1. Taking Care of Our Own:
Family Farms
“There are two
spiritual dangers in
not owning a farm.
One is the danger
of supposing that
breakfast comes from
the grocery, and the
other that heat comes
from the furnace.”
— Aldo Leopold,
A Sand County Almanac
By Sim Ashlock
Special to Genealogy
F
or too many of us, the facts sur-
rounding how breakfast arrives on
the table are as cloudy as an un-
caffeinated morning mind.
Aldo Leopold understood that a rela-
tionship with the land begins and ends
with basic necessities. In an age of instant
information and global connectivity, we
may be losing sight of who grows our food
and how it got to the table.
We are seeing a significant decline in
the number of farms run and operated
by a single family. Taking the place of the
family farm are larger, some would say
more efficient, farms run via a corporate
structure.
According to the National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS), Wisconsin is
on course to have the fewest number of
family farms in the state’s history. And,
for the first time in more than a 100 years,
there will be fewer than 10,000 small dairy
operations in Wisconsin.
America’s Dairyland, however, is not
giving up the milk and cheese; 2015 set
new production records. More than 27
billion pounds of milk were produced last
year. Somewhere is a football field-sized
warehouse filled with Oreos ready for
Wisconsin’s bounty!
Gut-busting, economically impactful
numbers
If we’re still making cheese and milk in
economically impactful numbers, then
why does it matter if the little guy isn’t
running the dairy farm anymore? What
does the family farm do better than the
large dairy operations taking their place?
The loss of family farms across the
country has a social, cultural and eco-
nomic impact. Socially and culturally,
the family farm represents an era when
we knew the people at the other end of
the service. We used to know the butcher,
baker and the farm where the food came
from. As Leopold wisely warned – not
having that personal connection to our
food obscures something valuable.
GENEALOGY 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

2. Culturally, when the family farm bites the
dust, we lose generations of experience with
that particular plot of land, and we lose a 100
or more years of knowledge that used to be
passed down.
Something intangible is, perhaps, lost as
well. Family farms have a proud tradition of
brother and sister helping their parents and
learning and teaching the next generations.
Our com-
munities
lose some-
thing, as well
when we
trade those
traditions
for factory
efficiency.
Don
Schuster,
owner of
Schuster’s
Playtime
Farm, Inc.,
Deerfield
area, with his wife, Theresa, ex-
plained the value of farming with
the family.
When asked what it is like to
work with his family, Don said: “It
is very rewarding. When our oldest
son left for college, he told us that
it was a great place to grow up and
he could not have had a better child-
hood.”
Why defend small business?
Schuster wanted to be clear about
the notion that the family farm was
something in need of defending.
“I think we should say, why defend
small businesses?” he said. “People
who are not farming professionally
have this misconception that farming
is romantic. We have to deal with all the
same problems any small business has to deal
with.”
It’s hard to say if there is one factor that has
created the exodus from running a family farm.
It may be a perfect storm of a shifting econom-
ic landscape and the ever-changing lifestyle of
the American household.
“To say we have lost the family farm is over-
blown,” Schuster said. “I don’t feel we have lost
the family farm, but it has changed. Plus, work-
ing a farm is hard work. You work until you get
the job done or the weather takes over.”
Schuster explained how farmers have always
been entrepreneurs, and survival depends on
innovation and nimble thinking.
“People who have continued to farm have
either found niche markets or families have
consolidated so several families now may work
a large farm,” he said.
With the average age of a farmer in Wis-
consin hovering near retirement age, there is
a concerted effort to get young people out to
farm and involved in agriculture.
Work until the job is done
Wisconsin Farm Technology Days (http://
www.wifarmtechnologydays.com) is an annual,
statewide showcase of the latest and greatest
in agriculture. It is the largest such event in the
nation.
Appropriately, the host farm for Dane
County’s event this year was the Statz Broth-
ers Farm, Town of Sun Prairie. The farm is well
known as a model of successful farming and
currently is being run by three generations of
the Statz family.
Pam Jahnke, well known agriculture broad-
caster, radio personality, and communications
co-chair of the Wisconsin Farm Technology
Days, said: “The Statz families are a great exam-
ple of family farming in 2015. You’ve got liter-
ally three generations of family members work-
ing side by side. From Richard, Veronica and
Shirley Statz – the founders, to their sons – Troy,
Wes and Joe – and now the third generation
of Zak and Austin Statz. Aside from this farm
generating enough income to support
those families – it also employs ap-
proximately 70 people full-time.”
Jahnke proudly commented that
“Wisconsin agriculture has proven
that size doesn’t matter.”
“There are just fewer than 10,000
dairy farms across the state of vary-
ing size,” she said. “Smaller farms
have found success in keeping their
debt ceilings low.”
What skills do the next genera-
tions need to learn to keep the tra-
dition of family farming going into
the future? As science, technology,
engineering and math (STEMS)
have become hot fields for educa-
tors, will farmers have a place at
the table in higher education and
elsewhere?
Jahnke certainly sees a future
for the highly educated farmer.
“The next generation on many
“Wisconsin
agriculture has
proven that
size doesn’t
matter.”
— Pam Jahnke, agriculture
broadcaster, radio personality,
and communications co-
chair of the Wisconsin Farm
Technology Days
GENEALOGY 8 SEPTEMBER 2015
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3. Wisconsin farms will also become well-educated,” she said. “Most farm-
ers today have had at least some post-secondary education via technical
colleges, farm and industry short course instruction, or four-year college
experiences.”
The STEMS fields will continue to be an important part of the toolbox
for a successful farmer. Our nation’s
need for high quality, sustainable
produce has entered into a new era
with the ongoing drought in Califor-
nia, she added.
Farm Technology Days events,
such as the one hosted in Sun Prairie
in August, is a great way to learn
about farming, Jahnke explained.
“If you have any curiosity at all
about where your food comes from,
you should be attending the show,”
she said. “Volunteers hope that
people will take time to investigate
what today’s agriculture really looks
like and the faces behind that farm.”
Schuster offered this advice to the next generations of farmers and
consumers.
“Work until the job is done, but beyond that, this nation needs to
become small-business friendly, not in love with just large operations,”
Schuster added.
“Smaller farms
have found
success in
keeping their
debt ceiling
low.”
— Pam Jahnke
Visit an old-time farm – now a
public park in Waunakee
If your family hasn’t discovered the Schumacher Farm
Park – a real family farm now a Dane County park outside
Madison – you’re in for a wonderful experience.
The early 19th century farm was where the Schu-
macher family once farmed and lived. Before Marcella
Schumacher, local teacher and nature lover passed away
several years ago, she established a Friends group to keep
the operation going. In the 1970s, the property was desig-
nated a public park.
There is no charge to walk the trails and have picnics
on the beautiful property. Special events are usually
offered monthly. Fees for adults are $10 with children
younger than 12 free.
You’ll also see that the original 1906 farmhouse and
1908 barn are still standing. Jennifer Harper, park and
program manager for the 78-acre Schumacher Farm Park
(www.shumacherfarmpark.org), off of Highway 19, by
Waunakee, said: “We also have a few early 1900s barn
buildings, including a corn crib, hog barn and chicken
coop (with chickens in summer) that volunteers brought
to the farm and restored.”
Throughout the seasons, there are workshops like
“Wood-Stove-Cooking” so you can make meals on a
wood stove or tap maple trees in the spring.
“Special events draw families,” Harper added. “One
of the favorites is our Halloween event with wagon rides
on the prairie. This is a great place for families to get out
and enjoy the natural beauty that was once a Wisconsin
farm.”
GENEALOGY 9 SEPTEMBER 2015
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