Harvesting heritage

HANCOCK COUNTY — Mike Dunlavy’s great-great-grandfather started the family farm north of Wilkinson in 1918.

Six generations and more than a century later, his newborn granddaughter is getting ready to grow up there.

The farm recently received a Hoosier Homestead Centennial Award, recognizing farms owned and maintained by the same family for 100 years or more. For Mike Dunlavy and his son, Justin Dunlavy, both of whom work the ground and raise livestock there, the accolade represents a proud past and exciting future.

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Carey Keaton, Mike Dunlavy’s great-great-grandfather on his mother’s side, started the farm on 40 acres. Keaton’s son, Orville, took it over in 1945. Mike Dunlavy’s parents, James and Patricia, bought it in 1964, two years before he was born. His father died in 2013 and his mother died in 2015, when the farm became his.

Mike Dunlavy grew up on the farm with his sister, Barb Romans, and brother, Doug Dunlavy. Except for college and living out of state for about five years, he’s lived on or near the farm his whole life. For about the past 25 years, he’s live across the road from the farm. His son is building a house on the family farm property.

When the farm first started, it raised cattle and hogs and grew corn, oats and alfalfa, Mike Dunlavy said.

“I think, like a lot of farms back in the day, they were kind of diversified with different things,” he added.

For about the past 50 years, the farm’s been on a corn and soybean rotation, he continued.

Mike Dunlavy estimates about the only structure that’s still original to the farm is a hog house that’s currently housing some cattle. A big barn that burned down decades ago was rebuilt and a house that was about 100 years old was torn down last winter to make way for Justin Dunlavy’s new home.

Farming is a passionate side gig for Mike and Justin Dunlavy, whose day jobs consist of working in the agricultural seed and chemical industries, respectively. They farm the 40 acres that’s been in the family for 102 years along with several hundred more acres. Mike Dunlavy’s wife, Teri, and brother, Doug, help out on the farm as well.

Mike Dunlavy said he pursued the recognition from the state as a tribute to his father and those who came before him.

“It was my ancestors that did a lot of the work,” he said. “I just filled out a little piece of paper… But I felt it’s my responsibility to help take care of it and make improvements and pass it along to the next generations.”

Mike Dunlavy became a grandfather twice over in the past few months when his son had his first child and his daughter, Brittany Backer of Greenwood, had her first child.

Justin Dunlavy said he has fond memories of visiting the farm while growing up.

“It’s a tradition; it’s where my passion is,” he said of wanting to continue the family tradition. “…The lifestyle piece of it is you raise animals and you see that outcome and then you know where your quality food’s coming from. The same thing with the row crops. You start with a bare field and you raise a crop and you know that it’s going to a purpose in the future.”

He’s proud of the farm’s history and looking forward to its future.

“The real excitement comes with the fact that my daughter and now my little nephew will also have the opportunity to grow up around the farm,” he said.

Members of the Indiana General Assembly representing Hancock County congratulated the Dunlavy family in a news release.

“Farmers are often underappreciated, but Hoosier farmers contribute billions of dollars to our state’s economy each year, and we are fortunate to be a state that has families who have dedicated generations to this industry,” said state Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield. “I commend the Dunlavy family for reaching this historic milestone and thank them for their years of service to our state.”

State Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, agreed.

“Indiana was built on the backs of hardworking farming families like the Dunlavys,” Cherry said. “They have certainly managed many challenges along the way to remain in operation for this long, and it’s a true testament to their dedication to the agriculture industry.”

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.

Since the Hoosier Homestead Award Program started in 1976, more than 5,800 farms have been honored.