The Stewart family, from Jackson County, Iowa, received its Heritage Farm award at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 18, 2016, with representatives from the east and west coasts and as far away as New Zealand. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Keeping the family farm in the family is no easy task and keeping one in the same family for 150 years can take monumental effort.
We’ve faced numerous challenges over the past several years with our family farm in Tama County, but spent a good part of Thursday with others who have done the same.
Our farm, which dates back to 1865, was among those honored Aug. 18 at the Iowa State Fair for achieving Heritage Farm status in Iowa.
Many family members wore matching T-shirts at the Heritage and Century Farm ceremony at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Heritage farms are those that have been in the same family for 150 years or more. Century Farms – those that have been in the same family for 100 years or more – also were recognized at the ceremony.
Families, many in matching T-shirts, took to the stage to receive a certificate and metal marker to acknowledge their achievements; some as individuals, with other groups numbering up to 50 relatives. My brother, Gregg, did the research to trace the history of our Musel Family Farm and was able to attend the ceremony, along with several other family members.
The Century Farm program began in Iowa during the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. Learn more about the program on the state’s agriculture website.
As of last year, 18,698 Iowa farms have achieved Century Farm status, with another 320 added Thursday. The Heritage Farm program is in its 10th year and numbered 837 as of 2015. Just over 100 were added at this year’s ceremony at the Iowa State Fair.
Family Farm History will offer a website where Iowans can share photos, stories and more of their family farm history. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
One project, which plans to come to fruition later this fall, will showcase family farm histories on a new website. Creator Mark Gannon would like to see families input data, photos, family records and more on Family Farm History.
The project scanned digital files on all of the Century and Heritage Farms with help from a grant from Humanities Iowa. Gannon hopes families will interview their aging relatives to capture memories of life on Iowa farms.
“There’s something about our farms that connect us through our families,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, who smiled through the hundreds of photos shot of all of the families as the presentations were made, along with representatives of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.
Even as the state celebrates the achievements of these family farmers, side discussion surrounds the permanent damage that many Iowa farmers will sustain as a crude oil pipeline is forced through their property by the out-of-state Dakota Access and Iowa faces ongoing environmental issues related to farming practices.
This vignette, portraying a Chelsea Melon stand in miniature, was a blue-ribbon winner at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Still, with its food-on-a-stick and my favorite, the vegetable competition, the fair offered a break from the ongoing concerns troubling our state.
One of the entries brought our Heritage Farm award full-circle, as a blue-ribbon winner portrayed the Chelsea Melons stand, in miniature, to capture that long-ago era in which my ancestors took part.
Related: Grandma’s watermelons at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah
See more images from the Heritage and Century Farm presentations and the Iowa State Fair, below:
The Connolly family of Dubuque had one of the largest groups at the Heritage Farm ceremony Aug. 18, 2016, at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Photos were taken of each family that received a Century or Heritage Farm award at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Unusual vegetables were among the categories in the Agricultural Building at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Giant pumpkins are displayed outside the Agricultural Building at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 18, 2016. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Numerous categories of vegetables are displayed in the Agricultural Building at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
A box of vegetables received a second-place award at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Margaret Wolter and Dorothy Martens make their way outside the Pioneer Pavilion after the award ceremony for Heritage Farms at the Iowa State Fair. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
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