultural assets throughout America’s leading agricultural markets. Working with farmers, ranchers, family trusts, institutional landowners, agricultural lenders, attorneys, wealth advisors, and estate representatives, he develops customized marketing strategies designed to maximize value while helping clients determine whether a competitive auction or traditional brokerage approach is best suited to their property and objectives.

Raised in Keenesburg, Colorado, in Weld County, the epicenter of Colorado agriculture and the state’s leading oil and gas producing region, Nighswonger developed a passion for agriculture through years of involvement in 4-H and FFA. Growing up in one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions gave him an appreciation for the many factors that influence rural property values and the unique characteristics that make every agricultural asset different. Prior to joining Schrader, he built his career in the agricultural industry, serving in multiple leadership roles with Cargill, where he managed large-scale operations and teams of more than 500 employees. Today, he and his wife are raising their three children in nearby Wiggins, Colorado, where they remain active in their community. His commitment to the future of agriculture continues through his leadership of the Colorado FFA Auctioneering Leadership Development Event, which he established to introduce auctioneering as a career path to FFA members across the state.

In his first five years with Schrader Real Estate & Auction, Nighswonger has helped market and sell more than 17,000 acres representing over $100 million in agricultural real estate transactions. His experience spans productive row-crop farmland, irrigated farms, ranches, dairies, and large-scale agricultural operations. His work includes several of Schrader’s marquee assignments, including the $46.2 million FLF Farms auction in Wisconsin, the $14.7 million Lamar, Colorado, land sale, and the $14.1 million Van Rijn Dairy auction in Washington. These assignments reflect his ability to successfully market diverse agricultural assets across multiple regions, ownership structures, and market conditions.

Holding real estate broker and auctioneer licenses across multiple states, Nighswonger combines local market knowledge with Schrader’s nationwide marketing platform, extensive buyer network, and more than 80 years of agricultural real estate experience. Rather than applying the same marketing strategy to every property, he evaluates each assignment individually, helping clients determine whether a competitive auction or conventional brokerage approach will produce the strongest outcome based on the property’s characteristics, ownership objectives, timeline, and current market conditions.

Many of the properties Nighswonger represents are changing hands for the first time in generations. Whether assisting a retiring producer, a family trust, an estate, an institutional landowner, or an absentee owner, he begins by understanding each client’s goals before developing a customized marketing strategy designed to maximize exposure, create meaningful competition among qualified buyers, and maximize the value of each agricultural asset.

Whether representing a century farm, a premier ranch, an investment-grade farmland portfolio, or a complex agricultural estate, Nighswonger is committed to delivering thoughtful advice, innovative marketing, and exceptional execution. His combination of agricultural roots, leadership experience, multi-state expertise, and Schrader’s national platform has established him as a trusted resource for landowners and the professionals who advise them.