Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
A year or so ago, Jessica Fulk knew nothing about the Hoosier Homestead Awards – that is, until she took a moment to inspect a sign tacked to the family barn.
“I didn’t really pay attention to this old, beat-up sign that was on the barn from so long ago,” she told The Journal Gazette. “So I was paying attention one day and saw what it was.”
She discovered Fulk Farms had been awarded the Centennial Award from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture in 1977. So she logged on to the Agriculture Department’s website to apply for a new one.
“Then I found out we were way behind in getting the next (Hoosier Homestead Award),” Fulk said.
Allen County’s Fulk Farms joined six other county families at the Indiana State Fair Aug. 17, where 106 Hoosier farms were recognized for their longstanding commitment to agriculture. Fulk Farms, established in 1861, was presented the Sesquicentennial Award, given to families who have kept a farm in operation for at least 150 years.
(Two Bartholomew County family farms in August received Hoosier Homestead awards for more than 100 years of operation. The Bolte Farm, dating to 1881, and the McKinney Farm, dating to 1883, received Hoosier Homestead Centennial awards. The Speers family of Jennings County was one of four in Indiana to receive the Bicentennial Award, recognizing farming beginning on their homesteads in 1822 or earlier.)
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years, and consist of 20 acres or more or produce more than $1,000 in agricultural products annually. Since the program’s creation in 1976, more than 6,100 farm families have received a Hoosier Homestead Award.
“Recognizing and engaging Indiana’s historic farming families with Hoosier Homestead awards at the Indiana State Fair is an honor for me each year,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who also is the state’s secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “The hard work, consistency and longstanding values within these families is inspirational. These families and their farms are securing a strong future for many generations to come.”
According to 2020 figures, the latest from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Indiana is a farming powerhouse, contributing $10.3 billion to the state economy. Despite the Hoosier State being ranked 18th nationally in farmland, it is ninth in total cash receipts and eighth in crop receipts.
Indiana is the nation’s second-largest producer of spearmint, chickens and eggs; fourth in production of soybeans, peppermint and turkeys; and fifth in corn production, watermelon, pumpkins and hogs.
The Fulk Farm still produces corn and soybeans, and Jessica Fulk remains upbeat about the family farm’s future. “My son now is 11,” she said. “He says he wants to be a farmer, and I hope as he gets older he still wants to continue on.”
If he does, he could be the third family member to receive a Hoosier Homestead Award. Fulk Farms’ bicentennial is just 39 years away.
