By Mike Orso
Whether it be shucking sweet corn at a specialty crop growers event, riding in a noisy antique tractor ride, flipping pork burgers on the sizzling grill in the back of the Farm Bureau county fair food stand, or walking their fertile northern Illinois fields, Harry Alten Jr., and his brother Dennis, won’t likely be too far apart. The Harvard-area fruit and vegetable growers, now retired, farmed in partnership for nearly 60 years and have a long history of dedicated volunteer service to nearly a dozen national, state and county Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations.
“When I couldn’t make it, Denny was doing it,” said Harry, 87, about the days, months and probably several years-worth of time the two brothers have spent to help Farm Bureau and other agricultural-related groups. They include the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Agricultural Labor Advisory Committee, McHenry County Farm Bureau board of directors, Agriculture in the Classroom events and county fair food booth, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agriculture External Advisory Committee and several others.
The Alten brothers’ roots began to grow in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. Great grandfather Heinrich Alten farmed near Hanover in northwest Germany and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s with Harry and Dennis’ grandfather, Wilhelm, and his 9 siblings. He worked for a railroad in Chicago to start, then inherited land in Park Ridge to begin farming. The brother’s father, Harry Alten, Sr., eventually acquired 60 acres in Arlington Heights, where the family grew fruits and vegetables until the mid-1950s.
“When we were kids, if my parents went to town once a month, that was once too often,” said Dennis, 86. “Mom would can peaches, pears, tomatoes, sweet corn. We had a cow, we had a couple pigs, we had a beef or two, so really, we didn’t have to go to town.”
The two boys eventually decided they wanted to farm too, but 60 acres just wouldn’t support them all. So, their dad went looking.
“That little bit of ground he had, he sold that and we moved out here,” said Dennis, on the family’s relocation to northern McHenry County. “If three of us are going to get a living off the ground, we needed more ground. So, he put our names on the mortgage.”
“We still grew vegetable crops,” said Harry. “We trucked them into Chicago to the South Water Street Market. We built migrant homes. We built warehouses. We got more equipment and better trucks.”
By the time the two reached their 20s, some agricultural deferments from mandatory U.S. military service, intended to keep young adults home on the farm to ensure stable food production, were a thing of the past – at least in McHenry County.
“We were supposed to have that to begin with,” said Harry. “I had what they call a ‘C2’ classification, an essential civilian, not ‘A1,’ and I was still drafted. But the draft board in McHenry County was running out of men, so, they said, ‘You’re going.’”
Harry received his draft notice in 1961. He served most of his U.S. Army time in what was then West Germany during the tense Cold War days with the former Soviet Union, with the Berlin Wall under construction in the former East Germany. Also deemed ineligible for an agricultural deferment, Dennis received his draft notice two years later. He ended up serving at more than a dozen different U.S. Army bases across the United States.
“The person at the draft board said, ‘You’re getting government subsidies farming. There’s a surplus. We don’t need you.’ I said, “Mister, we’re growing 250-300 acres of fruits and vegetables,” said Dennis. “We don’t get no subsidies, there’s no government money in that.”
With military service behind, the two spent close to four decades growing “every fruit and vegetable from A to Z.”
“When we started farming, there was National Tea, A&P, Kroger and Jewel,” said Dennis. “Those salesmen would come out maybe once a week and you would tell the salesman, ‘Hey, next week, I’m going to have a lot of tomatoes, run your sales,’ and they’d cooperate with you. Right now, Walmart or these other stores, they can tell you exactly what they’re going to buy next year on August 1st and what they’re going to pay for it.”
The brothers also sold their fresh produce wholesale to Cambell’s Soup, Green Giant, and Libby’s.
“When they want something, they want it now,” said Harry. “It would be raining out here, and we’re trying to harvest getting 7 inches of rain, we can’t turn a wheel and the broker calls and says, ‘I need 300 boxes of cabbage tomorrow morning,’ and we can’t get out in the field.”
At the same the two also began decades of volunteerism for the McHenry County Farm Bureau, including stints on its board of directors and, for Harry, multiple terms as the organization’s president.
“We had teachers on our farm, one came out and said, ‘Why do we need farmers? I get everything from the supermarket,’” said Harry.
“I said, ‘It don’t work that way,’” said Dennis.
While they have set aside growing their favorite crops of onions, cabbage and sweet corn, they remain no less dedicated to raising the level of knowledge and awareness about farming.
“Right now, at our age, our hope is to survive, said Harry. “But it’s also to teach people where their food comes from. That’s why we volunteer.”
In addition to farming fruits and vegetables, Dennis, left, and Harry Alten Jr. served in leadership positions for many years with the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. Asked how they handled disagreements, the two said in unison, “We never had one.” “Our neighbor was amazed,” said Dennis. “He said, ‘I never saw you guys fighting out there.’” (Alten family photo)
The Alten’s actively participated in the former Cook County Truck Gardeners’ & Farmers’ Association. Here, Harry shows a section of the organization’s 1911 annual report printed in German. “Denny and I were the last officers when we shut it down,” said Harry.
A young Dennis Alten works some of the family’s land planted to fruits and vegetables in Arlington Heights during the early 1950s. When asked to name what he and his brother grew for nearly six decades, Dennis answered, “From A to Z.” (Alten family photo)
A young Harry Alten Jr., hand mows some of the farmstead lawn near the Alten home on their former farm in Arlington Heights that had fruits, vegetables, chickens, pigs beef and dairy cows. “I drank raw milk until I was 18 years old,” said Harry. (Alten family photo)