By NOREEN LUPARDUS

Times Herald Writer
Times Herald and Times Herald Weekly, March 18-19, 1986

For nearly 50 years, two generations of Meiers have farmed land near Manning owned by the Matt family.

In 1938, Joe and Anna Meier moved to the farm near Manning owned by Hugh Matt, where their son was born the same year.

Today the Meiers’ son, Laverne (Butch), is farming the land, which is now owned by Matt’s daughter, Mary Ann Mikos.

In the last 48 years, the Meiers and the Matt family have formed a tenant-landlord relationship that has seen many changes.

But when it comes to caring for the soil, the Matts and the Meiers think as one. Their relationship may be based in the past, but their concern is focused on the future of the land.

“We farmed this farm just like we farmed our own,” Joe said.  “We just treated them right and they treated us right. We got along good together.”

Joe retired in 1978, after farming the Matt farm for 40 years.  When Joe retired Butch took over the farming operation.

Matt died in 1963.  His daughter, Mary Ann Mikos inherited the farm and continued to rent the ground to the Meiers.

Farming methods have changed drastically since Joe Meier farmed with horses in 1938, in the depth of the Depression.  But even then, he was concerned about the erosion problem on the hilly ground east of Manning.

“We started to contour the corn in the ’50s,” Joe recalled.  “But we didn’t have terraces in those days yet.”

At that time, little research was available. But with the help of a neighbor Joe began contouring the ground to conserve the soil. Contour farming was impossible before that because Joe used a wire corn planter.  When he switched to a newer planter, he was able to lay out the rows around the hills instead of up and down the hills, as was commonly done.

“When I farmed on it, it was a three way rotation – corn, oats and hay ground,” Joe said.

Most people were not as concerned about soil conservation as they are now.  But it was important to the Meiers to take care of the land they farmed – even though it was owned by others.

The 80 acres owned by the Meiers is also contoured and has terraces, Butch said.

Today, Butch farms in a corn-soybean rotation every other year, divided almost equally. The 320-acre farm includes 100 acres of contour farming and 9,180 feet of cropland terraces – almost 2 miles.

Butch fertilizes the corn ground, but said he doesn’t need to use pesticides because the crops are rotated each year.

“We don’t use chemical insecticides because we are always in first-year corn,” he said.

He said rotating minimizes insect problems and helps keep the water supply clean by preventing pollution caused by pesticide runoff, he said.

Butch tried minimum tillage, but went back to conventional methods to maintain a better seedbed, he said.

Although the Meiers have always been interested in soil conservation, it was about five years ago that they began building terraces as part of the Willow Creek Watershed project.

During the first five years federal funds paid 75 percent of the cost of construction.

“That really got us started,” Butch said.  “The five years is up on this watershed, but we can continue and still do more terracing on a 50-percent payment by the government.”

Butch said the terraces were laid out so that it is not too difficult or time consuming to farm around them.

“There might be some occasion when you run into extra effort, but it’s worth the effort to save the soil,” he said.

Butch believes the terraces have reduced erosion on the farm.

“You just don’t have near the small waterway as before, and we know when it rains you don’t have the water running the way you did before,” he said.

Mikos was enthusiastic about the terrace project, Butch said.

“It’s going to be for the benefit of the farm in the future, “ he said.

For nearly 50 years, two generations of Meiers have farmed land near Manning owned by the Matt family. In 1938, Joe and Anna Meier moved to the farm near Manning owned by Hugh Matt, where their son was born the same year. Today the Meiers’ son, Laverne (Butch), is farming the land, which is now owned by Matt’s daughter, Mary Ann Mikos.