Farmer's gifts to family

ST. MARYS DEANERY, Ohio (The Catholic Telegraph) - Joe Nieport is certainly willing to be celebrated, but you get a sense that he wonders what the fuss is all about. After all, it's just a birthday.

Maybe, but it's a day - or rather three months - that the Nieport family decided to make memorable, not only because it's his 90th birthday, but in recognition of the gifts he has imparted to his nine children, 39 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Nieport was born June 26, 1916, in St. Henry, "in a farmhouse," said one of five children. Eighteen years later, after the death of his father, he became the family's provider and he hasn't stopped working yet. Officially he retired when he was in his late 60s, but, like many farmers, he continues to help his sons with the chores, take care of the orchard behind his house, and he even purchased additional farms when he was in his 70s. His family has organized a 90-day celebration culminated at the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Henry Church June 25 in honor of Nieport's birthday and his late wife, Gertrude, followed by a family lunch at the nearby shelter house and a 2-4 p.m. community open house. Family members were also asked to develop a meaningful activity with their patriarch during the 90 days leading to his birthday. For example, grandchildren picked up 90 twigs as Nieport trimmed his fruit trees. Mary and her father took 90 minutes to collect handfuls of soil from the acres that Nieport farmed that he has decided will be placed over his coffin one day. There have been 90 cookies, 90 toothpicks, 90 handprints on a poster and a crown with the number 90 on it. Nieport has lived his life as a farmer and helping other farmers. His fervent reflections about agriculture begin with the Depression, the loss of his family farm, "a move into town" and his father's decision to make a living plowing other people's lots. "When he died, I took that over," said Nieport, "and I wanted to expand." Equipping himself with an Allis Chalmers WC tractor - "one of the first with rubber tires" - was the first step in a lifetime of service to fellow farmers, who found it more economical to subcontract some of their farm work, rather than buy expensive equipment. For example, "people used to cut grain with a binder and then thrash it," he said. "When the combines came in, I bought a used one." As the business grew, he developed custom contracts for harvesting, bailing and thrashing in fields in at least three deaneries. "A lot of people would also buy a small combine, but then hire the bailer," he said. "I started out with a 5-foot combine and got $2 an acre. If I had a nice field, I did 15 acres a day," he said. With the profits, Nieport invested in land. With Gertrude by his side, Nieport moved on to grain dryers - an innovation in which some farmers at first, he remembers, had little confidence. In time, however, Nieport had two and three dryers. "Wagons lined the road waiting to be dried," he said. The dryers sometimes ran 24 hours, amid neighbor complaints about the noise. Along the way, he and his family farmed their own acres, had some livestock, including at one time 500 head of chicken, "considered to be a big operation back then," he said. Today's extreme challenges in agriculture - the high cost of farming, low market prices, suburban sprawl, diminishing interest by younger generations - Nieport believes is forcing farmers to readjust to be successful, just as they always have. It probably means continued off-farm generated income to subsidize the farming operation, increasing yields per acre, certainly accumulating as much land as possible and looking for innovative ways to improve the overall operation, he said. "Years ago, if you had 80 acres of land, you could make a living and support a family," he said. "Today, those 80 acres won't go very far." A small family "hobby" farm these days would be at least 300 to 400 acres, confirmed son Terry, who has taken on his father's business. "There is no doubt that the little farmers are being squeezed out," not only from developers, but also from other farmers with large operations who continue to buy land. He's particularly surprised by the price of land. A 200-acre farm sold recently for $8,270 an acre, he said, and land in general in the northern area of the archdiocese is selling between $4,000 and $5,000 an acre. "The land I bought was $200 an acre, and later $400 an acre," he said. Today's big family farmer may own and/or farm more than 1,000 acres, has probably 200-300 head of cattle or several thousand hogs and is running out of space to put the generated manure. So, in keeping with his father's push for innovation, son Herb now has a trucking business helping farmers to get rid of the manure and to develop fertilizers and soil enrichment products. Successful farms are also not as diversified and self-sufficient as they once were. "Everybody used to have a certain amount of chickens, cattle, hogs, etc.," said Nieport. "You don't see that anymore." Nieport does believe farmers made the most significant gains when they worked together. "Farmers have to get together for better prices," Nieport believes. "They are too competitive with each other." Although Nieport, in retrospect, knows he may have had to sacrifice family time in pursuit of his farm operations, the family believes his work ethic also provided a valuable lesson for the coming generations. Stan Terry's wife, Ruth, for example, reminded her father-in-law, "We will be forever grateful for the knowledge and legacy that you have passed down to us. We have learned so much." "You must have do something right or you wouldn't have such a close family now," said daughter Brenda. "We've been blessed in a lot of ways," said Ruth.

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of The Catholic Telegraph(www.catholiccincinnati.org), official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Cincincinnati, Ohio.