78 farms in Minnesota have been owned by the same families for a century. Find out what their future looks like

CATHY WURZER: The state fair is underway. And even though officials have made changes for the times, there's still a distinct and, for many of us, delightful emphasis on rural Minnesota. The farm animals, the all you can drink milk booths, sponsored by Minnesota dairy farmers, the 4H building buzzing with the activity from kids across the state.

This year, fair officials are honoring 78 Minnesota farms that have been owned by the same family for 100 years or more. Jill Nathe is Deputy General Manager of the Agriculture and Competitions Department at the Minnesota State Fair. She knows all about the 78 Minnesota century farms that are being honored. Hey, Jill, how are you?

JILL NATHE: I'm good, Cathy. Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Good. I'm glad you're here. So I know a little bit about the program. It's been in effect since, what, 1976. It's a State Fair and Minnesota Farm Bureau program. What qualifies a farm to be a century farm?

JILL NATHE: So a farm to be a century farm through the program has to have continuous family ownership for those 100 years. And family can be defined as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, first cousins, even direct in-laws can inherit a farm. It needs to be 50 or more acres in Minnesota and currently involved in agriculture production when that 100-m year mark hits.

CATHY WURZER: I know you have a connection with a century farm in Minnesota.

JILL NATHE: I do. I do. I am blessed to have married into a century farm. So my husband's family has a dairy farm up in Stearns County. They have actually now hit the 150-year mark. But back in '82, they applied and got their century farm.

CATHY WURZER: Your parents grew up on Iowa farms, is that right?

JILL NATHE: They did. I don't know if we're supposed to talk about Iowa at the Minnesota State Fair.

[CATHY LAUGHS]

CATHY WURZER: Good point/

JILL NATHE: But, yes, I am only one generation removed. Exactly, one generation off the farm for me. And then blessedly, yeah, connected by my husband. And then my sister actually married into farming and has a small farm out in South Dakota.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so, obviously, this is something you know a lot about. For folks who don't know much about farming or even having a farm in the family, which is many of us, obviously, how great a feat is it to have a farm to last 100 years or better?

JILL NATHE: I think we can all say it's an amazing feat. It's kind of heroic to think what generation upon generation has worked through to stay on that family farm-- whether it be economics, or weather, or for every generation to find someone who wants to continue and then to be successful as they make all those decisions. You know, farmers are small business owners, mechanics, weathermen, and technology keeps changing. So to keep up and be successful over 100 years, multiple generations, that's a real feat.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I mean, think of the stories, right, on each farm.

JILL NATHE: Oh, right. That's, I think, the beauty of it. We can talk about numbers-- 78 farms in 2022. They're from all over the state. I think 49 of the 87 counties are represented in this year's group. But it's really the people behind the stories, right? It's the men and women, the families that made this happen over the course of 100 years.

CATHY WURZER: And all the history too. My gosh.

JILL NATHE: Right. It's a history of Minnesota. The historical society actually archives all these applications because there's so much richness there.

CATHY WURZER: Now, what are some of the stories you've heard about the Minnesota century farms?

JILL NATHE: Well, I like to sometimes take a peek at the applications because people will include some great stuff, right? There was one that was a favorite a few years back. And the story comes from, I think, the grandchild. But there's a 36-year-old Norwegian immigrant, loses her husband in the flu epidemic of 1918.

She's in North Dakota at the time. She has five kids already and is pregnant with another. Moves back to Minnesota, near Gonvick where she had family-- her brother was there-- buys a farm-- it's not clear how she afforded it, but she managed to buy a farm. This is 1919 now.

Hires the Norwegian bachelor farmer from across the street to help. A few years later, marries him, has two more kids, and lives on the farm another 50 years.

CATHY WURZER: Oh my goodness. I wonder how she did that.

JILL NATHE: I know. I know. You think, oh my gosh, that's amazing, right? The fortitude and the wherewithal to just pluck up, and move back to Minnesota, and buy a farm, and figure out how to do that as an immigrant from Norway, first generation.

CATHY WURZER: And we have to also say, when you look at the history of the state of Minnesota with homesteading and relations with Native tribes, are there ways that you're seeing folks honor the Native heritage of some of these lands?

JILL NATHE: Cathy, I don't have that, maybe, in any of the most recent applications. I think that's definitely something that could probably be addressed.

CATHY WURZER: Do we know how many century farms there have been since 1976? There obviously must be, oh my gosh, hundreds, you would think.

JILL NATHE: Oh yeah. No, we're at over 11,000 recognized since 1976.

CATHY WURZER: I wonder how many other farms are out there.

JILL NATHE: Oh, I think there's always more. Because even someone that was recognized years ago may have sold, and now a new family starts that passing along, right? So I think farms are going to transfer ownership in every decade. And you're going to have maybe a new family taking over that's going to be there for that next 100.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. What a great program. So what are you going to do to honor the century farms this year at the fair?

JILL NATHE: Yeah. So what we typically do at the fair-- we don't have a ceremony here. Many county fairs will have a ceremony for the folks from their counties that were honored that year. But if you head over to the Minnesota Farm Bureau booth, they do have the information there. And anyone who's received their century farm this year can get a ribbon while they're there and talk to folks at Farm Bureau.

Individually, we do mail out certificates. Those are signed by the governor of Minnesota, the President of Farm Bureau, and our fair board president, as well as sort of a permanent metal sign that farms can have, and hang, and put up somewhere to show that they are a century farm through the program.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, exactly, have some friends that are owners of century farms and they're very proud of that fact. I wish you well. Thanks for explaining the program.

JILL NATHE: Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for your interest in it. I think it's great to let people know it exists. Even in this year's applications, there's a few that just hit the 100 mark, but I saw some that it was 131, 132 years. So anything we can do to get the word out that this is here, and people should take pride in it, like you said. And it's an amazing feat. So anything we can do to honor them and share that with the world, I think, is a good thing.

CATHY WURZER: I agree. Thank you so much. Happy fair. I hope you have a good time at the fair this year.

JILL NATHE: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: You're going to be pretty busy, aren't you? Oh my gosh.

JILL NATHE: I will. It'll be busy. But that's what we live for. This is our Christmas.

CATHY WURZER: And you're also with the competitions department too. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of work.

JILL NATHE: Yes. Yep. We got lots of great entries from everything from fine arts, to creative activities, to, like we said, the agriculture, the sheep, and the cows. And just excited to show off Minnesota's best.

CATHY WURZER: All right, have a good time at the fair. Thank you so much, Jill.

JILL NATHE: OK, take care, Cathy. Jill Nathe is Deputy General Manager of the Agriculture and Competitions Department at the state fair.