Four Illinois farmers including Mel Von Bergen of Hebron have been selected as 2012 Master Farmers by Prairie Farmer magazine. Other award recipients include Scott Bidner, Champaign (Champaign County); Tim Lenz, Strasburg (Shelby County) and Tim Seifert, Auburn (Sangamon County);
Candidates are nominated by farmers, agribusiness leaders and agricultural extension specialists from throughout the state.
Judges for the awards were Mike Gray, professor and assistant dean of Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension at the University of Illinois; Bryan Young, professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems at Southern Illinois University; Bill Olthoff, 2000 Master Farmer, Bourbonnais, Dave Owens, president and CEO of Farm Credit Services of Illinois, Josh Flint, editor of Prairie Farmer and Holly Spangler, associate editor of Prairie Farmer.
Prairie Farmer first offered the award in 1925, when editor Clifford Gregory established it as a way to recognize Illinois farmers for something more than just farming skills. Gregory felt the award would help give farm people a greater sense of "pride and permanence."
Flint said Prairie Farmer continues to present the awards annually because of the important contributions farmers make to Illinois agriculture and their local communities.
"Prairie Farmer sponsors the Master Farmer awards program to recognize farmers who excel not only in farming but also in community service, family commitment and leadership," he said. "The farmers we've honored over the years represent a gallery of the greatest in Illinois agriculture."
Some Master Farmers serve in state and national farm leadership positions. Others chair prestigious boards or serve with honor at the highest levels of government. Still others build their farms or businesses to regional or national prominence.
However, the vast majority merely serve their communities - building churches, chairing little-known but important committees, organizing harvest for a stricken neighbor - and continue the service-minded commitment that earned them the Master Farmer distinction in the first place.
Between 1925 and 1937 the magazine named 97 Master Farmers, Flint said. The program was discontinued in the ‘30s due to the Depression, but Prairie Farmer revived it in 1968. All together, more than 300 Illinois people have been named Master Farmer or Honorary Master Farmer, including the four named this year.
Prairie Farmer is published 12 times a year for Illinois farm families. Established in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published farm periodical in the United States. GROWMARK, Inc., serves as financial sponsor of the award. Like the Master Farmer award, the GROWMARK system was born during the 1920s, when farmer cooperatives first organized the Illinois Farm Supply Co. Today, the brand is known as FS.
MEL VON BERGEN: EDUCATING RURAL CONSUMERS
For most of Illinois, the recent land boom has made farming an all-in high stakes game. It's a game farmers in the Cook County area have been playing for over a century. Growing up, Mel Von Bergen's family farmed just a couple miles east of where O'Hare International Airport now sits. In 1946, his parents purchased a farm west of O'Hare. Fifteen years later they sold the land for a shopping center.
At this time, the Von Bergen family moved outside the development semi-circle to McHenry County, where they settled near Hebron. Mel married Bobette Shulz in 1965. The newlyweds moved just down the road and struck out on their own farming enterprise.
Years later, the Von Bergens are still farming in the Hebron area, growing vegetables and cash grain crops. Their fresh produce offerings draw a wealth of Chicago visitors en route to Wisconsin's Lake Geneva. Mel and Bobette are also in the midst of turning the reigns over to the next generation in the line of Von Bergen farmers. Mel, Bobette, son Mike and daughter-in-law Tracie now tend 1,400 acres, 100 of which are completely dedicated to fresh produce.
When Mel first got into the vegetable business some 30 years ago, produce stands were plentiful in the surrounding Chicago area. Plus most folks still had some connection to the farm. Today, produce stands are becoming few and far between as most plant less labor-intensive crops. In recent years, Mel and Bobette have noticed the urban visitors have more and more questions about farm life. If corn harvest is ongoing near the end of vegetable season, Mel says many folks are in disbelief when they hear what sort of price tag is attached to a new combine.
Mel and Bobette agree these conversations are usually enjoyable, as long as the inquiring mind is actually willing to learn about agriculture. "We enjoy the interaction," Mel notes. "It gives us a platform to educate folks about agriculture. If we wanted to, we could stand around answering questions all day long."
To learn more, please visit Von Bergen's County Market online.
