Christmas celebrations usually are a special time for family to gather, and this summer there was a unique family element to the Master Farmer banquet in Plymouth. Three brothers were nominated and selected individually. And the selection of Kerry, Kim, and Kent Ames of Putnam County comes ten years after their father Kenny became a Master Farmer.
It’s the first time for 3 brothers to be so honored, and oldest brother Kerry says it’s the only way he would have felt right about being a Master Farmer.
“We are a family partnership. We’ve been a partnership for 25 years or over and it started with our dad and the three of us and we’re still together. To be able to do it as the three of us that have worked together, and we’ve kind of split responsibilities and have since we started up a long time ago, that just makes it right.”
What makes the 5,000 acre corn and soybean farm run smoothly is each brother filling a niche that suits him well.
“Kim takes care of a lot of the marketing. Kent is the more mechanical one of us as far as maintenance and looking after machinery, and I kind of look over the books and tax accounting and working with our lenders.”
Kerry says the operation is now moving into the era of bringing in a new generation of family farmers, “which is really neat but presents its own challenges, but we’re going now to my sons and two of my nephews who are there all the time. There are six of us there all the time so we’re trying to add now and expand the roles and maybe expand into some different areas trying to increase, if not in acres maybe increase in efficiency or increase our operation in maybe new areas that we haven’t been in before.”
Congratulations to Kerry, Kim and Kent Ames who join Ed Carmichael, Gene Schmidt, and Bill Schroeder as 2012 Master Farmers. The annual awards are presented by Indiana Prairie Farmer, Purdue Extension and Purdue College of Agriculture.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/12/Ames-brothers-Master-Farmers.mp3|titles=Ames brothers Master Farmers]Listen to the full HAT interview with Kerry Ames:[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/12/Kerry-Ames.mp3|titles=Kerry Ames]