Hassebrock Farms: Through the Generations

Passing the family farm down through multiple generations is a value which is cherished by many within the agriculture community. Over the past few decades, the threat of disappearing family farms has been hard to ignore with the pressure on farmers to adapt and expand at the expense of smaller farmers. Being able to share the lifestyle you love with your children and grandchildren is what farmers strive for and hope to preserve in this ever-changing landscape of agriculture.

Despite these concerns in the agriculture industry, the Hassebrock family in Beason, Illinois serves as an excellent example of a local farm that has been successful at preserving the family aspect of their farm for generations.

Gene Hassebrock grew up helping his dad, John Jr., in the field whenever he had the chance. At just ten years old, he can remember his dad putting him in a field to plow by himself for the very first time. Driving a John Deere G tractor with a hand clutch, Gene got the job done and his love for farming took off.

After high school, however, Gene took a different route and went to work in a factory for a few years before 17 · Central Illinois Ag · www.centralilag.com

joining the Army in 1965. In 1970, he married Marsha Boyer and came back home to work with his dad on the farm. At the time, his dad was farming about 500 acres. Gene was able to rent 240 acres of his own and buy out a farmer for just $10,000, giving him a full line of his own equipment, and he has been farming ever since.

Gene and his father have witnessed significant improvements and worked through challenges in the agriculture industry over the years. Gene can remember his father in the field some nights plowing with only candlelight to guide him. Then, when John Jr. was in his 90s, he got to experience GPS along with other new technologies that Gene had introduced to their operation.

Gene has always held on to the importance of incorporating his own family in the farming operation. His wife, Marsha, enjoys helping run the auger wagon each fall and used to shred corn stalks on the Gehlbach Pork Farm where their neighbors would haul hog manure. His children, Corey and Mindy, are fifth generation and were involved as they grew up as well. From a very young age, they were tagging along with Gene and riding in the tractor during planting and harvest.

Corey says he will never forget the day his dad needed help and put him in a tractor by himself to shred corn stalks. “I messed up a few times, but I did good enough and learned from it,” Corey recalls. Eventually, he started running a Kinze auger wagon with a 4960 John Deere tractor each harvest and continued helping Gene part time over the years.

Gene’s brother, Edward, worked on the family farm until his retirement ten years ago, which was shortly before John Jr. passed away. After that, Gene knew that he needed to bring in more help on the farm in order to keep it going. Around the same time, Gene’s son, Corey, and his wife had just found out they were expecting. Corey says that with a baby on the way, he realized that he needed to get serious about figuring out what he wanted to do for a living to provide for his growing family.

With the timing aligning just right, Corey was able to begin farming full-time with his dad. Today, Gene and Corey farm corn and soybeans in Logan County, and have begun to transition into running Case IH equipment, after decades of being an all-green operation.

A few years back, Gene had wanted to try something new and begin purchasing red equipment. However, Corey was a bit hesitant at first. Gene had been having issues running his chisel plow with the tractor he had been using, so he reached out to Central Illinois Ag about trying out a Case IH Steiger 580 Quadtrac to give tracks a try.

After only one round in the field, Corey and Gene were impressed with the machine and loved the difference they saw in traction alone. The tracks spoke for themselves in the field with less slip, and the power the tractor had was just what they were looking for. After using the Quadtrac for three seasons, Corey says he would not go back to a wheeled high horsepower tractor.

Last year, they expanded their line of red equipment with a Farmall 70A for smaller jobs around the farm and a Magnum 380 for some extra horsepower in the field. The Hassebrocks say the purchase of this Magnum, which was previously owned by a local farmer and friend of theirs, was an easy decision to make because the deal salesman Austin Coers gave them was too good to pass up. “Purchasing Case IH equipment was a no brainer for us,” says Gene. “Case IH has interest rates that other brands cannot compete with.”

“Austin has been super helpful. He is always there when you need him and doesn’t leave until you are satisfied.” -Gene Hassebrock

At the end of the day, their passion for farming and working with family is what keeps the Hassebrocks wanting to continue farming and pass on this lifestyle to Corey’s children in the future.

“It is hard to believe I started out with nothing, working in a factory every day,” says Gene. “This farm has been good to us and I would not want to be doing anything else.”

Corey and his children, Makia, Kenley, Leland, and Kianna.

John Hassebrock Jr. with his first Farmall tractor.

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