Don Gibson
AGRONOMY
Aly Dieball Junior Holstein cont’ d
Aly is an eighth grader at Sibley East. At school, she participates in tennis, track, band and student guides. She is a constant member of the A-honor roll in school and has danced for 12 years. Aly also is active with the Minnesota Holstein Association and has been involved with 4H since kindergarten, where she currently serves as treasurer.
In the future, Aly would like to attend the University of Minnesota and become a veterinarian. The talented and incredibly busy 13- year-old keeps herself going by following her motto:
Stuewe Farm- Farm Family of the Year
“ Try your hardest in everything you do so you know you did your best.”
For the past three years, Aly has followed the wise words of her own and succeeded. She plans on participating in the speech competition as long as she can. Aly will attempt to make it four straight first-place finishes in state and four-straight trips to the National Junior Holstein Convention.
Next year’ s competition will be in Washington. There’ s a good chance Aly will hop on a plane and head west to represent Minnesota once again next June.
The University of Minnesota Extension office named the Stuewe family of Cologne as the 2016 Carver County Farm Family of the Year.
The award is annually given to local farm families around Minnesota. It is presented to families who are involved in agricultural production and are engaged in their agricultural communities.
Paul Stuewe and his wife, Sue, have two children, Dan and Clare. Paul has served on the County Dairy Board and the Mid-County Coop Board.
Sue has been involved with the Carver County Dairy Association for six years. The organization represents farmers in Carver County in parades, hosts food shelves in June and December, and runs a Dairy Booth each year at the Carver County Fair.
Dan graduated from Ridgewater College with a concentration in dairy management and currently works full time on the farm.
Clare is attending South Dakota State University for nursing this fall. In high school, she was involved in FFA and was named one of the Carver County Dairy Princesses in April.
The farm where the Stuewe family resides and works on has been in the family for three generations.
“ The farm started out in the 1920s,” Paul Stuewe said.“ My grandpa started it and my dad took over shortly after World War II. I took over in 1991.”
A typical day on the Stuewe farm begins around 6:30 a. m. with milking of their 80 cows. The morning chores are usually finished around 9:30 a. m.
“ We basically do just dairy,” Stuewe said.“ There will be some grain to sell, but not a whole lot. Most of the acreage covers feed, since we’ re milking roughly 80 cows. We have room for 120, and we’ re working our way up there.”
Stuewe and his family attended Farmfest, Aug. 4 to 6th in Redwood Falls. All of the counties in Minnesota were represented at the event. The Stuewe family was presented with their official 2016 Carver County Farm Family of the Year plaque in Redwood Falls.
“ We are very honored to represent Carver County,” Sue Stuewe said.
“ Not too many people can say they have two generations working on a farm, so that kind of makes it fun,” Paul Stuewe said.“ I guess [ the award ] means we’ re doing a lot of hard work.”
Don Gibson
Don Gibson joined the Mid- County family on June 6.“ His experience is exceptional,” general manager Bill Reimers said.“ Don has worked in different parts of country and has gained knowledge of many different crops.” His best feature, according to Reimers, is his interaction with customers. He is very personable, and he naturally gets along with the customer.
He grew up on a farm and went to high school in Waverly, Iowa. He says the upbringing influenced his decision in going into the agronomy field.
His knowledge and experience with plant nutrition, aids him in his agronomy sales. In fact, it’ s kind of his hobby. When he’ s not working, Gibson spends his time looking after plants with hydroponics. Hydroponics is the art of growing plants without soil. He is able to do this with a nutrient solution that is delivered to the roots. With this solution, the plants are allowed to uptake food with little effort, rather than searching and extracting nutrients in soil.
On the job, Gibson meets and works primarily with new accounts for Mid-County, an important position in expanding the Co-op’ s name, business, and brand.
Customers will receive vast knowledge, advice, and help from Don Gibson and the rest of the agronomy sales staff.
www. midcountycoop. com Page 5