The University of Minnesota will honor families from nearly every county in the state this coming week, as part of its program honoring farm agriculture contributions. 

The Farm Family Recognition Program, which the University has used to honor Minnesota farmers since 1979, will recognize 86 farmers and their families on August 7 at Farmfest, an annual three-day agricultural celebration held in Redwood County. 

The annual recognition ceremony, coordinated by University Extension, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences, aims to honor families each year for their contributions to the agriculture industry and their local communities.  

Kia Harries, the director of statewide operations for Extension, said the recognition program ultimately celebrates the importance of agriculture in the state and highlights the way the industry is changing through the work of different families across Minnesota. 

Harries said Extension committees in each county independently review and select families to be recognized each year, functioning differently by county. 

Harries said the committees focus on how different family farms and agricultural businesses are engaged in the industry, from the kinds of techniques being used to the environmental improvements being made. The committees also examine how families are involved in their local communities.

Harries said farms taking different approaches to the agriculture industry, including farms being honored, help the industry grow and expand. 

“Agriculture continues to be the foundation of Minnesota; it’s an industry that we can’t do without, but it changes,” Harries said. “We acknowledge that through education, through things that people learn, they change their industry, and the University is a part of that.”

Now, this education has begun to form an industry within agriculture.

Agritourism is the combining of agricultural production with tourism to attract people to farms and businesses in order to educate people while generating income, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Nearly 4,000 farms in Minnesota offer direct sales or agritourism, according to a 2017 Agriculture Census. Roughly 18% of these farms made more than $50,000 in direct sales or agritourism the same year. 

Susanne Hinrichs, an Extension educator in Agricultural Business Management, said the county committees are more frequently examining and promoting farms that are doing niche farming work and welcoming people to their farms through agritourism. 

“It is fun to see how the committees are recognizing that farming involves all of these different ways of farming and agritourism is one of them,” Hinrichs said. “I think that they are being highlighted more and more in the Farm Family of the Year program.” 

Hinrichs said newer generations of farmers are finding ways to support their farms through agritourism, in an attempt to reach more people and expand their operations. Hinrichs added many of the farms honored this year and in years past have been unique because of the niche farming that is growing in the state. 

“One farm I worked with a few years ago, honored by Morrison County, was a family that raises minnows,” Hinrichs said. “You wouldn’t even think that’s agriculture, but it is and, in a way, it’s a local economic system.”

Hinrichs said the program has honored farmers multiple times over the years, but this year, beginning farmers — those who have been farming for 10 years or less — make up a majority of the honorees. 

Rochester Village Agricultural Cooperative volunteer Valerie Djuissi, one of the honorees this year, said her family’s current work revolves around providing land access for growing food in urban areas. The cooperative benefits over 200 families, and its mission promotes providing food access to displaced and immigrant families. 

Djuissi added that the cooperative’s work across multiple sites in Rochester ultimately helps foster a community and get people outside. She said she is also part of Go Farm Connect in Minneapolis, which works to connect farmers with USDA resources. 

Djuissi said receiving the call that her family’s work across different initiatives was being honored came as a surprise. 

“I was very shocked, I hadn’t heard about a program like that,” Djuissi said. “I didn’t know someone was looking after what I was doing.” 

Djuissi said she is personally connected to the Extension program through volunteering as a master gardener and conducting research in the past. She added that the University remains a resource she turns to. 

“They are a great help,” Djuissi said. “If any farmer has a question, or we have questions, that’s the place for us to go.”

Alex Udermann, who operates Meadowbrook Dairy Inc., said his family’s farm was nominated this year to the Farm Families program by a chair on the Stearns County board of commissioners. 

Udermann felt the nomination came as a surprise, but said it feels like the larger community is recognizing the work their family and farm is doing. He said he hopes to use the recognition to their advantage and continue growing community involvement. 

Udermann’s fifth-generation dairy, beef, and row crop farm focuses on regenerative farming practices. The farm sells beef directly to consumers and is committed to improving soil health and reducing commercial fertilizer use. 

Udermann said the farm ultimately aims to educate the community, including other farmers and consumers, about the benefits of sustainable practices for the agricultural industry, along with the practices’ benefits for human health.

“People always ask me why we’re doing what we’re doing, it’s freedom to farm the way we want to,” Udermann said. “Once you understand how the soil works, how biology affects crops, you understand this, what we’re doing is purely for the consumer and everyone’s better wellbeing.” 

Jim Fordham, a second-generation tree farmer and owner of High Plains Tree Farm, said the recognition he has received comes as he seeks to continue the work his parents started in the 1970s, alongside his wife and daughters. Fordham said the family involvement and commitment to their farm are what make their business work. 

“My wife and I took it over in 2019 and have been trying to rebuild it to what it was and better,” Fordham said. “We have roughly about 80 acres, I’m pretty invested in it, and I love the challenge that comes with it.”

Fordham said the farm grows a variety of trees, but primarily sells Christmas trees. He said he wants to increase sales from 2,500 trees per year to 3,000 by 2030. 

The farm operates as a choose-and-cut model business, according to Fordham, with families cutting their own trees. He added that despite the challenges their farm has faced in recent years, it ultimately helps provide more opportunities for his family.

Fordham said his family hopes to expand the farm to include a gift shop and more community activities. 

“My goal is just growth and getting to a point where we could really expound on our business and create new kinds of fun experiences for families,” Fordham said.