OUR HERITAGE

Our familyʼs history in American Agriculture can readily be traced back six generations.
It includes innovative pioneers such as my grandfather being one of a group of men
who developed 2% Golden Guernsey milk. He also participated in the UNRRA (United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Heifer Project) that sent bred heifers to
Europe to help them rehabilitate after WWII. He was very active in soil conservation
serving as a board member and was a sectional winner in the “Save Your Soil for
Illinois” contest in the early 1950ʼs. He was also president of the Illinois Guernsey
Breeders Association for a number of years and exhibited champion cattle at the local
and state levels.

One of my great uncles was the founder of the Morton Elevator Co. that produced grain
elevators to store ear corn in farm cribs.

A cousin was the founder and owner of the Heinold Hog Markets, home of the “racing
pigs”.

My father was a vocational agriculture teacher and was one of the instructors in the pilot
program in the state of Illinois for the ag students placement program which was the
foundation for the “National on Job Training” program. He was also one of the early
junior college agriculture instructors and retired with 37 years teaching agriculture.

We live on farmland homesteaded by our family in 1850 and in a home built by my
great-grandfather in 1921.

Our business foundation started with management of multiple county fairs that really
focused on awareness of rural life and education.

My wife was an FFA officer in high school and worked at the Illinois Department of
Agriculture in the Marketing Department and was involved in the creation of the 1988 All Illinois Food Company promotion at the Illinois State Fair.

Our Heritage
Morton Elevator Art Bauer planting corn in 1946
Family Farmstead