News

2019 Michigan Master Farmers honored

Three farmers are being added to Michigan’s best during the Great Lakes Crop Summit. 

Dean Haubenstricker farms more than 2,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets and dry beans in Frankenmuth.  He tells Brownfield he’s humbled to be nominated by a group of fellow farmers. “I feel like I get to make a living at my hobby and I never feel like I’m going to work.  Once in a while there are days that aren’t as fun as others, but I could never see myself doing anything else.”

Montcalm County farmer Bruce Noll has been 100 percent no-till for more than 30 years growing corn, soybeans and wheat.  Noll says sustainability to him means leaving resources better than you start with. “You can just see that the soil health has benefited from those years of no-tilling.  My yields are equally as good as conventional till most of the time.”      

Jim Domagalski of St. Clair County spent nearly 40 years farming nights and weekends around a full-time position with Consumer Energy. Since retiring in 2007, he’s become a full-time farmer growing corn, soybeans and wheat and has represented the ag industry on the state and national level. “It’s really an honor and a privilege and I’m humbled to be part of that.  I must have done something right, or my family must have done something right.”

The Master Farmer awards are sponsored by Brownfield Ag News, the Michigan Farmer Magazine, Michigan Agricultural Commodities, GreenStone Farm Credit Services and Wilbur-Ellis.