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Century Farms
October 2020O
Borns hope farm will stay in the family for another 100 years
By ANNIE GRANLUND annie.granlund@apgsomn.com
WASECA — West of Waseca off County Road 26, a quaint 80-acre farm is nestled alongside the Kanne State Wildlife Management Area. For the last 100 years, the land has been worked by the Born family, though the history dates back even further. According to Greg and Amanda Born, the farm’s current owners, the farm and land were originally homesteaded under President Andrew Johnson in 1867 to Edward Moylan for $488. This stemmed from the Homestead Act of 1866 – legislation that Johnson worked heavily on as a senator and is considered by many in the agriculture community to be one of the nation’s most important pieces of legislation. The act marked the beginning of the federal government dispensing land to the public in an effort to encourage settlement in the west – which at the time encompassed both the Midwest and what would eventually become the Born family farm.
A brand new Ford 500 tractor was purchased by Greg Born’s grandfather in 1967, later used on the Waseca farm. The tractor remains a mainstay on the farm to this day. (Submitted photo) tion,” laughed Gary Born.
Throughout the years of Greg’s parents owning and operating the farm, they continued to raise corn and soybeans as well as introduce livestock such as sheep, steer, and chickens. When Greg purchased the farm from his parents in 2012, he and Amanda continued to raise corn and In 1916, Ed and Anna Born pursoybeans. For now, the only animals chased the farm, raising chickens residing on the farm are the couple’s and hogs, milking cows and planttwo dogs and a cat. ing corn – the one constant crop throughout the farm’s century-long This year, the Born family farm was run. The original cost of the land for officially recognized by the Minnethe first Born family was $105 per sota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota acre. State Fair through the Century Farm program, which honors Minnesota After 47 years, Chester Born and his families that have owned their farms wife LaVonne purchased the farm for the last 100 years. Century farms from Chester’s parents, continuing to have to be at least 50 acres in size milk cows and plant corn while addand continuously involved in farming soybeans to the mix for 12 more ing. Century Farm families receive a years. commemorative sign, as well as a certificate signed by the president of the “Ed was Greg’s great grandpa’s cousState Fair, president of the Minnesota in, and Chester was Greg’s grandpa’s Farm Bureau and the governor of first cousin. Greg’s parents, Gary and Minnesota. Anna Born, bought the farm in 1969. They owned the farm for 43 years,” The Born family farm is one of four said Amanda Born. Waseca County century farms recognized in 2020. “Many years ago, there were only Borns that lived in this whole secThe farm has gone through a variety
of changes over the last century, including the tearing down of an old barn that was built in 1936 and erecting two grain bins and a large shop. The current farmhouse was built in 1940, and tile lines were eventually put in the fields. “This is one of the first farms in Waseca County to have waterways put in by the Soil and Water Conservation District,” Amanda said, adding to the ongoing list of how the farm has evolved. “They used a road grader to construct it, and it still works to this day.” Another drastic change Amanda says she can’t help but notice is simply the stark difference in the overall “way of life” between now and yesteryear. “You can’t make an honest living on the farm along with the amount of acres we run,” Amanda said. “Greg and I both have to work full time jobs to make it work, whereas years ago they only farmed and that was it.” On top of the financial pressure Amanda said she and her husband feel, there are other stressors that come with the farm that she feels non-farmers don’t often realize.
Amanda and Greg Born have been the owners and operators of the Born family farm in Waseca for the last seven years. The couple agrees that they have farming in the blood, both having grown up on a farm. (Submitted photo) chased a brand new Ford 5000 trac“There are so many other factors about farming than just planting and Despite all the glaring difference, tor, which Greg’s father later bought harvest,” she said. Regardless, Aman- both good and bad, that the farm has to use on the Waseca farm. The tracda said that farming is just as much seen over the years, there are some tor is still used frequently on the farm in her own DNA as it is her husband’s important things that have remained to this day, and Greg and his father and she wouldn’t have it any other the same and stood the test of time continue to farm together. way. Growing up on a farm herself, – aside from the continuing tradition Amanda said she always dreamed of growing and harvest corn. that one day she would marry a farmer. In 1967, Greg’s grandfather pur- Continued on page 21
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