Wiard & Jean Groeneveld | Enduring Legacy
/What's your connection to the land?
Born on a farm in Iowa, raised on this farm in Washington (Wiard). The Groenevelds have been dairy farmers since the 1500's and probably before. We own and live on our land, grow crops, raise dairy animals, milk them, and provide milk for sale to the public.
What actions have you taken as a steward that you're most proud of and/or that you feel have made the biggest difference?
We have kept the legacy of farming alive in our family for another generation and hopefully longer. We have served on boards that we felt were good for agriculture and given a lot of younger people a chance to be on our farm through work, 4-H, and FFA, and we live our faith in the best way we know how.
What’s your hope for the next 75 years? And/or what advice do you have for those next 75 years?
So much has changed in the last 75 years. Family farms are disappearing fast due to real estate development, government regulations, taxes, help (labor) scarcity, high-price repairs, expensive equipment, low uncertain milk and crop prices, (and) high insurance. My hope for the next 75 years is that the farmland still left now will be saved as farmland and will remain family owned and farmed.
Anything else you want to share or feel is important?
Who are we? A couple who have been blessed with each other, good parents, good children, good neighbors, good friends and people in good organizations. Always enjoyed the Snohomish CD, USDA, Farm Service Agency people, NW Farm Credit Services and our church and our free country.
- Name: Wiard and Jean Groeneveld
- Where is home? Sultan
- Where are you from? Wiard: Born in Iowa, came to WA with parents in 1938. Parents came from Germany in 1931. Jean: Born in Monroe
