C21 | October 2021 | Southern Minnesota Century Strong
The Peterson family of Far-Gaze Farm in northern Rice County is pictured on their farm (Photo courtesy of Karissa Lenore Photography)
Far-Gaze Farms keeps building back better
By ZACH KAYSER editor@apgsomn.com
F
our generations of the Peterson family have worked their farm in rural Rice County over the span of more than 100 years.
The farm originally founded by Christian and Bertha Peterson in 1920 has since taken on the name Far-Gaze, named both for a variety of dairy cow and for the expansive views of the surrounding countryside. Although the Petersons sold their dairy herd in the early 2000s, the name stuck through the decades. In 1957, Burton Peterson inherited the farm from his father, and many years later, turned it over to his sons: Brian, Chris and Bruce. The Peterson boys were hooked on farm life from an early age, both from working on the family’s concern and through 4-H and Future Farmers of
America, Brian Peterson recalled.
“We were helping pull pasture fence and lay tile [drainage pipes] when we were 6 years old, we were in the tractor already,” he said. When he was a junior in high school (in the late 1970s) Brian and one of his brothers rented their own farm space and weathered the storm of a nationwide recession, as banks hounded other farmers. “We hadn’t farmed enough to get ourselves in trouble yet,” Peterson said. Shortly thereafter in 1982, they combined their business with their dad’s, and FarGaze was born. Each brother largely sticks to their own area of expertise, helping each other when necessary, and disagreements are rare, Peterson said.
“We generally don’t do anything if one disagrees, let’s put it that way” he said. “We each kind of have our own avenues. Bruce, he’s in charge of the marketing of grain, which is a big deal. He shares what knows as we go along. Chris takes care of getting the seed ordered … December, January, he’s sorting through data and whatnot. With three of us, you get three different opinions, so we just try and stay out of it, let him do that.”
Brian described his own role as taking care of equipment maintenance, as well as procuring fuel and liquid propane. The process of delegation has worked for the Petersons for years.
However, the span of just the past four years since 2018, the Peterson family and Far-Gaze farm have faced some of their
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