Goodhue County Farm Bureau Day

Governor Mark Dayton Declared Wednesday February 28, 2018 Goodhue County Farm Bureau Day. It was exactly 100 years ago that farmers from Goodhue County gathered in Red Wing and officially formed the Goodhue County Farm Bureau. These farmers felt their was a need for a County Farm Bureau to help agriculture thrive in Goodhue County. Goodhue County Farm Bureau member Katie Brenny spent a lot of time going through Goodhue County Farm Bureau records and found some fascinating facts about the vision, wisdom and foresight of those farmers!

The Goodhue County Farm Bureau was instrumental in developing the county soil conservation service, the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, health clinics, even the Extension Service. For many years the Ag Extension Agent was an employee of the Goodhue County Farm Bureau.

One of the most impressive accomplishments was advancing the Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association. The Goodhue County Farm Bureau paid $250 for the expense of preparing the application making it possible for every farmer in Goodhue County to get electricity.

In 1948 The Goodhue County Farm Bureau had a trial run for a multiple crop insurance program on corn, oats, wheat and flax. Goodhue County and another county in Michigan were the only two counties in the United States to offer this.

In 1950 Belle Creek's Annual Corn Show hosted over 500 people, boosting agriculture and having the reputation for being one of the friendliest and most progressive farm communities in the country.

In 1967 resolutions passed at the county annual meeting: study for establishment of fire codes, urged county Commissioners to study the safety factor of yield signs as compared to stop signs, asked for the shortening of the pheasant season to nine days less in the county, urged the state to build a security cottage with a fence at the MN state training school in Red Wing due the number of escapes.

In 1997 Ed and Jane McNamara experimented with two and three row soybeans on ride till fields.

2017 Donated agriculture book bundles to all the schools and libraries in Goodhue County.

The celebration and a number of special activities are planned this summer at the Goodhue County Fair.