INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – At the Indiana Statehouse Friday, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture presented 56 farming families with a Hoosier Homestead Award in recognition of their commitment to Indiana agriculture.
The recipients included farm families from Johnson, Bartholomew, and Jackson Counties. The award recognizes farms owned and maintained by the same family for 100 years or longer.
The Hoosier Homestead Award Program honors families who have made significant contributions to Indiana agriculture. Instituted in 1976, the program has recognized more than 6,000 farms that have impacted Indiana’s economic, cultural, and social advancement.
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for at least 100 consecutive years and consist of more than 20 acres or produce more than $1,000 of agricultural products per year. The award distinctions are centennial, sesquicentennial, and bicentennial – for 100, 150, and 200 years, respectively.
Six locally owned farms were honored at the Statehouse.
- The Van Nuys farm in Johnson County was presented with a Sesquicentennial Award
- The Bonnell farms in Bartholomew County earned Centennial and Sesquicentennial Awards
- The Clouse Family Farm in Bartholomew County won Centennial and Sesquicentennial Awards
- The Kobbe farm in Bartholomew County received a Centennial Award
- The Yoke Family in Johnson County earned a Sesquicentennial Award
- The Everett Duwe farm in Jackson County received a Centennial Award
