Contributed report
Three generations of the Marquardt Family have farmed the area around Howard Lake since 1975. Today Dave and Julie Marquardt and their family are being honored as the 2023 Wright County Farm Family of the year.
It all started 48 years ago when Dave’s parents moved from Plymouth to start farming. According to a press release from Wright County Extension, Dave’s father, Rodney, had wanted to farm since he was a small child. Rod and his wife, Pat, purchased a small farm located southwest of Waverly and developed a friendship with an individual who farmed near Howard Lake, not far away. Rod knew they could rely on each other as they started their farming careers. The Marquardt farm began with cattle, corn, soybeans, and hay. In the early 1980s, Rod added hogs to the farm. Dave lived on the farm until he left to attend Ridgewater College in Willmar.
After college, Dave returned to Wright County and purchased a farm from a retired farmer who had moved to town. It was a dairy farm that Dave reconfigured to dairy steers. The farm consisted of 80 acres and a farmstead. Dave continued to farm with his father; they each owned their own ground and shared equipment and raised cattle together. Rod died from Farmer’s lung in 2017.
Today, Dave and Julie raise dairy steers from one week of age to market weight. They purchase the calves from a local dairy. Since Rod’s passing, there are no longer hogs on the farm. The Marquardts continue to grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. They also raise hay for local horse owners.
Dave and Julie have five children. Adam and Brant help around the farm. Adam does tillage work and is learning how to weld. Brant works with the cattle, along with fieldwork in the fall. Their sons Mark and Isaac, have calf chores and their youngest child, Dena is four.