Southern Minnesota Century Farms October 2021

Southern Minnesota

STRONG

S O U T H E R N M I N N E S O TA FA R M S C E L E B R AT E 100 YEARS AND COUNTING IN GOODHUE, LE SUEUR, N I C O L L E T, R I C E , S T E E L E A N D WAS E CA C O U N T I E S OCTOBER 2021 | A SPECIAL SECTION FROM SOUTHERNMINN.COM

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C3 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

At 150, Wagner farm one of the oldest in Sharon Township ............................... 4 McVicker Farm filled with fond memories of childhood, sentimental value ...... 8 A love of farming keeps Murphy family farm going for 150 years .................... 10 Sam honors his forefathers’ work while planing for the future ........................ 14 Faced with grief, Halla returns to century-old family farm .............................. 18 Far-Gaze Farms keeps building back better ...................................................... 21 More than a job, Rosenthal says farm has to be a ‘passion’ .............................. 23 Fifth generation takes over Merton Twp.’s Brosen Family Farm ..................... 27 Tonns say pandemic gave them time to apply for Century Farm status.......... 29 5 generations take the Eckberg farm to 150 years ............................................ 32 Southern Minnesota

Cover photo: Michelle Vlasak

STRONG SOUTHERN MINNESOTA CENTURY STRONG A special publication of the Faribault Daily News Owatonna People’s Press Northfield News Kenyon Leader Waseca County News Le Sueur County News St. Peter Herald

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C4

Bradley Wagner, Brian Wagner, pictured, and their siblings Robert Wagner and Carole Osborne own and operate the sesquicentennial Wagner farm, which dates back to 1871. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

At 150, Wagner farm one of the oldest in Sharon Township

By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

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ntil this past year, the Wagner family had little idea how old and how significant their 150 year-old farm was to the history of Le Sueur County.

The 200-acre parcel, 3 miles south of Rice Lake and 4 miles northwest of Le Center may appear unassuming at first — featuring a simple setup of a farmhouse, barn, quonset shed, and grain bins — but this small farm was one of the first settled in Sharon Township.

The Wagner Family Farm may be even older than the state of Minnesota itself.

In “History of the Minnesota Valley

Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota,” written in 1882 by Edward Druffield Neil, the Wagners’ ancestor Christian Schwarz is the first mentioned in the history of Sharon Township.

“Among the first to settle and make this their permanent home was Christian Shwar[z],” wrote Neil. “who with his family took a quarter section of section 23 in 1854, building one of the first houses of that locality.”

While the Wagner family knew the farm had been in the family since the 1800s, it wasn’t until they researched the history of the farm that they discovered the land was settled four years before the Minnesota territory was granted statehood.

“It was crazy,” said Bradley Wagner.

“Just when the research started leading back and back and back and then the one website for the county popped up and I started reading through it. When Christian’s name popped up actually being the first title, I was like ‘wow.’”

Bradley Wagner is the youngest of four siblings in the Wagner Family Trust which now owns the farm. Robert Wagner, Carol Osborne and Brian Wagner all manage the farm as well and were surprised to hear of the farm’s age.

“It was real interesting,” said Brian Wagner. “I didn’t think it went back thatA b far, but evidently it did.”

t

C5 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

Brian Wagner and Bradley Wagner stand in front of the Wagner farmhouse. The Wagner Farm in the 1960s had several barns dedicated to dairy, hogs The land was first settled in 1854 by their ancestor Christian Schwarz, one and chickens and grew wheat and oats. (Photo courtesy of the Wagner of the first residents of Sharon Township. (Carson Hughes/southernminn. family) com)

This year is the family’s first without their father, Harold Wagner. The farm owner of 51 years died last year at 82.

Before his death, Bradley said that Harold wanted his children to learn more about the family’s history “This is the first full year without Dad,” said Bradley Wagner. “He was the one, when the kids took over, he said ‘you guys got to research this thing.’ We never got around to it, but we knew this farm was in the family for a long, long time, so go find out how long.”

That research led to the Wagner Farm being recognized as a 2021 Century Farm and a Sesquicentennial Farm by the Minnesota Farm Bureau. Though Neil’s history suggests the land was first settled in 1854, the family’s first official land deed dates back to 1871.

The land’s original owner, Christian Schwarz received a U.S. Government land grant signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. He applied for the land grant around 1869-70, but lacking planes and automobiles to send the message efficiently, Schwarz waited around a year to receive the deed.

the Wagner family tree, the four siblings’ great-grandfather Frederick Wagner married Schwarz’s granddaughter and the daughter of Christian Schwarz II, Pauline Schwarz. Their son George Wagner was the first in the Wagner line to own the farm and he managed the property for 16 years.

According to Neil’s history, Schwarz was born in 1828 in Germany (though Bradley believes he was from Switzerland) and immigrated to the United States in 1854.

He settled the then 160-acre parcel with his wife Mary Harrisberger, a Swiss immigrant, and the two had six children: William, Henry, Pauline, Philip and Christian.

Harold Wagner received the farm from his father George and worked the land from 1963 until he retired from farm labor in the 2000s. His children helped out with the farm over the past 20 years and Harold bequeathed the farm to them before his death.

The farm was under the Schwarz family’s ownership for 82 years, until the Wagners married into the family and took over the land in 1953. According to

A bald eagle watches over the Wagner Farm. Bradley Wagner pointed believes it’s a sign his father Harold Wagner, who died last year, continues to watch over the farm. (Carson Hughes/southernmin.com)t

There’s much the Wagner family doesn’t know about the very early years of the farm, but by the mid-20th century the Wagner family was reliant on dairy, swine and chickens as well as grains like wheat and oats.

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C6

The Wagner siblings Brian, Carol, Bradley and Robert currently operate the farm through a family trust. (Photo courtesy of Bradley Wagner) By the 1970s and 1980s, Harold Wagner cleared the land of excess livestock barns as the farm transitioned to relying on corn and soybeans.

(Photo courtesy of the Wagner family) Wanger Farm continued from page 5

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In the 1960s, the farm was a more complex organization with around 11 buildings on the property. Livestock, including the 50 heads of dairy cattle, hogs, chickens needed plenty of space to operate. As the farm transitioned out of livestock in the 70s and 80s, the farm simplified its operations to a few barns and grain bins.

Bradley Wagner said the farm bowed out of raising cattle when his father took the dairy buyout, a government program that encouraged farmers to cull their herds in an effort to reduce the nation’s milk surplus. Soon after Harold stopped raising cows, he abandoned raising hogs and chickens too.

“It’s kind of nice that it’s gone away because that was a lot of work,” said Brian Wagner.

While Robert, Carol and Brian worked with the livestock, Bradley Wagner was a bit relieved that the farm focused on crops by the time he reached working age. He has many fond memories of living on the farm when he was younger. One of his favorite activities in the winter was sledding off the top of the granary after the snow fell. Heaps of snow would blow onto the farm from the west, allowing a young Bradley to walk up the side of the granary on the ground cables. The kids also dug tunnels in the snow piles.

“The two oldest ones were the troublemakers,” said Bradley. “Robert and Carol always seemed to find their way into the pig pen and get all muddied

WAGNER FARM TIMELINE 1854 - A quarter of Farm Section 23 in Sharon Township, Le Sueur County is settled

by Christian Schwarz and his wife Mary Harrisberger.

1871 - The Schwarz family receives a land grant from the U.S. government signed by President Ulysses S. Grant 1953 - The farm is passed down to George Wagner, the great-grandson of Christian Schwarz.

1969 - Harold Wagner inherits the farm from his father George.

1971 - The farm officially turns 100.

Christian Schwarz and Mary Harrisberger were the first generation in the Wagner family to settle in Sharon Township. (Photo courtesy fo the Wagner family)

2020 - Harold Wagner passes the farm onto his children Robert Wagner, Carol Osborne, Brian Wagner and Bradley Wagner.

the Wagner Farm.

2021 - The Wagner Farm celebrates its 150th anniversary and is named a Century Farm and Sesquicentennial Farm.

Now, the farm is mainly operated by the eldest son Robert with the other siblings pitching in. Bradley wasn’t certain how long this new status quo would last.

up. You can bet that mother loved that.”

To protect the farm from the elements, Harold planted and grew three rows of trees that still stand today. He also weaned the farm of wheat and oats when corn and soybeans took off as the new cash crop.

Eventually, Harold began splitting his time between farming and building power lines. A set of high lines Harold constructed is visible from the east side of

“We have three boys, I have one and [Brian] has two, but I don’t know if any of them are interested,” said Bradley Wagner. “We’ll see, you just never know.”

While no one knows what the future may bring, Bradley was reassured that their father still watches over them. To the east on top of the power lines Harold built, a bald eagle routinely comes to perch and look out over the farm, a visible sign, Bradley believes, that their father is still with them in spirit.

C7 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

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McVicker Farm filled with fond memories of childhood, sentimental value

By MICHELLE VLASAK michelle.vlasak@apgsomn.com

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cross from Moland Lutheran Church in Merton Township sits a farmstead where George and Bessie McVicker once lived.

After marrying in 1918, George and Bessie moved to the 280-acre farm in 1919, purchasing it from C.A. and Ella Stromme.

Grandson Gary Mentz recalls his grandparents painting a picture of what the conditions where like once they moved to the area. Right smack dab in the middle of a depression, they described life as very bleak. The newlyweds became very homesick and missed their family back in Iowa.

Along with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic ravishing the world, the Great War in Europe was winding down. The pandemic in the United States occurred in three waves during 1918 and 1919. The first wave began in March 1918 and lasted throughout the summer of 1918. The more devastating second and third waves (the second being the worst) occurred in the fall of 1918 and the spring of 1919.

George and Bessie McVicker purchased the 280-acre farm from C.A. and Ella Stromme in 1919. The couple raised crops like wheat, oats, alfalfa, corn and beans, along with dairy cows, hogs, chickens and turkeys. (Photo courtesy of Gary Mentz)

The average price of Minnesota farm land more than doubled between 1910 and 1920, from $46 to $109 per acre.

The McVickers purchased the farm for $125 an acre. Today, Minnesota’s farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $4,840 per acre, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Over the years, George and Bessie, who raised crops of wheat, oats, alfalfa, corn and beans, were fortunate enough to only have lost one crop from a hail storm in 1971. Along with the crops, they raised various animals: dairy cows,

Bessie and George McVicker celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1978. Pictured with George and Bessie are Marilyn, Gary & Gerhard Mentz. (Photo courtesy of Gary Mentz)

C9 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong the tillable acreage.

The farm is located near the four corners of Rice, Goodhue, Dodge and Steele counties, but is technically in Steele County and has a Kenyon address.

The home of George and Bessie McVicker, built prior to their arrival in 1919, still stands today in Merton Township across from Moland Lutheran Church. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

At the Steele County Free Fair this last August, the McVicker farm was honored for its century-farm status.

Both the Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota State Fair work in conjunction on the Century Farm program to honor Minnesota families that have owned their farms for at least 100 years, are at least 50 acres in size and are currently involved in farming. Century Farm families receive a commemorative sign, as well as a certificate signed by the president of the State Fair, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Governor of Minnesota.

hogs, chickens and turkeys. Shortly after celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in 1978, George died.

As a young child, Mentz would make frequent trips out to the farm. In the

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McVicker Farm continued on page 10

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C10

◗ McVicker Farm continued from page 9 early ‘70s, he recalls them having dairy cattle, along with a chicken coop.

FARMING IN A DEPRESSION

One of his fondest memories was going to the farm as a child and bringing his grandpa lunch on his bike. Even if it meant biking through the freshly plowed fields at just 7 or 8 years old, it was bumpy and memorable experience for him. Mentz says it was also always fun to see the animals while he was there.

After the United States entered World War I in 1917 and continuing into the post-war years, 40 million acres of uncultivated land in the U.S. went under the plow, including 30 million acres in the wheat- and corn-producing states of the Midwest.

Minnesota farmers had nearly 18.5 million acres under cultivation by 1929. The demand for land inflated the price of farm real estate, regardless of quality. The average price of Minnesota farm land more than doubled between 1910 and 1920, from $46 to $109 per acre.

He says his children too, made many memories on the farm through fun activities like wagon rides.

“There’s a lot of sentimental value in it for me, so I’m hoping my kids continue to hold the property also,” said Mentz.

Keeping a close eye on when the farm reached 100 years of ownership in the family, Mentz was eager to apply for Century Farm recognition. Classifying it as a one was a neat thing to do, said Mentz, who enjoyed receiving recognition at the Steele County Fair.

With the size of the rural community dwindling, Mentz is saddened by the number of abandoned farm houses he

A canopy of trees line the perimeter of the McVicker Farm, with a handful towering over the house where George and Bessie once lived together. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

sees and hopes to keep his grandparents’ farm for the next generation to enjoy.

“I definitely want to hold on to the land and keep that in the family,” said Mentz.

An estimated 60 out of every 1,000 farmers in the U.S. either lost their farms or filed for bankruptcy. From 1926 to 1932, 1,442 Minnesota farms totaling 258,587 acres were lost to foreclosure.

In spite of the hardships, Minnesota’s rural population increased during the 1930s. Many who lost farms to foreclosure remained on the property as tenants. Others moved from urban areas to the country.

Source: Minnesota Historical Society

A love of farming keeps Murphy family farm going for 150 years

By PAT BECK editor@apgsomn.com

While farmers’ work never ends and they never have a day off, Joe still loves it.

love of farming has kept Joe and Jean Murphy continuing the family tradition of farming for five generations and more than 150 years along at Le Sueur Road 11 and State Highway 19 in Henderson.

“I just love being on the farm, and it’s all I’ve ever done,” Joe said. “We’re independent. I love having cattle. Maybe some day I’ll get rid of my dairy supply business, and maybe I’ll start running the land again. Right now it’s just too much.”

A

“It’s a good life,” Jean said. “We’re happy that we’re on the farm now. We’re out in the country. It’s a good place to bring up kids. The grandkids were out yesterday, and they just love it.”

The Murphys two grandsons.

“My daughter, Ellie, nannies six kids and they’re here all the time, too,” Joe said.

C11 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

Jean, Joe and Marilyn Murphy (Joe’s mother) were recognized for reaching 150 years of farming in the same family on Aug. 22 at the Le Sueur County Fairgrounds. (Photo courtesy of Jean Murphy)

The Murphys, who live at 28074 251st Ave., joined an elite group this summer as one of the Minnesota Farm Bureau’s 26 recipients of the 2021 Sesquicentennial Farm award. Joe and Jean took ownership from Joe’s mom and dad, Marilyn and Pat, in 2015.

A commemorative certificate signed by Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen and Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation President Kevin Paap was awarded to qualifying families, along with an outdoor sign

signifying Sesquicentennial Farm recognition.

A sesquicentennial farm honors Minnesota families who have owned their farms for at least 150 years, are at least 50 acres in size and are involved in agricultural production.

“We are very proud to have had a Murphy on the farm for over 150 years,” said Joe Murphy, 59, who has worked on the farm his entire life. said. “We continue the farming legacy as we have beef cattle and farm the land.”

◗ Murphy Farm continued on page 12

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C12

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The Joe and Jean Murphy family farm at the intersection of Le Sueur County 11 and State Highway 19 in Henderson includes two sheds for 120 Holstein beef cattle, the original barn, hay storage, a machine shed, grain bins, Murphy Family Dairy, 300 acres of corn and soybeans and their home. (Photo courtesy of Jean Murphy)

Purchased 1857, the land was part of the land grants awarded as a result of the War of 1812.

◗ Murphy Farm continued from page 11 Pat and Marilyn raised six children on their farm and lived off the farm.

The 300-acre Murphy farm has 120 Holstein beef cattle, plus corn and soybean crops.

“Joe always says they worked a ton of hours seven days a week, but they also had so much fun with their large family and being outdoors. It was a lot of work,” Jean said.

The Murphy Farm has been in the family for five generations, beginning operations in 1856 under John Daniel Murphy, who was born in Ireland.

They acknowledge Pat and Marilyn Murphy for setting an example of how to create a positive, hardworking and fun farm family.

Although the present home was built in 2017, the original barn remains, with an addition in 1975.

Joe and Jean lived in the next house down a half mile away until Pat died and Marilyn moved to town. Then Joe and Jean took over the farm.

The farm was then passed down to his son, John Dennis Murphy in 1887, followed by his grandson, James Emmett Murphy in 1935, then his great grandson, Patrick Merlyn Murphy, who farmed alongside his wife, Marilyn, from the mid-1960s to 2014.

“There’s just a sense of pride that we kept it going so long,” Joe Murphy said.

The Murphys have long farmed 300 acres of corn and beans, along with raising 130 head of cattle and milking cows until 2000.

Now they rent out the land to a neighbor and are focusing on raising 120 Holstein beef cattle and on their business, Murphy Dairy Supply Inc. They sell dairy supplies to 110 farmers in the seven-county area.

“We rented it out for the first time last year,” Joe said. “I just couldn’t get it all done by myself with the cattle and the business.”

Jean also works as an accountant in her home business.

“We sell anything a fairy farmer needs,” Joe said. “We have 5,000 different items.”

“We have four daughters, and our youngest is probably the biggest help on the farm, but she’s at college right now,” she said. “We’re not sure what will happen after our generation.”

Their children are: Sarah, 37, of Seattle; Megan, 36, of St. Paul; Ellie,

C13 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

Joe and Jean Murphy raise 120 Holstein beef cattle on their family farm in Henderson. The original barn is in the background. (Photo courtesy of Jean Murphy)

MURPHY FARM LINEAGE John Daniel and Wineford (O’Brien) Murphy (1856-87) John Dennis and Margaret (Fogarty) Murphy (1887-35) James Emmett and Lorraine (Berger) Murphy (1935-66) Patrick Merlyn and Marilyn (Orr) Murphy (1966-14) Joseph Patrick and Jean (Effertz) Murphy (2015-present)

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26, of Henderson; and Lauren, 22, of River Falls, Wisconsin, where she is in her final year of college in business finance.

The Murphys plans to keep farming for the rest of their lives.

Their oldest daughter, Sarah has shown an interest in buying the farm with her husband and possibly renting it out. “And Ellie would love to live here,” Jean said.

“We don’t know what we’ll do after this, but God has always showed us a way,” Jean said.

“Hopefully we’re not the last member of family here,” Joe said. “I don’t ever see myself living in town. I don’t think I could handle that.”

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C14

Jason Sam is the fourth generation of Sams to live on his family’s on 255th Street outside Faribault. The farm was named a 2021 Century Farm. (Tom Nelson photo)

Sam honors his forefathers’ work while planing for the future

By TOM NELSON editor@apgsomn.com

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entury Farm status is a special honor for any family farm, but for Faribault’s James Sam, the award presented to his farm for 100 years of continuous family ownership just seems to be part of his DNA. “I am just really gratified to be able to stay here and do this,” Sam said of the 2021 honor. “Typically, there’s only a few

Century Farms in the county per year, so it is quite an accomplishment just to survive.

“Of course, you have want to do it (farming). A lot of people in my Dad’s generation and my generation, they just did not want to farm, but I always wanted to farm. There was nothing else I ever wanted to do. I just tried to figure out a way to keep farming.”

Sam continues to work the same property

that has been in his family for over 100 years, which includes the original 80 acres that were purchased by his great grandfather Jens Sam back in 1919.

A Norwegian immigrant, Jens and his family, which included four children, had lived in two other locations in Minnesota before the purchase of the property on 255th Street East near Faribault.

“It is cold here and reminded them of home. I don’t know why they didn’t go where it was warmer but they stayed

C15 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong up here where it is bitterly cold, but I supposed that is what they were used to,” Sam said of his ancestors’ decision to make Minnesota their home.

A skilled carpenter, Jens and his youngest son Emery quickly began adding to the farm’s collection of buildings.

“My Grandpa (Emery) was 15 years old when they moved here,” Sam said. “He and my great grandpa built the house and it is the house I am still in today … it has been added onto a couple of times but the main part of the house is still good.

“It was a kit house from (Montgomery) Wards or Sears, which was kind of common back then. My grandpa said the doors, the windows and everything cost $400. He said it took them about a year to build, evidently they built a chicken coop first and lived in the chicken coop for a year while they were building the house.

I said ‘you lived in the chicken coop?’ and he said ‘well it was new.’

Jens went on to own the land for 25 years before Emery took over ownership of the

property for the next 23 years. James Sam’s father Bernard Sam then assumed ownership of the farm for the next 44 years before James continued the family legacy by adding his name to the deed about 10 years ago.

Keeping the farm alive

Like many farms during that era, Jens Sam’s farm featured a diverse variety of crops and livestock.

I think they pretty much did everything,” Sam said. “They milked cows, I am sure they had a few pigs, and chickens. And of course, the worked the farm with the horses.”

In fact, one of the farm’s first tractors — a 1927 Fordson — is proudly displayed on the farm property along 255th Street.

One of two children in his family, James Sam seemed to be destined to make farming his lifelong career.

“I started renting my land in 1976, I was just 15 years old. I bought my own tractor and then started to rent some ground and

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then kept renting more ground. When I was a senior in high school, I probably rented about 120 acres along with helping my Dad on the farm here.”

A graduate of Faribault High School, Sam attended the University of Minnesota Waseca for a couple of years before heading back home.

“By the time I got done with that (attending school in Waseca), it was the early 1980s and that is when the farm pinch was setting in. So I worked in town for about 10 years and did my farming on the evenings and weekends,” Sam said.

He worked as a welder at Tilt-A-Whirl originator Sellner Manufacturing for about 10 years and also had jobs in the Owatonna area for another four years.

“I just kept getting more ground, and getting a little bigger on the farming,” Said said. “I suppose it was around 1997, when I wasn’t working off of the farm anymore.

◗ Sam Farm continued on page 16

Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C16

◗ Sam Farm continued from page 15

One of the Sam farm’s first tractors — a 1927 Fordson — is proudly displayed on the farm property along 255th Street. (Tom Nelson photo)

Sam’s father retired from farming around 1993, and his parents later moved into a house in Faribault around 2002. His mother (Delores Sam) taught kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary School in Faribault for almost 28 years and played an important role in helping keep the farm alive during the 1980s farm crisis.

“My mom taught kindergarten there, and she was a big reason we could keep on farming,” Sam said. “During the 1980s things were tough, people were getting forced out of farming in the 1980s. I believe we made it through because Mom had a good teaching job.”

The farm has since grown to 1,032 acres with Sam renting another 1,000 acres of land to farm. The primary crops now are corn and soybeans, with a little bit of wheat grown at times. The Sams used to raise hogs, but have since gotten out of the livestock trade.

“I grew up with pigs on the farm … first dad milked cows and then Dad had

farrowing pigs and then we did finishing pigs. We also had about 15 head of beef in the day,” Sam said.

Growing up, Sam took beef and pigs to the fair but a couple years after he got out of high school, his Dad got out of pig farming to concentrate of corn and beans.

In his time working the farm, Sam has witnessed a variety of changes and enhancements to the profession over the past 100 years.

really changed things. And of course the comforts got a lot better in the 1980s and 1990s. Now air conditioning is standard, you wouldn’t even think about going out in the field now if the air conditioner wasn’t working.”

Sam noted that monitors, the high tech and auto steer all came on board in the early 2000s for farmers.

“Things have changed a lot over the years,” Sam said. “I don’t remember the horse days but when I first started driving a tractor, a 100 HP tractor was considered a big tractor, and there was no cab on it. We were just out there working in the dust. We actually have that same 100 HP tractor now and all it does is run a grain auger and we also use it for picking rock.

“Now you have monitors and everythingT … yield monitor for the combine, autoS steer and the planter is set up with highb tech, speed tubes and electric motors that run the speed meters,” Sam said. “You can change the population on the go. It can write prescriptions for the field, it can plant different populations in different parts of the field … that’s really changed.

We keep an iPad in the tractor and the combine, it’s part of our mapping system, so there is always an iPad in the planting tractor or combine.”

“Our biggest tractor now is 500 HP … air conditioning of course. When I was about a senior in high school, we got a tractor with air conditioning and that

Sam added, “Spacing is so perfect now … before this time you could plant 33,000 plants per acre, but sometimes youJ would have a couple corn plants too closed

C17 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

together. They would only be three inches apart, and one of those plants just isn’t going to make a good ear because they are too close. Now they are perfectly spaced out about 6-7 inches, and now almost every plant will make a good ear.”

he was about 8 years old, Creighton and his brother would help me pick rock.

Creighton just kept gradually working with me more and more, and now he has been working with me for more than 20 years.

Creighton Houglun, who currently helps manage the farm echoed Sam’s insight into the technology changes assisting today’s farmers.

“I’ve given him a share and I am hoping he takes over after I am done farming. I don’t have any kids of my own, so I am planning for Creighton to take over.

That’s our goal. He does most of the planting and he can do anything I can do … I am starting to do the easy jobs now.”

Sam farm’s future

“You can walk down that row and every ear is the same size … It (technology improvements) just makes a big difference in the yield,” Houglun said.

Since he is single and does not have any children, Sam is working with Houglun to eventually take over the farm property once he retires completely.

At 60, Sam does not plan to retire anytime soon but he does manage to take time off during the winter months.

The flexible schedule has allowed him to travel to places like the Philippines and this winter he is hoping to spent time in sunny Florida.

“Creighton (Houglun) has been working with me for a long time,” Sam said. “I rented his grandfather’s land and since

In the near future, Sam intends to keep the farm about the same size and continue with the same crops.

“I want to try to keep it this size,” Sam said. “I think if we keep it this size, we will be doing pretty good.”

As Sam reflects on his family’s history on the farm, he is proud of the hard work and determination put forth by his ancestors.

“My great-grandparents and grandparents worked so hard. People consider us working hard today, but we don’t work nearly as hard as they did,” Sam said. “They did everything by hand, pitched the hay by hand with a pitchfork … so much manual labor back then compared to what we do now.

“In addition, my Dad probably had the hardest time surviving the farm crisis in the 1980s and it was also a struggle for me in the early 1990s. I think just surviving through all of that was a big accomplishment. I feel really honored and proud to have been able to survive on this farm.”

e

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e

The home on the Sam farm was built from a kit, likely manufactured by Sears of Montgomery Ward. James Sam said his grandfather, who helped hbuild the home, told him the kit cost $400. (Tom Nelson photo)

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…

James Sam purchased his family farm from his father, Bernard, about a

edecade ago. (Tom Nelson photo)

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C18

Faced with grief, Halla returns to century-old family farm

By ANNIE GRANLUND annie.granlund@apgsomn.com

W

hen it comes to the Halla family, farming and living are synonymous.

So when Kevin Halla, the third generation owners of this 100-year-old farm in Somerset Township, came to a vulnerable point in his life, he knew he needed to go back to his roots.

“My wife passed away about three years ago,” Halla said. “I just didn’t have the heart to go to work every single morning.

I needed to get away.”

Halla knew exactly where to find his heart again. In the 120 acres of farm nestled between Interstate 35 and Highway 218, just north of Steele Center, Halla continues to spend his days with the cows, corn and soy beans that have been a part of his family’s legacy since 1920.

This year, the Halla family farm was recognized by the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota State Fair through the Century Farm program, which honors Minnesota families that

The first farmhouse on the Halla family farm was built in 1924 by Rudolph Halla. The house still stands there today and has since had an addition built on. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Halla)

The Hall family is one of three Steele County century farms recognized in 2021, along with one sesquicentennial farm — a 150-year-old farm.

“Everybody supports everybody — that’s what makes a farm.”

— Kevin Halla, third generation Steele County farmer have owned their farms for the last 100 years. Century Farms have to be at least 50 acres and continuously involved in farming.

In the beginning

In that first year, Halla’s grandfather, Rudolph Halla, purchased 80 acres from Albert and Pauline Schwake. Though Halla is unsure how much his grandpa

paid for the land, he does know one thing – farming was all that Halla boy knew.

“It was just a plot of land, there were no buildings on site or anything at the time,” Halla said. “But right away, they put up a hen house for chickens and then built a little living quarters right next to that.”

The first major crops at the Hall farm were corn, oats and hay, but Halla said his grandparents also sold eggs from their chickens and started milking cows. After three years of being on the new farm, the first-generation farmers built their brick house — a building that still stands today and is home for Halla’s aging parents.

“It’s one of them good ol’ houses,” Halla laughed, adding that the family put an addition on and built a second home over the years as the family — and the farm — grew.

K One of the more interesting “crops” thats a Halla said people often forget about was s

the amount of money the family was able

C19 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong to make logging. The original acres were largely wooded, he said, so the logging is what helped make the farm what it is today. He also said because of the logging that needed to be done to clear the acres for more crops, the family purchased a number of horses.

The second generation

When Halla was born in 1960, he said his parents made the move from Bixby out to the farm. His dad, Walter Halla, had already been farming along with other odd jobs, but while Halla was still a young boy his parents became the official owners of the farm. That was 1969.

Though Walter and Ethel Halla are still the formal owners of the farm, Halla is the main one running the farm. A 10-year transition plan was put in place five years ago to make him the owner.

Having grown up on the farm, Halla said he never fully stopped farming. He remembers his first job on the farm being the caretaker of the various cats and dogs they had, and eventually adding on mowing and taking care of the other animals like the cows and the hogs. There came a point in time, however, that Halla needed to find a full-time job elsewhere.

“There just wasn’t enough land to produce enough for everybody to make a living,” Halla said. “So I went and worked at Hormel in Austin for 35 years.”

After his wife died, Halla returned to the

The Halla family has had four generations of farmers and is currently working on the fifth. Pictured, from left, are Walter Halla, Kevin Halla, Ethel Halla, Lukas Halla, Evan Halla, Andrew Halla, Jace Halla and Jackie Larson. (Julian Hast/southernminn.com)

farm full time.

sources of revenue.

“Farming just helped heal the heart,” Halla said. “It keeps you busy when things are tough.”

“We will sell [beef] to local people if they need or want a cow, usually they will just take them themselves and bring it to a butcher or arrange something similar,” Halla said. “A majority of the cattle and hogs go to Zumbrota for the livestock auction.”

Changes on the farm

Because the success of farming can ebb and flow based on the markets, Halla said he has seen his family farm change a lot throughout the decades. At one time, the farm was one of many dairy farms in Steele County, but the family stopped milking in 1985 and transitioned to raising beef cattle, still one of its main

Kevin Halla has lived on and farmed his family’s land near Steele Center since he was young. He returned full time to the farm nearly four years ago and plans on passing it on to his son in the near future. (Julian Hast/ southernminn.com)

While the auction in Zumbrota is a major source of income, with Halla stating they get a monthly check cut to the farm from the station, there is still a large draw of people who want to buy a cow or hog

◗ Halla Farm continued on page 19

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◗ Halla Farm continued from page 19

directly from him.

“It’s amazing how many people want to buy right off the farm,” said Halla, adding that he is unsure of what exactly the appeal is. “I guess they just like to know where their food is coming from and they know we don’t confine our animals to buildings. People can come and look at them and see exactly what animal they are buying and how they are living.”

While the farm isn’t a certified organic farm, mainly due to the expense to do so, the Halls take a lot of pride in feeding their animals well and making sure they are never over crowded.

Aside from livestock, Halla said the farm still produces corn and soybeans, rotating which acres get which crop every couple of years. Most of what they produce is sold to Crystal Valley Coop located in Hope.

Looking to the future

Though the century farm is only 120 acres, the family farms a total of 250

The first cattle barn at the Halla family farm was built in 1928 to house the family’s dairy cattle.

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Halla)

acres of crops.

“I own 100 acres and my dad owns 120,” Halla said. “We also rent some other land.”

Once the transition plan to make Halla the sole owner is complete, the acreage will be combined. And though that transition is set to be completed within the next five years, Halla said he doesn’tT plan on being the man in charge that much longer.

“Whether or not the farm stays in the family for another 100 years, I think that will probably be up to my son,” said Halla.

“I’m not going to stick a lot of money back into it, so I think Andrew will probably be taking over in the next 10 years or even less.”

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Having the family together on the farm is what really keeps him going, said Halla.

With both his parents in their 90s and still living on the farm, Halla said there are often multiple generations together at one time because his grandsons love being out at the farm, too.

“Everybody keeps doing stuff together,” said Halla. “Even if they aren’t farmers, over the years there are different things to do — you might have a garden or take care of animals.”

“Everybody supports everybody,” he continued. “That’s what makes a farm.”

C21 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

The Peterson family of Far-Gaze Farm in northern Rice County is pictured on their farm (Photo courtesy of Karissa Lenore Photography)

Far-Gaze Farms keeps building back better

By ZACH KAYSER editor@apgsomn.com

F

our generations of the Peterson family have worked their farm in rural Rice County over the span of more than 100 years.

The farm originally founded by Christian and Bertha Peterson in 1920 has since taken on the name Far-Gaze, named both for a variety of dairy cow and for the expansive views of the surrounding countryside. Although the Petersons sold their dairy herd in the early 2000s, the name stuck through the decades.

In 1957, Burton Peterson inherited the farm from his father, and many years later, turned it over to his sons: Brian, Chris and Bruce. The Peterson boys were hooked on farm life from an early age, both from working on the family’s concern and through 4-H and Future Farmers of

America, Brian Peterson recalled.

“We were helping pull pasture fence and lay tile [drainage pipes] when we were 6 years old, we were in the tractor already,” he said.

When he was a junior in high school (in the late 1970s) Brian and one of his brothers rented their own farm space and weathered the storm of a nationwide recession, as banks hounded other farmers.

“We hadn’t farmed enough to get ourselves in trouble yet,” Peterson said.

Shortly thereafter in 1982, they combined their business with their dad’s, and FarGaze was born. Each brother largely sticks to their own area of expertise, helping each other when necessary, and disagreements are rare, Peterson said.

“We generally don’t do anything if one disagrees, let’s put it that way” he said.

“We each kind of have our own avenues.

Bruce, he’s in charge of the marketing of grain, which is a big deal. He shares what knows as we go along. Chris takes care of getting the seed ordered … December, January, he’s sorting through data and whatnot. With three of us, you get three different opinions, so we just try and stay out of it, let him do that.”

Brian described his own role as taking care of equipment maintenance, as well as procuring fuel and liquid propane. The process of delegation has worked for the Petersons for years.

However, the span of just the past four years since 2018, the Peterson family and Far-Gaze farm have faced some of their

◗ Far-Gaze Farm continued on page 22

Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C22

Clyde the farm dog assists in the day’s chores on the Peterson’s Far-Gaze Farm. (Submitted photo)

biggest crises. In September 2018, the farm was leveled by a tornado, and nearly half of their 250 head of pigs were killed when a grain bin was knocked over by the storm and crushed the hog barn. The Peterson clan refused to quit. Instead of throwing in the towel, they invested $6 million into new infrastructure. The outbuildings had been built piecemeal over decades without much rhyme or reason, but the tornado gave the Petersons the chance to start from scratch and design the layout of the compound in a way that maximized efficiency.

“The further we get away from the storm, we think in all reality it was maybe a godsend,” he said.

Their story of resilience struck a chord with the rest of southern Minnesota, and the Petersons were profiled in local as well as national media, including “Successful Farming” magazine.

As if in spite of their efforts at rebuilding, Far-Gaze would later face a smaller and more nefarious natural enemy than a tornado.

In 2020, the Petersons went from having too few pigs to too many; when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a critical

◗ Far-Gaze Farm continued from page 21

A combine at work at Far Gaze Farm. Despite a 2018 tornado and a reductions in hog processing in 2020, the farm, operated by the Peterson brothers, remains strong. (Submitted photo)

shortage of available hog processing spots.

The Petersons took to the farm’s Facebook page, offering pork to their neighbors when they couldn’t sell it on the market.

Peterson said Wall Street Pork, another entity owned by the family, struggled to work around the shortage. They sold 300 pigs individually to friends, neighbors and Facebook followers. He recalled taking pigs up to the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus where they were processed and donated to Second Harvest Heartland. Peterson went three times, each with a trailer full of about 15 pigs, he said, bound to teach U of M students how to butcher.

“It was a little interesting,” he recalled.

“You come in there and it’s like, ‘I’m supposed to get a livestock trailer where?’

But we did.”

Wall Street is part of a “sow cooperative” through Minnesota Family Farms, which Peterson said helped spread out the hit among the families in the co-op.

“We sold as many as we could, versus getting the alternative,” Peterson said.

Other Minnesota farms were not so lucky.

According to Minnpost, the Minnesota Department of Health spent $2 million to dispose of the thousands of dead pigs that had to be euthanized across the state, as well as finding space for the hogs that

made it. All told, about 450,000 hogs were put down in Minnesota and Iowa.

Although it was a trying time, Peterson said, he understood why the meatB processing plants needed to shut downj during the pandemic.

O

“We know that for the safety of the workers in the plant, that’s what they had to do, so you just cope with it,” he said.

“It’s kind of like dealing with a tornado.t You deal with it, you get through it, and you hope that somehow you come out with“ both feet on the ground on the other endh … and we did.”

R In addition to emergency hog liquidation,a the farm’s Facebook page serves to tellF the Peterson family’s continuing story;l offering awareness of the plight of thea common farmer. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, theI number of farms in the US has beenl declining slowly for decades. As of 2020,4 the U.S. Department of Agricultureg estimated there were about 2.02 millionh farms, compared to 2.20 million in 2007. b T But it seems Far-Gaze will buck the trend. The fourth generation, consisting“ of cousins (all grandsons of Burton) Tyler, John, Sam and Andrew Peterson, also works on the farm, and have given riseT to another company: 3P farms, for threew Petersons. Brian anticipates that one day, they, too, will assimilate into Far-Gaze.

More than a job, Rosenthal says farm has to be a ‘passion’

C23 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

By JULIAN HAST julian.hast@apgsomn.com

O

ne hundred years later, and the Rosenthals are still on Rosenthal Family Farms. According to Gregg Rosenthal, the farm’s fourth-generation operator, the family’s dedication to the farm was the driving force that has helped it survive.

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“Farming is not a job,” Rosenthal said. “It’s kind of a calling. You have to have a passion for it.”

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In over 100 years, Rosenthal said, nobody in the family has ever left the farm. His father — the great-grandfather of Rosenthal’s 4-year-old grandson — still works the farm with him. His grandfather worked the farm with him as long as he could before he died. His adult children have farm jobs nearby but still come by to help out. One day, he said, they’d like to take over the farm.

They will be the fifth generation to do so.

“We’ve all stayed with it,” Rosenthal said. “The farm is our life.”

One hundred years on the farm

The story of Rosenthal Family Farms begins in the 1880s, when Rosenthal’s great-grandfather William immigrated to the

◗ Rosenthal Farm continued on page 24

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C24

◗ Rosenthal Farm continued from page 23 United States from Germany. Originally settling in Illinois, William eventually moved to Dodge Center, where he rented a farm for some years before moving onto the plot of land in Waseca County that would become Rosenthal Family Farms.

I w v T o

Even back in Germany, Rosenthal believes members of his family were farmers.

Between 1920 and 2021, much about how farming done on Rosenthal Family Farms has changed, as it has almost everywhere. Back when the farm was in its first generation, Rosenthal’s greatgrandfather and grandfather would have raised a wide variety of crops and livestock, including hay, oats, alfalfa, corn and dairy cows. Soybeans weren’t raised at scale in those days.

Nowadays, Rosenthal only grows corn and soybeans.

As a practice, much has also changed about the way farming is done. A hundred years ago, Rosenthal said, his great-grandfather and grandfather would have farmed with horses and small tractors, carrying out far more physically burdensome tasks to produce yields far smaller than those gleaned today with the help of comparatively enormous and sophisticated equipment.

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“ j The Rosenthal family of Rosenthal Family Farms, recently named a Century Farm by Minnesota Farmt Bureau and Minnesota State Fair, spans four living generations. Back row, from left, are Cheyennes Rosenthal, Abel Hanks, Darryl Rosenthal and Dustin Cate. Front, Carol Rosenthal, Annette Rosenthal i and Gregg Rosenthal. (Julian Hast/southernminn.com)

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Of course, keeping up with that rate of change isn’t always easy, Rosenthal said.

“It changes so fast,” he said. “The equipment is so sophisticated you need a trained technician to come out and service it for you.”

The result of adapting to those new technologies is straighter driving, more accurate planting and fertilizer placement, and a less physically demanding farming experience overall. However, modern farming also means a lot more time in the office doing paperwork. Some farmers, Rosenthal said, even hire fulltime workers dedicated to administrative support in the office.

“It’s a lot of a mental game now,” he said.

Rosenthal Family Farms can be seen in the middle third of this aerial photograph, taken in the early 1950s. (Julian Hast/southernminn.com)

Modern farming has other challenges, too, including heeding government regulations and dealing with an increasingly volatile farming economy. The increased presence of Wall Street speculators in agricultural

markets, along with China being the United States’ biggest exporter while tensions heighten, combine to make the financial risk more complex than it was in Rosenthal’s great-grandfather’s day.

C25 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong “I try not to let it bother me,” he said about that risk. “I think I just try to do my job well.”

In terms of regulation, Rosenthal said while he believes “most of them … are very good,” they are challenging to heed.

These include water quality issues, limits on greenhouse gas emissions and more.

“It’s gonna require more management in the future,” he said. “It’s a good thing, but it’s a little more challenging.”

Although there are new challenges, Rosenthal said he is not too worried about the future of the farm. In the farm crisis of the 1980s, he pointed out, Rosenthal Family Farms was basically fine while countless other farms went bankrupt.

“I don’t know if it’s our work ethic or just pure luck, or throwing some faith on mtop of that,” he said about how the farm esurvived that difficult time. “I don’t recall it being a tough time for us.”

Plus, Rosenthal pointed out, farming has always had to contend with society’s

The Rosenthal family of Rosenthal Family Farms, recently named a Century Farm by Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota State Fair, spans four living generations. Back row, from left, are Cheyenne Rosenthal, Abel Hanks, Darryl Rosenthal and Dustin Cate. Front, Carol Rosenthal, Annette Rosenthal and Gregg Rosenthal. (Julian Hast/southernminn.com)

oldest uncertainty: the weather. Every night, Rosenthal said, he watches the news to make decisions as to how he’s going to farm the next day. Excessive

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◗ Rosenthal Farm continued from page 25 wind means herbicide will have to wait before being applied. Cold weather can be hard on diesel-powered trucks, meaning he probably won’t be driving any loads of corn to town that day.

The farmer’s life

Challenges aside, Rosenthal said, at the end of the day, farming is a lifestyle, and he’d choose it over any other.

“If you have passion for it, you love what you do,” he said. “You get up in the morning and you’re ready to go to work and you work hard. And you come in at night, it’s the last thing you think about before you go to bed and the first thing you think about in the morning.

“It’s part of your family,” he continued.

“It’s part of you, the soil and everything around you.”

Going forward, Rosenthal said, he’d love to see the farm continue on for another 100 years, though he’s aware that will ultimately be up to his children,

As Rosenthal Family Farms, seen above in 1967, changed over the century, it went from raising livestock and a wide variety of crops to raising only corn and soybeans. (Julian Hast/southernminn. com)

grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“I’d like to see it well-maintained and as much care and love put into it as my grandfather did and I did and they do,” he said.

That impulse for conservation, it turns out, has been a part of the Rosenthal family line for some time. Rosenthal’s grandfather was a founding member of the Waseca Soil

and Water Conservation District, an environmental protection organization created to protect and preserve the soil and waterways. Rosenthal’s father won an annual award for conservation in the 1980s.

It was partly a product of his grandfather’s hard work maintaining the farm, keeping it productive, Rosenthal said, that it survived all these years.

“It says a lot about his character, and hopefully I inherited some of that,” he said. “If you don’t take care of your farm, it’s gonna blow away or wash away or just disappear.”

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Learn more at assets.mnstatefair.org/pdf/21-century-farms-list.pdf or fbmn.org/farm-recognition.

C27 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

Fifth generation takes over Merton Twp.’s Brosen Family Farm

By EMILY KAHNKE emily.kahnke@apgsomn.com

F

or more than 100 years, the Brosen farm has been expanding.

Peter Brosen, along with his eight siblings, grew up on a 43-acre farm in gSteele County’s Merton Township that his father, Neils Brorsen, purchased in 1875 after emigrating from Denmark. When he was 27, Peter Brosen purchased 160 acres east of the property where he grew up. A few years later, in 1916, he bought 320 acres west of his father’s property.

This would become his homestead.

By 1927, Brosen’s first wife Georgia, and two of their three children had died, leaving only him and his 13-year-old daughter Irene. In 1927, Peter married his second wife, Mildred Oxley. They had had three children together, Charlotte, Eleanor and Sidney.

He continued to purchase land, until the farm, this year named a Minnesota Century Farm, totaled 920 acres. Four cattle barns were built. Corn, soybeans, hay and oats were the major crops grown on the farm until 1996. The Brosens farmed beef cattle as well until 1991.

The farm was twice featured in “The Hormel Farmer” magazine, first in 1942 and then again in 1959. According to the family, there is no denying what a hard worker Peter Brosen was and that he was incredibly proud of the dedication and work he put into making his large farm a success.

All three of Peter and Mildred Brosen’s children worked the farm and he eventually divided his land and

Aerial view of the Brosen Farm northwest of Owatonna. (Courtesy of Mary Neumann)

equipment for his children. Eleanor married Kenneth Stevens and the two moved to the 160-acre homestead which had a house and some small barns. They had three children together: Mary, Mark and John.

The Stevenses

The farm is designed in such a way that gives the notion of careful planning. Not all of the buildings were constructed at the same time, but as they were built each fit into their place like a puzzle.

Two cattle barns were for the farm’s 300 head of cattle. Silos, grain bins and a machine shed were also constructed to store its equipment. They constructed a two-story Sears house kit in 1965 and added an attached two-car garage in 1969.

In an autobiography, Eleanor said, “I worked on the farm, hauled manure, ran the plow, dragged and disked corn ground, built fences for cattle, and baled hay and straw.”

“Ken and Eleanor worked side-by-side, and were truly partners running the farm,” their daughter, Mary Neumann said. “They had his and hers cultivators and plows. They kept the farm looking nice and neat and kept their equipment well maintained. The farm as a family affair with everyone helping with work.”

Neumann recalls growing up on the farm saying; “We worked hard and we played hard.” She described playing with

◗ Brosen Farm continued on page 28

Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C28

◗ Brosen Farm continued from page 27 cousins and neighbors, though the closest neighbor lived a mile away. They would gather for games of softball, football, basketball and more. They also rode snowmobiles during the winter months and built tree houses and forts in the barns during the summer.

When the calves were out in the pasture during the summer, they had a makeshift tennis court on the concrete area behind the barn.

The Stevenses hired a live-in farm hand to assist with the farm work. This allowed Eleanor to take a step back from farming and focus on raising her children.

Eleanor, who died in July, was a gardener as well. She had a large vegetable garden with green beans, yellow beans, carrots, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, sweet corn and more. Neumann describes the corn her mother grew as the best she’d ever tasted. Eleanor also had apples, strawberries and raspberries which she used to can and use to make jam and jelly.

Despite no longer living or working the farm, Ken and Eleanor Stevens are elated to be awarded a 2021 Century Farm plaque Eleanor died in July at 90. (Photo courtesy of Mary Neumann)

The Brosens had 300 head of cattle until 1991. They also grew corn, soybeans, oats and hay until 1996. Their nephew, Bob Heers then began renting the land to grow crops. Ken Stevens and Heers worked the fields together for many years.

Eleanor and Ken purchased a townhome and moved off the farm in 2013. Their great-nephew Nate Heers purchased the home site which includes more than 5 acres of land.

The Brosen Farm in Steele County’s Merton Township, shown here in 1957, was named a 20201 Minnesota Century Farm. (Courtesy of Mary Neumann)

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The Brosen Farm’ new cattle barn in 1959. (Photo courtesy of Mary Neumann)

C29 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong

Tonns say pandemic gave them time to apply for Century Farm status

Tina and David Tonn on their farm west of Waterville, with older aerial views of the farmland. (Tom Nelson photo)

By TOM NELSON editor@apgsomn.com

T

he COVID pandemic has impacted everyone’s lives for more than a year now, but it has also played a role in getting Century Farm status for the land owned

by David and Tina Tonn of Waterville.

COVID this past year and everyone being at home, I just decided that we would try for it. We looked up the paperwork, everything was there and we could apply for it and that was great.

“Originally, I knew we were over 100

“When you stop and think that my relatives have been walking around on this ground for over 100 years, then it really starts to sink in that you are part of something special.”

the paperwork,” David Tonn said. “With

The history of the Tonn farm dates back

yyears, but we just got around to filling out

to 1907, when Max and Emma Lorenz purchased the original 110 acres just west of Waterville on Ridge Road. The maternal great grandparents of David Tonn, Max and Emma Lorenz, both immigrated to the area from Germany.

“I am not sure where they were from in Germany or why they came over here, but they were both here a few years before

◗ Tonn Farm continued on page 30

Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C30

◗ Tonn Farm continued from page 29

they purchased the farm,” David Tonn said.

“From the start, the farm was diversified.

They had a few dairy cows, raised a lot of chickens, some hogs and even grew seed corn for Northrup King for a few years.”

The Lorenz’s added another 80 acres to the farm three years later, and lived on the property with their seven children.

The oldest son, Herman Lorenz (David Tonn’s grandfather), also took up farming and purchased land adjacent to his father’s property in Waterville.

Herman and his wife Louise were married in 1931.

“They were married right in the middle of the (Great) Depression … and they survived,” David Tonn said.

The couple went on to have four girls, with the oldest daughter, Darlene, continuing the family’s farming tradition. Darlene later married Lawrence Tonn and the couple went on to purchase the original farm from Max and Emma Lorenz.

“My father (Lawrence Tonn) was originally from Connecticut and he was going to ag (agriculture) school out there, and between his first and second year of college one of the requirements was that he had to find work on a farm,” David Tonn said.

“Well, he knew the minister at his church and that minister turned out to be Max’s (Lorenz) son. He then asked Max’s son ‘Can you find me a job on a farm?’ The minister asked his Dad (Max Lorenz), and he said that Herman could use some help. So my dad came out here, he met the farmer’s daughter and stayed.”

The next generation

The farm, which Lawrence and Darlene Tonn took over from Max and Emma Lorenz, included the family’s home.

“The original house was there when they purchased the farm,” David Tonn said.

“They (Max and Emma Lorenz) added on to it, they then built another house next to it, which is where I was born after my parents took over the farm.”

Previous home of David and Tina Tonn on their farm property in Waterville. This was the house that David Tonn grew up in and later moved into with his wife Tina before moving to their current home which is located next door on the family farm. (Tom Nelson photo)

That second house was built in the 1930s and David Tonn’s parents moved into the house after they got married. The couple went on to remodel and update the house to make it livable for their family.

“The second house was initially built to house a hired man, and the upstairs was used for grain storage. They harvested phalaris seed, and it needed to be spread thin to be dried and it took a long time, so they spread it on the floor upstairs in the house. I remember as a kid, my parents would always be mad if I would go upstairs and run around through that stuff.”

Lawrence and Darlene Tonn had three children. David Tonn was the only one to stay in the farming business, while his brother opened a successful auto repair business in Waterville and his sister lives in Prior Lake. David Tonn went on to work the farm with his dad while growing up.

“Early in the 1970s, when I was high school, Dad had medical issues,” David Tonn said. “He needed to change the farming operation since his knees were bad. When you are milking cows and squatting to milk the cows, the doctors told him in six months he would be done.

“Instead, he built a milking parlor where he could stand to do the work. We tripled the size of the herd and that’s when I started into it. We milked 80 cows for a number of years.”

The Tonns milked cows for several years before getting out of that business in 1995.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, the cows made a living for us but it got to be too much work,” David Tonn said. “Dad was looking at retirement and I said I was not going to do this by myself.”

In 1981, David Tonn purchased his grandfather Herman’s property and later combined that with the original farm owned by Max and Emma Lorenz. At present, the Tonn farm has 565 acres.

After the family stopped milking cows in the mid 1990s, they fed cattle and at one time had a peak of 400 head of cattle.

Currently, the Tonns grow corn and soybeans on their property.

“I still have 11 head of cattle right now just to say I have a few, but it is more of a hobby right now,” Tonn said.

D

In a way, this marks the second Centuryw Farm in the Tonn family. David’s wife Tina is also from a family that has a

C31 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong Century Farm near Gibbon in northwest Nicollet County. The Tweit farm there is currently owned by Tina’s parents and farmed with help from her brother.

The couple have been married for 31 years and have three daughters - Leslie (27), Megan (26) and Nicole (24). They lived for many years in the house on the original farm property. David Tonn’s parents built a new house on the property originally owned by Herman Lorenz in 2000, and this is the house that David and Tina Tonn currently reside in today.

They moved into the new house six years ago.

The original house on the property owned

by Herman and Louise Lorenz was a log cabin, and it proved to be a well-built structure.

e

“The current house we live in now was built in 2000, but the original house built here was a log cabin. They (Herman and Louise Lorenz) had added onto it at least three times. I remember when the contractor came in to take the house down, to build this one, he hit it with his bulldozer and it didn’t move,” David Tonn said. “The log cabin was so solid, he had to bring in the excavator and take the logs apart, piece by piece to get it out of here.”

At this point, David and Tina’s daughter Megan helps out on the farm but she doesn’t not have a current interest in taking over operations. At 64, David Tonn is looking ahead to retirement but still

considers himself a full-time farmer.

He is not sure if a family member will be farming the land in the future, but David and Tina Tonn are certain that the land will remain in the family.

“The family will keep it, it just a question who will farm the acres.” Tina Tonn said.

“We will retire right here, when you have the views that you have here on the farm, we have no desire to move anywhere else.”

The land’s Century Farm status also gave David Tonn a chance to reflect on the evolution of farming over the past 100 years and how the business has changed with the times.

“I can remember as a kid the first time that Dad had a field of corn that yielded 100 bushels an acre, and he thought this was the most you could ever possibly raise,” David Tonn said. “Now 100 bushels an acre is a crop failure and if you don’t do 200 bushels something is wrong.

“The size of tractors has also changed.

Back in the day, you had a two bottom plow and that was all you could handle. Nowadays, you don’t even have a plow .. you use a ripper or what not.

When it came to the field, it used to be everything had to be completely

David Tonn has several vintage International Harvester tractors on his farm, which he collects. (Tom Nelson photo)

black. You didn’t want to see any trash on the surface. Now, the more trash you can leave on the surface the better you like it for erosion purposes and so on.

David Tonn added, “In the old days, they raised a lot of small grain, alfalfa and a lot other crops. They did not just raise corn and beans. Today, corn and beans is about all there is. Farmers today are more specialized. The old farmers had a dozen cows, 20 pigs, 50 chickens, geese and ducks, etc. Something always got them by, now a days it’s all or nothing.”

In addition to changes in the industry, the land itself has changed immensely since the original purchase a century ago.

David Tonn noted that the original deed listed 60 acres of swamp land. Ditches, drainage tiles and hard work by the family turned it all into quality farm land.

“I know if my great grandfather Max would see what this farm is today he would shake his head,” said David Tonn.

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C32

Garfield Eckberg, 84, bottom, Paul Eckberg, 59, middle, and Casey Eckberg, 33, top, are the most recent generations to run Eckberg Farm in Nicollet County. The family farm turned 150 in 2021. (Philip Weyhe/southernminn.com)

5 generations take the Eckberg farm to 150 years

By PHILIP WEYHE philip.weyhe@apgsomn.com

I

t amazes Garfield Eckberg to think that his family’s farm has stood longer than most any businesses in the nearest towns. Then he remembers something.

generation. Before Garfield came his dad, Raymond Eckberg, and grandfather, Charles Eckberg, who have both died.

For Casey, there is a lot of pride and responsibility associated with homesteading the operation that’s been in his family for a century and a half.

“The farm was put up before some of these towns,” said the 84-year-old. While St. Peter, just to the east of the farm, got started in 1853 (platted in 1854), the town of Gaylord wasn’t platted until 1881.

“It’s an honor, really,” he said. “Not many people, especially my age, get to say that.

It’s very heartwarming that you get to carry on a tradition that long.”

The Eckberg family farm started in 1871, and it turned 150 this year.

It was 1871 when Garfield’s great grandfather, on his mother’s side, Andrew Webster, bought land from the railroad in what is now New Sweden Township in Nicollet County. He sold a portion, about 160 acres (a quarter section), to his son-

Garfield was the third generation to run the farm; his son, Paul Eckberg, 59, was and is the fourth generation; and Paul’s son, Casey Eckberg, 33, is now the fifth

The start

in-law (Garfield’s grandfather) Charles Eckberg the same year.

The family today isn’t 100% sure what crops were raised on the farm to start, but they could wager a guess.

“I’d say big crops at that time; soybeans were not around,” Casey said.

“Corn and alfalfa and wheat,” Paul pitched in.

And Garfield added, “I don’t know if flax was available at first, but later on they raise flax, which is kind of a nurse crop for the alfalfa.”

The farm also had some animals, including cows, chickens, horses, and likely pigs. Garfield said he never heard his grandfather speak of any oxen on

C33 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong the farm, so the family assumes horses provided the power.

At that time, Paul noted, over 100 acres of land was more a burden than a blessing.

“Just because the technology and transportation was not developed yet,” he said. “It was all by horse and by hand, and there wasn’t a town within 10 miles.

There was New Sweden and Norseland, but even those were miles away. They didn’t have materials; they cut the wood themselves for the barn.”

Nonetheless, a house was built, the barn filled with animals, and Charles and Mary, along with 16 children, got to work.

Generation to generation

The farm eventually was sold by Charles to his 13th child, Raymond Eckberg, in 1936. Garfield grew up on the farm, working under the direction of his parents. His childhood, which he remembers fondly, included a lot of work.

“It centered around the dairy herd really,”

he said. “Making hay all summer. That was the main job, taking care of that. We had 18 head of cattle in the barn and we raised the young stock.”

he said. “With three brothers, we’d take turns. Driving the tractors was always the most desirable; the least was vetting the cattle in the barn.”

He added, “The harvest was big. We worked with the neighbors on threshing.

We did a lot of work like that with the neighbors, exchanging help. Corn picking was always by hand in my first few years; my dad purchased a corn picker with my neighbors later on.

He said “working with your neighbors” was still common practice during his earlier years on the farm.

Despite all the heavy lifting, there was some time for play, as well. Garfield and his two older sisters went to the local schoolhouse for eight years. The neighbors frequently got together, and he had a lot of visits from cousins, aunts and uncles.

Paul, meanwhile, was the second of four boys Garfield had, along with one girl.

Paul also remember chores as the center of life growing up.

“It was never an option that you would work; it was what you would get to pick,”

“You really knew your neighbors,” he said. “Because pretty much everybody had a herd of cows. We were four boys, so someone would always call to send one of us over to help, and Dad would pick one to go.”

Paul went to school in Gaylord and was active in sports, music and Future Farmers of America there, along with church and 4-H outside the classroom.

Casey grew up with an older brother and two younger sisters; he’s the only one still farming today. Paul didn’t live in the farmhouse, as Garfield was still there, so Casey remembers making the trip over to his grandpa’s.

◗ Eckberg Farm continued on page 34

FARM INSURANCE YOUR FAMILY CAN COUNT ON FOR GENERATIONS Raymond Eckberg, the second generation to own the family farm in Nicollet County, plows with horses in the field. (Photo courtesy of the Eckberg family)

Ernest Eckberg, uncle to Garfield, enjoys time with a couple of the family’s dogs on the farm. (Photo courtesy of the Eckberg family)

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Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C34

◗ Eckberg Farm continued from page 33 “I always remember it was fun to come over to the farm, because there was more to do here than the home site. I was always walking across the field,” Casey said. “I remember corn silage season — the smell, riding on tractors all day. I always looked forward to the harvest.”

Life on the farm started changing drastically as Casey grew up.

“I didn’t get the working with the neighbors part, like they talk about,” Casey said. “When I was a toddler, that’s when it really started to disappear.”

He distinctly remembers the last time the family milked cows on the farm in 2000 when he was an adolescent.

“It’s etched in my mind. It was just just The Eckberg family farm has had cattle throughout its 150 years, but switched to just beef cattle in a huge turning point.” he said. “I think 2000. (Philip Weyhe/southernminn.com) about how everything has changed so high-tech tractors, sprayers and more. the farm has remained intact. much, even from 10 years ago.”

Now and the future

There is at least one thing all three generations agree on: they’re glad to be farmers.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Casey said.

“Same,” Paul added.

“You grow up in it; it becomes ingrained in you,” Garfield said.

Of course, the farm has had its ups and downs over 150 years. There were the grasshoppers wreaking havoc, the Great Depression knocked down prices, World War I and II sending people away, not to mention countless natural disasters. But

“It’s remarkable,” Paul said. “It wasn’t always prosperous and pretty, but the family stayed.”

Today, Paul and Casey run the show, with the latter living on the farm, and the former living just off of it. Garfield, who originally purchased the land from his father Raymond in 1967, sold it in 2001, though he continued to live on the land until a recent switch to a local assisted living facility.

The operation consists of about 950 acres today, about average size in the region.

It includes seven buildings and a couple grain bins. The main crops are corn, soybeans and alfalfa (rotated), along with the beef cattle in the barn. What used to be horse-powered implements are now

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Despite the increase in acres and improvements in technology, making a profit on a family farm is as hard as ever. Paul and Casey both have second jobs as a mail carrier and truck driver, respectively. All around them, it seems, farms are becoming commercialized, and smaller ag businesses like theirs are all the more rare.

Of course, that’s just all the more reason to celebrate 150 years. The future is unknown for the Eckbergs, but they can be proud of the past and present.

“It’s an accomplishment that you survive everything for that long a period,” Garfield said. “It’s a good tradition to keep up.”

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