Educating the Public on Ag
At first, things look pretty quiet at the dairy, located a few miles northwest of Fort Wayne, Ind. The only activity, it seems, is dozens of healthy-looking Holsteins with full udders munching feed. Drive a little farther, though, and a...
Educating the Public on Ag
At first, things look pretty quiet at the dairy, located a few miles northwest of Fort Wayne, Ind. The only activity, it seems, is dozens of healthy-looking Holsteins with full udders munching feed. Drive a little farther, though, and a...At first, things look pretty quiet at the dairy, located a few miles northwest of Fort Wayne, Ind.
The only activity, it seems, is dozens of healthy-looking Holsteins with full udders munching feed. Drive a little farther, though, and a long line of parked cars comes into view, as do scores of parents and children walking into an open area surrounded by cattle and cornfields, where the Kuehnert family is hosting its newly initiated fall festival.
Al Kuehnert
For more than 100 years, the Kuehnerts have been farming on this land, where they grow corn, soybeans and hay on 1,100 acres. Their bread and butter, however, is the farm’s 300 mature Holsteins, which produce 7 million pounds of milk a year. Ask fourth-generation producer and family patriarch Al why he added yet another element of work to his day (and night) in the form of a family-oriented festival, and he’ll tell you, “It’s amazing how many people think milk comes from the grocery store.”
Al sees the festival, which his family started in 2013, as a way to educate the general public about agriculture and, more specifically, dairy. The family also uses the festival as a means to promote the dairy products marketed through the 700-member Prairie Farms Dairy cooperative, of which the Kuehnerts are a part
Then, there’s the benefit of introducing the public to Kuehnert Dairy Farm, which supports Al and his brother Stan as full-time farmers, as well as partially supporting the families of Al’s two sons, Nathan and Andrew. All together, there are currently four generations of Kuehnerts working in some capacity on this dairy farm.
Last year, the festival drew 3,500 visitors—no small feat in Al’s opinion. “We had a really good turnout, especially given the bad weather we had every weekend,” he says, and adds that it accomplished job No. 1. “Our main thing with doing the festival is to educate the consumer about dairy and show people where their milk comes from.”
At AGCO, we salute farm families across North America who are involved in pubic outreach in all forms. That’s no small task and one that’s vital to agriculture, present and future.
