Conneys say Farm Family award is much appreciated
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 07/29/2010 10:38 AM
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LE CENTER, Minn.— Jerry Cooney has been to Farmfest before, but this year he and his family will have a new experience at Gilfillan.
Jerry, his wife, Peggy, and their family have been named Le Sueur County's Farm Family of the Year. They, and 72 other families representing their respective counties across the state will be recognized during a ceremony at Farmfest. It will be held Aug. 5 starting at 1: 30 p.m. in the Forum Tent.
Farm Families of the Year are picked by their local county University of Minnesota Extension committees for their significant contributions to agriculture and their communities.
"There's a lot of good farms out there, but somebody that put my name in felt we had it coming," Jerry said.
"It's really nice that we can get it because we aren't that far from retirement," said Peggy.
Jerry is a lifelong farmer who got his start helping on his father's dairy and crop farm near Le Center. He bought his first 80 acres at age 20 from an uncle, then married Peggy shortly after that, in 1965. They went on to raise three children: Kelly, Ryan and Erin. Now they have two grandchildren and a third due in October.
Jerry and his brother, John, farm together in Le Center. Mainly, they raise registered black Angus cattle and sell breeding stock under the herd name JRC Angus. One of their two employees, Brian Schmidt, also owns one-third of the herd.
The brothers have 2,500 acres between owned and rented land. Corn, soybeans, peas, sweet corn and alfalfa are grown in crop rotation.
Peggy does the farm's bookwork, and has worked inr Extension for 24 years. She works in the Nicollet County office 30 hours each week, helping with 4-H, agriculture educators and nutrition educators. She previously worked for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, then as a school teacher in the Le Center and Le Sueur school districts for nine years.
This time of year is particularly busy for Jerry, who maintains the Le Sueur County fairgrounds year-round as a member of the fair's board of directors. Luckily, their fair is running Aug. 19-22 this year and doesn't conflict with Farmfest.
The Farm Family Recognition program has existed for more than 20 years. It's sponsored and coordinated by U of M Extension, the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine.