Friday, the Isreal (Is) and Kristin Noelck family of Franklin County was presented the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award during a presentation at the Hampton Country Club.
Noelck Farms was established in the 1960s by Ivan and Karen Noelck. Their son, Is, joined the operation in 1992. Now, more than three decades later, the multi-generational family farm includes Is and his wife, Kristin, and their three children: sons Isaiah and his wife Reann and their daughter Halston; Noah and his fiancé Maci; and daughter Isabella.
This was the first time in the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award’s 20-year history that it’s been presented to a farm in Franklin County. Is Noelck spoke with RadioOnTheGo News following the presentation Friday about what it means to receive the award.
“It’s a great honor to get this award. Didn’t know a lot about it at first, but the more we dig into it, it’s a really nice piece that fits the whole community. And then bringing on the next generation is a huge part of it as well. Been farming since the early ’90s. Started farming with my dad and my grandpa, basically three generations were right there. My brother came on in the middle. And since then, my dad’s retired, but my two boys have come on as well. So we’ve still got that generation thing going.”
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig was on hand Friday to present the award and talked about how the award highlights livestock producers in Iowa.
“Once a month on average across the state of Iowa, and what we do is we recognize livestock producers. Really, we’re looking for three things. One is that they’ve got great livestock operations. They’re doing the right things, they’ll care for their livestock. Two is that they’re good stewards of their land that they’re responsible for, and three is their community involvement. Noelck family is a good example of a family that certainly checks all three boxes more than that, whether it’s their beef and pork operations, or whether it’s the fact that they’ve been heavily investing in cover crops and using cover crops, selling cover crop seed, those types of things, and just being involved locally in the community but also statewide through farmer organizations and really having an impact there. So really great to be able to recognize this family here in Franklin County.”
The Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award is made possible through a partnership with the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers, The Big Show on WHO Radio and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Picture courtesy of the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers.
Pictured left to right: Isaiah, Reann, Halston, Kristin, Is, Isabella, Maci and Noah.
