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.

In 1916, Ed and Anna Born purchased the farm, raising chickens and hogs, milking cows and planting corn – the one constant crop throughout the farm’s century-long run. The original cost of the land for the first Born family was $105 per acre.

After 47 years, Chester Born and his wife LaVonne purchased the farm from Chester’s parents, continuing to milk cows and plant corn while adding soybeans to the mix for 12 more years.

“Ed was Greg’s great grandpa’s cousin, and Chester was Greg’s grandpa’s first cousin. Greg’s parents, Gary and Anna Born, bought the farm in 1969. They owned the farm for 43 years,” said Amanda Born. 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 soybeans. For now, the only animals residing on the farm are the couple’s two dogs and a cat.

This year, the Born family farm was officially recognized by the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota State Fair through the Century Farm program, which honors Minnesota families that have owned their farms for the last 100 years. Century farms have to be at least 50 acres in size and continuously 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. 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) “There are so many other factors chased a brand new Ford 5000 tracabout 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 that one day she would marry a of growing and harvest corn. Born farmer. In 1967, Greg’s grandfather pur- Continued on page 21