(UNDATED) — Seventy-eight of the longest operating family farms in Minnesota will be honored this year by the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota State Fair as the newest “Century Farms.”
Rachael Peterson with the Minnesota Farm Bureau says the rest of us really get to reap the benefits of these Century Farm owners taking part in the program. “It is just really cool for people to go back and look through their history, their family records, to really know where their family farms came from and how they got to where they are today.”
Century Farms must be in continuous family ownership for 100 years or more and be at least 50 acres in size. Peterson says now everyone will get a chance to share in that rich history of the latest batch of Century Farms, “I get a lot of phone calls from those who are working on their applications, and it is really cool to hear from them about what they learn about their family farms as they are doing this process.”
Details of the 2022 Century Farms will be shared as part of Farm Bureau Federation exhibits at this year’s Minnesota State Fair. The oldest farm honored this year is the Bell Farm, in Mower County, which has single family ownership stretching back to 1859. Twelve of the 78 farms honored this year date back into the 1800s.