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Iowa's Century Farms

Wiese & Sons
Gene Wiese with several generations of the Wiese family

One family, farming the same land generation after generation - this is a dream many farmers share, but not an easy one to realize.

Credit Courtesy of Roy Bardole
Roy Bardole's ancestors

The Iowa Department of Agriculture started a program in 1976 to honor families who have Century Farms, or farms that have continued in the same family for one hundred years. To date, 18,330 families have been recognized.

“The generational farms, the land itself, there are few things outside of my family and faith, I would say there’s nothing outside of those two things that are any more important than the generational farms,” said Roy Bardole, who owns and operates a century farm near Rippey, Iowa.

On this edition of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with the director and producer of the new Iowa Public Television documentary, Iowa's Century Farms, as well as several Iowa farmers profiled in the film.

Iowa's Century Farms will air Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. on Iowa Public Television.

Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa