Longtime farming families honored at the Indiana State Fair

Last Updated on August 15, 2017 by cassnetwork

Area legislators have announced the latest recipients of the Hoosier Homestead award, which recognizes farms that have been owned and maintained by the same family for 100 years or more.

Represented by State Sen. Randy Head (R-Logansport) and State Reps. William Friend (R-Macy), Heath VanNatter (R-Kokomo) and David Wolkins (R-Warsaw), 10 locally owned family farms were honored at the Indiana State Fair. These family farms include:

• The Blaine & Brenda Brubaker farm, located in Flora, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Brubaker farm, located in Flora, received a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Brubaker-Kingery farm, located in Flora, received a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Carl & Edythe Sands farm, located in Silver Lake, received a Centennial Award;
• The Chambers/Laird farms, located in Logansport, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Donna Davidson Buchanan Christiansen farm, located in Twelve Mile, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Gremelspacher farm, located in Walton, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award;
• The Houlihan-Mitchell farm, located in Peru, received a Centennial Award;
• The Kendall farm, located in Converse, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award; and
• The Sandra Davidson Buchanan Shaw farm, located in Twelve Mile, received a Centennial and a Sesquicentennial Award.

“Hoosier farmers work hard every day to provide for our families and communities,” Head said. “I am pleased these families received Hoosier Homestead awards, as their dedication to the agriculture industry deserves to be recognized and rewarded. Congratulations!”

“Most Hoosier farms are family owned, and I know it is no easy task keeping a farm running successfully,” Friend said. “Without the help of my family, the day-to-day operations on my hog farm would not be possible. It’s encouraging to see the tradition of family farms continuing generation after generation. Thank you to these families for their dedication and commitment to Indiana’s agriculture.”

“Nearly 98 percent of Indiana’s farms are family owned,” VanNatter said. “Long-lasting family farms like these in our community help sustain Indiana’s agricultural industry, which contributes more than $31 billion to the state economy.”

“Indiana owes a debt of gratitude to its farm families for their long-standing leadership and entrepreneurship, which stands as the foundation of our state’s economy,” Wolkins said. “I wish the family farms continued growth in the future and congratulate them on their accomplishment of more than 100 years of operation.”

Two awards ceremonies are held each year, in spring and summer, to commemorate the achievements of farmers across the state. For more information on the Hoosier Homestead Award Program, visit www.in.gov/isda/2337.htm.

State Sen. Randy Head represents Senate District 18, which includes all of Miami, Cass and Fulton counties, and portions of Marshall, Kosciuscko, and Carroll counties.

State Rep. Bill Friend represents House District 23, which includes portions of Cass, Fulton and Miami counties.

State Rep. Heath VanNatter represents House District 38, which includes portions of Carroll, Cass, Howard and Clinton counties.

State Rep. Dave Wolkins represents House District 18, which includes all of Wabash County and portions of Grant, Kosciusko, and Miami counties.

INDIANAPOLIS — Friday, Aug. 11 at the Indiana State Fair, Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Director Ted McKinney and ISDA Deputy Director Melissa Rekeweg presented 72 families with a Hoosier Homestead Award in recognition of their commitment to Indiana agriculture.

“Our state’s legacy has been shaped by our farming families, who continue to pass down their traditions and values from one generation to the next,” said Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch, who also serves as Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “I would like to congratulate each and every family on receiving this prestigious award.”

To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years, and consist of more than 20 acres or produce more than $1,000 of agricultural products per year. The award distinctions recognized are Centennial (100 years), Sesquicentennial (150 years) and Bicentennial (200 years).

“There’s a certain reverence when it comes to generational farming in Indiana – it’s a way of life,” said Ted McKinney. “These families produce the food, fuel and fiber we need to go about our daily lives, and it’s important to recognize those that have been carrying on this noble and vital tradition.”

The families honored Friday, August 11 join more than 5,000 Hoosier Homestead farms. Administered by ISDA and currently in its 41st year, semiannual recognition ceremonies are held in the spring at the Indiana Statehouse and in August at the Indiana State Fair.
Below is a list of the Hoosier Homestead Award recipients honored during the August 2017 ceremony:

Farm County	Award Name	Homestead Date	Type of Award
Adams	Floyd Ehlerding	1851	Sesquicentennial
Adams	Hockemeyer/Everett	1845	Sesquicentennial
Allen	Berning	1827	Centennial
Allen	Berning	1827	Sesquicentennial
Allen	Fuhrmann	1917	Centennial
Allen	Lilly	1917	Centennial
Allen	Grotrian	1917	Centennial
Allen	Springer	1867	Sesquicentennial
Allen	Stahlhut	1905	Centennial
Bartholomew	Andrews	1894	Centennial
Bartholomew	Jeffrey & Cynthia Shoaf	1902	Centennial
Bartholomew	Voelz Family	1875	Centennial
Boone	Artman Farms Inc.	1866	Sesquicentennial
Boone	Sipe – Cragun – Kissel	1899	Centennial
Boone	Canine	1902	Centennial
Carroll	Armstrong	1916	Centennial
Carroll	Thomas Bitler Armstrong	1850	Sesquicentennial
Carroll	Blaine & Brenda Brubaker	1832	Centennial
Carroll	Blaine & Brenda Brubaker	1832	Sesquicentennial
Carroll	Brubaker	1827	Sesquicentennial
Carroll	Brubaker – Kingery	1827	Sesquicentennial
Carroll	Childers	1889	Centennial
Cass	Donna Davidson Buchanan Christiansen	1840	Centennial
Cass	Donna Davidson Buchanan Christiansen	1840	Sesquicentennial
Cass	Gremelspacher	1864	Centennial
Cass	Gremelspacher	1864	Sesquicentennial
Cass	Chambers/Laird	1857	Centennial
Cass	Chambers/Laird	1857	Sesquicentennial
Cass	Sandra Davidson Buchanan Shaw	1840	Centennial
Cass	Sandra Davidson Buchanan Shaw	1840	Sesquicentennial
Clinton	Silverthorn	1864	Sesquicentennial
Crawford	Benz	1891	Centennial
Crawford	Gresham	1876	Centennial
Decatur	Porter	1880	Centennial
Decatur	Forster – Mahan	1907	Centennial
Decatur	Mang	1917	Centennial
Decatur/Jennings	Hamilton	1902	Centennial
DeKalb	Jeffrey D. & Tina A. Johnson	1902	Centennial
DeKalb	Kummer – Weicht, LLC	1917	Centennial
Dubois	Goeppner	1914	Centennial
Dubois	Vonderheide	1899	Centennial
Franklin	Stirn	1899	Centennial
Franklin	Hofer – Wendel	1917	Centennial
Hamilton	Hillock	1902	Centennial
Hancock	Braddock	1907	Centennial
Harrison	LaHue – Schellenberger	1916	Centennial
Howard	Kendall	1847	Centennial
Howard	Kendall	1847	Sesquicentennial
Howard	Kerby/Moss	1892	Centennial
Howard	Riley	1904	Centennial
Jay	Young	1917	Centennial
Kosciusko	Carl & Edythe Sands	1917	Centennial
LaPorte	Hostetler – Stutzman	1884	Centennial
Lawrence	Whitted Farm	1844	Sesquicentennial
Madison	Canfield	1913	Centennial
Miami	Houlihan – Mitchell	1916	Centennial
Newton	Blann	1917	Centennial
Newton	Blann Warrick	1917	Centennial
Noble	Piper/McLallin	1869	Centennial
Pike	Robling Farms, Inc.	1852	Sesquicentennial
Posey	Scherer	1894	Centennial
Posey	Elwood Williams Farms	1886	Centennial
Posey	Pearl Yeida Hughes	1894	Centennial
Pulaski	Louis Tieman	1900	Centennial
Pulaski	Glen – Ray – Den Farm	1879	Centennial
Pulaski	Needham House Farms	1887	Centennial
Putnam	Smith	1910	Centennial
Randolph	Duane Barr	1866	Sesquicentennial
Ripley	Richter	1913	Centennial
Ripley	Tielking/Sellers Homestead	1957	Sesquicentennial
Shelby	Cuskaden	1880	Centennial
Shelby	Cuskaden/Bausback	1916	Centennial
Shelby	Phil & Cindy Ramsey	1867	Sesquicentennial
Starke	Will	1915	Centennial
Switzerland	Althoff	1896	Centennial
Tipton	Colbert Family Farm	1917	Centennial
Tipton	Cardwell – Etherington – Chase – Garhart	1873	Centennial
Vanderburgh	Schauss	1906	Centennial
Wells	Jerry Nusbaumer	1865	Sesquicentennial
White	Burns	1886	Centennial
White	Burns/Diemer	1895	Centennial
White	Ploss	1899	Centennial

 

For more information about the Hoosier Homestead Awards, please visit www.isda.in.gov. Photos from the ceremony will be posted to ISDA’s Flickr page by Wednesday, August 16, 2017.