GREENUP —
Farming has been a way of life in Greenup County since before the county was incorporated in 1803, but as time has marched on, the number of families working the land has dwindled.
Farmers have faced challenges ranging from weather and natural catastrophes, to a lack of manpower and the fluctuation of modern commodities prices to the pressure of giving up their land for urbanization.
To survive, farmers have turned to a variety of means to remain on their land, including diversifying their crops and livestock to supplementing farm incomes with other careers.
In Greenup County, more than two dozen families have managed to hang on to their family’s farms for more than a century, preserving both the land and the agricultural heritage of the region. Each family has a unique history and has taken different actions to maintain and pass down their land from generation to generation.
A recent initiative by state Rep. Tanya Pullin D-South Shore, to recognize these farms and their families, identified 27 Century Farms in Greenup County. Each farm family self-reported its history, some tracing their farms back more than 200 years.
To qualify for recognition as a Greenup Century Farm, each family has had to continue to do some type of agricultural or farming activity on their land. Modern farm activities include hay fields and vegetable gardens, livestock operations and commercial horticulture ventures. While some families have changed their farm activities very little over 100 years, others have drastically modified the use of their lands.
Some farm families have managed on their own while others have tapped into a variety of programs to help them modernize and survive. Some have received assistance through matching grants from the soil conservation districts, Kentucky’s tobacco settlement trust and other state agriculture development programs aimed at helping them to improve their land, employ modern conservation methods and promote themselves and their products.
According to agriculture officials, Greenup’s family farms and their survival tactics represent a microcosm of the national and statewide trends in agriculture.
Pullin, who organized and paid for the program out of her own pocket, said she was surprised to discover so many Century Farms in Greenup County.
“When there was this many, I realized it wasn’t just an accomplishment for them, it was something about our county that we were overlooking — something we should celebrate about our county,” she said.
“Many times, Greenup countians overlook this important aspect of our culture and our legacy but it’s not just legacy, it’s still part of us,” Pullin said, adding farms in Greenup County may get overlooked in part because they are not as large as those in other areas of the state. “But the love of the land is just as strong and the family passing that land and that vocation down from one generation to another and the current generation ... that is something to be celebrated, too,” she said.
A range of officials in local and state agencies apparently agree.
Representatives from several agencies participated in the November ceremony that honored these farms and families, but many other individuals, clubs and agencies have since expressed interest in recording Greenup’s agricultural history and/or taking up the initiative to honor other farms that reach the 100-year mark, according to Pullin.
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at carriestambaugh@gmail.com
Local News
Related Photos
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John Mann feeds cattle on a recent morning when the temperature dipped to two degrees. He and his wife Elizabeth own and operate Old Liberty Farm, which has been in the family for over a hundred years. John Flavell/The Independent
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Farming: A way of life
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