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Century Farms
October 2020O
After farming for more than 55 years, Duane Schultz ready to pass the torch By PAT BECK pat.beck@apgsomn.com ST. PETER — Four generations of Schultzes have owned the family farm in North Kasota Township, off Hwy. 99 and Le Sueur County Road 106, between St. Peter and Cleveland. The fifth and sixth generations are waiting in the wings to continue the 150-year tradition. Now owned by Duane Schultz, 82, the farm will likely be passed on to his sons Steve, 51, and Chuck, 46, who farms in St. Peter, and possibly then to Steve’s children, William, 10, and Isabella, 7, who work on the farm and so far want to make a career out of farming. Steve and his wife Deb and children live next door to Duane and rent the farm from him though Steve also has 100 acres of his own. While Steve has taken over running his dad’s farm since he retired in 2012, Duane, widowed in 2019, still helps out. “He’s my hired man now,” Steve said of his dad.
150 YEARS OF SCHULTZ FARMERS 1st owner William Schultz 1870-1882 Next owner Meta Schultz 1882-1934
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grows up. With the pandemic, the children have been going to school only two days a week, so they’ve been out helping their father, riding a tractor with Dad and Grandpa, and picking up rocks in the fields. Family farm history
Next owner Albert Schultz 1934-1964
Duane’s great-great grandfather, William Schultz, immigrated from Germany and purchased the farm July Next owner Duane Schultz 20, 1870 from the Pratt Land Co. The 1967 to ..... original parcel was 100 acres, costing Duane doesn’t have any plans to leave $20 an acre. the farm. But he’s unsure how much longer he will live on site. William spent 1.5 years in New York state, then moved to Ell Creek, Il“I’ve got to have a back operation linois, for about six years, then to sometime, so it depends on what St. Louis before coming up the Miscondition I’m in,” Duane said. sissippi River by steamboat with his farming equipment and four horses Steve says he wants to to buy the farm to St. Paul. The party included Wiland keep it in the family. liam, his wife Albertine, and their children Anna, Herman and Teresa. “It will continue in the family one William’s mother died on the boat way or another,” Steve said, noting it coming from Germany. William’s could also be with his brother. brother, John Schultz, was a harness maker in St. Paul. “Hopefully there will a sixth generation with our boy,” Deb said. No original buildings remain on the sesquicentennial farm. The present Or maybe their girl. Isabella also said home was built in 1972. she wants to be a farmer when she While the Schultzes used to feed 270280 beef cattle, the 1998 tornado that ripped through Le Sueur County destroyed seven farm buildings, so they stopped raising animals.
The family dog, Duke, joins Duane Schultz and his granddaughter, Isabella Schultz, in the four-wheeler. (Pat Beck/ southernminn.com)
Three generations gather in a corn field across the road from Duane Schultz’s farm home. From left are Deb, Isabella, Steve, William and Duane. (Pat Beck/southernminn.com)
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Steve added: “Dad has lived his whole life on this farm. He has never changed his address.”
Steve agreed that “every year is different. Some years it’s too dry or too wet. This year is going pretty “When I was a kid, we had chickgood. The corn is drying good with ens, beef cattle and once in a while, the weather we’ve had. The yield has even had some pigs, and before that, been really good this year. “ they had a registered pulled Holstein dairy farm,” Steve said. Duane agreed. “We’ve had nice weather.” Duane said he has farmed for 55 years, “because I don’t know nothing Like his dad, Steve likes that farming else. It’s something different every offers something different every day. day. Spring to fall is two different seasons. There’s rotation of everything. “You do all sorts of different things In the spring, you got to work the from mechanics to book work to fields and get the planting done and agronomist to shoving snow and wait for dry weather. In the fall, we’re corn. It’s quite the variety.” picking corn right now [Oct. 8]. We got the beans done.” Steve studied ag business manage-
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B Three generations of Schultzes fill a planter with soybean seed in the spring. From left are Duane, Steve and William. (Photo courtesy of Steve o c Schultz) h w ment at University of Minnesotas Waseca, which closed in 1992. He i worked off the farm before his dad Continued on page 22
Schultz
