9 minute read
Sam honors his forefathers’ work while planing for the future
Jason Sam is the fourth generation of Sams to live on his family’s on 255th Street outside Faribault. The farm was named a 2021 Century Farm. (Tom Nelson photo)
By TOM NELSON editor@apgsomn.com
Century Farm status is a special honor for any family farm, but for Faribault’s James Sam, the award presented to his farm for 100 years of continuous family ownership just seems to be part of his DNA. Century Farms in the county per year, so it is quite an accomplishment just to survive.
“Of course, you have want to do it (farming). A lot of people in my Dad’s generation and my generation, they just did not want to farm, but I always wanted to farm. There was nothing else I ever wanted to do. I just tried to figure out a way to keep farming.” that has been in his family for over 100 years, which includes the original 80 acres that were purchased by his great grandfather Jens Sam back in 1919. A Norwegian immigrant, Jens and his family, which included four children, had lived in two other locations in Minnesota before the purchase of the property on 255th Street East near Faribault.
up here where it is bitterly cold, but I supposed that is what they were used to,” Sam said of his ancestors’ decision to make Minnesota their home.
A skilled carpenter, Jens and his youngest son Emery quickly began adding to the farm’s collection of buildings.
“My Grandpa (Emery) was 15 years old when they moved here,” Sam said. “He and my great grandpa built the house and it is the house I am still in today … it has been added onto a couple of times but the main part of the house is still good.
“It was a kit house from (Montgomery) Wards or Sears, which was kind of common back then. My grandpa said the doors, the windows and everything cost $400. He said it took them about a year to build, evidently they built a chicken coop first and lived in the chicken coop for a year while they were building the house. I said ‘you lived in the chicken coop?’ and he said ‘well it was new.’
Jens went on to own the land for 25 years before Emery took over ownership of the property for the next 23 years. James Sam’s father Bernard Sam then assumed ownership of the farm for the next 44 years before James continued the family legacy by adding his name to the deed about 10 years ago.
Keeping the farm alive
Like many farms during that era, Jens Sam’s farm featured a diverse variety of crops and livestock.
I think they pretty much did everything,” Sam said. “They milked cows, I am sure they had a few pigs, and chickens. And of course, the worked the farm with the horses.”
In fact, one of the farm’s first tractors — a 1927 Fordson — is proudly displayed on the farm property along 255th Street.
One of two children in his family, James Sam seemed to be destined to make farming his lifelong career.
“I started renting my land in 1976, I was just 15 years old. I bought my own tractor and then started to rent some ground and then kept renting more ground. When I was a senior in high school, I probably rented about 120 acres along with helping my Dad on the farm here.”
A graduate of Faribault High School, Sam attended the University of Minnesota Waseca for a couple of years before heading back home.
“By the time I got done with that (attending school in Waseca), it was the early 1980s and that is when the farm pinch was setting in. So I worked in town for about 10 years and did my farming on the evenings and weekends,” Sam said.
He worked as a welder at Tilt-A-Whirl originator Sellner Manufacturing for about 10 years and also had jobs in the Owatonna area for another four years.
“I just kept getting more ground, and getting a little bigger on the farming,” Said said. “I suppose it was around 1997, when I wasn’t working off of the farm anymore.
◗Sam Farm continued on page 16
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One of the Sam farm’s first tractors — a 1927 Fordson — is proudly displayed on the farm property along 255th Street. (Tom Nelson photo)
Sam’s father retired from farming around 1993, and his parents later moved into a house in Faribault around 2002. His mother (Delores Sam) taught kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary School in Faribault for almost 28 years and played an important role in helping keep the farm alive during the 1980s farm crisis.
“My mom taught kindergarten there, and she was a big reason we could keep on farming,” Sam said. “During the 1980s things were tough, people were getting forced out of farming in the 1980s. I believe we made it through because Mom had a good teaching job.”
The farm has since grown to 1,032 acres with Sam renting another 1,000 acres of land to farm. The primary crops now are corn and soybeans, with a little bit of wheat grown at times. The Sams used to raise hogs, but have since gotten out of the livestock trade. farrowing pigs and then we did finishing pigs. We also had about 15 head of beef in the day,” Sam said.
Growing up, Sam took beef and pigs to the fair but a couple years after he got out of high school, his Dad got out of pig farming to concentrate of corn and beans.
In his time working the farm, Sam has witnessed a variety of changes and enhancements to the profession over the past 100 years.
“Things have changed a lot over the years,” Sam said. “I don’t remember the horse days but when I first started driving a tractor, a 100 HP tractor was considered a big tractor, and there was no cab on it. We were just out there working in the dust. We actually have that same 100 HP tractor now and all it does is run a grain auger and we also use it for picking rock. really changed things. And of course the comforts got a lot better in the 1980s and 1990s. Now air conditioning is standard, you wouldn’t even think about going out in the field now if the air conditioner wasn’t working.”
Sam noted that monitors, the high tech and auto steer all came on board in the early 2000s for farmers.
“Now you have monitors and everything … yield monitor for the combine, auto steer and the planter is set up with high tech, speed tubes and electric motors that run the speed meters,” Sam said. “You can change the population on the go. It can write prescriptions for the field, it can plant different populations in different parts of the field … that’s really changed. We keep an iPad in the tractor and the combine, it’s part of our mapping system, so there is always an iPad in the planting tractor or combine.”
together. They would only be three inches apart, and one of those plants just isn’t going to make a good ear because they are too close. Now they are perfectly spaced out about 6-7 inches, and now almost every plant will make a good ear.”
Creighton Houglun, who currently helps manage the farm echoed Sam’s insight into the technology changes assisting today’s farmers.
Sam farm’s future
“You can walk down that row and every ear is the same size … It (technology improvements) just makes a big difference in the yield,” Houglun said.
Since he is single and does not have any children, Sam is working with Houglun to eventually take over the farm property once he retires completely.
“Creighton (Houglun) has been working with me for a long time,” Sam said. “I rented his grandfather’s land and since he was about 8 years old, Creighton and his brother would help me pick rock. Creighton just kept gradually working with me more and more, and now he has been working with me for more than 20 years.
“I’ve given him a share and I am hoping he takes over after I am done farming. I don’t have any kids of my own, so I am planning for Creighton to take over. That’s our goal. He does most of the planting and he can do anything I can do … I am starting to do the easy jobs now.”
At 60, Sam does not plan to retire anytime soon but he does manage to take time off during the winter months. The flexible schedule has allowed him to travel to places like the Philippines and this winter he is hoping to spent time in sunny Florida.
In the near future, Sam intends to keep the farm about the same size and continue with the same crops. “I want to try to keep it this size,” Sam said. “I think if we keep it this size, we will be doing pretty good.”
As Sam reflects on his family’s history on the farm, he is proud of the hard work and determination put forth by his ancestors.
“My great-grandparents and grandparents worked so hard. People consider us working hard today, but we don’t work nearly as hard as they did,” Sam said. “They did everything by hand, pitched the hay by hand with a pitchfork … so much manual labor back then compared to what we do now.
“In addition, my Dad probably had the hardest time surviving the farm crisis in the 1980s and it was also a struggle for me in the early 1990s. I think just surviving through all of that was a big accomplishment. I feel really honored and proud to have been able to survive on this farm.”
“Now you have monitors and everything The home on the Sam farm was built from a kit, likely manufactured by … yield monitor for the combine, auto Sears of Montgomery Ward. James Sam said his grandfather, who helped steer and the planter is set up with high build the home, told him the kit cost $400. (Tom Nelson photo) tech, speed tubes and electric motors that run the speed meters,” Sam said. “You can change the population on the go. It can write prescriptions for the field, it can plant different populations in different parts of the field … that’s really changed. We keep an iPad in the tractor and the combine, it’s part of our mapping system, so there is always an iPad in the planting James Sam purchased his family farm from his father, Bernard, about a decade ago. (Tom Nelson photo)
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