Home » Newsletter
Winter 2005
Volume 22, Issue 2
240-Acre Operation Relies On Hertz For Management
This is not a fancy story. It’s Maxine Carlson’s story. Her Henry County, Illinois farm is not huge; it’s 240 acres. Her needs are not intensive, her finances not demanding. But, it’s a story of how a partnership with Hertz Farm Management is keeping her independence alive.
When Maxine Carlson was young, she says she was “very independent.” Today, nearly 80 some years later, in order to stay independent, she has intentionally become dependent in at least one area: farm management.
“I want to stay on this farm,” she says from her wheelchair, an aid to assist her with slowly progressing multiple sclerosis. If not for the chair, her MS is undetectable because her personality is so magnetic.
Maxine left a position with United Airlines in 1947 after she met, and eventually fell in love with, Marlo Carlson. Even her response to the marriage proposal showed her independence. “I had to think that over pretty long and hard,” she said. “I had to decide whether or not I wanted to be a farmer’s wife.”
Eventually, Maxine married Marlo and remembers incurring her first “farm story.” “Marlo owned a beautiful black car we would take out on dates. But, as soon as we got married and returned to the farm, he sold it for a tractor,” she recalled. “I knew then how farming was going to work.”
Marlo farmed with his father, Essley, and eventually, with his son, Dave, until his diabetes resulted in his total blindness and kidney dialysis. In 1975, Maxine and Marlo bought a duplex in Sun City, AZ, where they spent the winters in the sun.
Agriculture went through turbulent times in the 1980s and at the Carlson farm, things were no different. When Marlo passed away from the toll of diabetes, son Dave decided to pursue a concrete business in Bloomington, IL. Two farms were sold at auction with the assistance of Ed Kiefer, leaving Maxine with the family farm of 240 acres.
The reliance Maxine and her three adult children, Karen, Julanne and Dave, have on Hertz looms large in the relationship. “Ed and Hertz have allowed me to stay on the farm. Having Ed actively oversee my operation takes a load off of an elderly widow. I just don’t think I would be out here if not for the farm operators, on-site tenants and my farm management team.”
“I rely on Ed’s word and I know it’ll be a good word. I just totally trust them,” she says. “My age has made me very aware of my need for Hertz Farm Management...very aware. It’s imperative that I have someone help me…or actually do it for me. Ed does that.”
Kiefer agrees the two make a good team. “Our number one goal is to take care of Maxine and then take care of the farm.”
“While money is important, it’s also important to select a farm operator who is a genuinely nice person and who will work with us to implement our plan.”
“We cash rent the farm to a local operator, but we still provide input on seed, fertilizer and chemicals. We require certain levels of fertility to be maintained,” says Kiefer. “Not only is it the right thing to do, but Marlo always wanted above average fertility. We have the farm GPS grid soil sampled every fourth year. The operator pays one-half and Maxine pays one-half of the soil testing.”
Crop production is measured by field, and minor adjustments are made the following year, based on consistently improving production.
More recently, Kiefer rebuilt a grass waterway and enrolled it in the CRP program. Government cost sharing paid 90% of the cost. Today, the CRP waterway controls surface water and provides additional farm income.
“The thing I enjoy most about Hertz and Ed is they are so thorough,” says Maxine. “Ed always thinks about the things he’s going to bring up before he mentions them to me. It’s easy to work with Hertz because Ed has a pleasant and positive outlook, we’re both interested in the same things and Hertz just does the things we want done.”
Maxine has seen her life’s experiences originate in many different ways. Obtaining her Social Security card at a young age, she worked to put herself through high school as a sales representative at a Rock Island department store, secretarial work, sewing her own clothes, etc.. She went on to become the secretary to the manager at United Air Lines in Moline and was a second stewardess on Moline flights when too many children were on board for one stewardess to supervise.
Then, she married Marlo and the “town girl” became a successful partner in a farm operation located in one of the richest agricultural resource counties in the Midwest. The Carlsons raised a huge garden, managed over 500 layer hens and became an esteemed stopover for visiting foreign dignitaries wanting to visit a “working U.S. farm.” “We even ate off of gold plates at one point when we were guests of Deere, which was hosting a group of Japanese editors. We kept track on a board in the barn all the countries that had visited our farm. That included the Japanese, Russians, English, French, Swedes, and Dutch, to name a few.”
Today, Maxine enjoys her pets and her deck, where she goes to drink her morning coffee. She reflects on her life and smiles, comfortably. “All around Geneseo, everyone who knew Marlo would tell you there was no one who would work harder. He was a farmer who came up and made it the hard way. Today, Hertz has taken over that role. They understand this farm, and like Marlo, they keep me on the farm.”
Kiefer says he feels farm management firms have a reputation of working with large, successful, entrepreneurial farms. And certainly, that’s true. But, Kiefer says, it is rewarding to have a relationship that provides the quiet, unheralded solace and comfort like the one he has with Maxine Carlson.
“It’s a little story,” Kiefer says, “but it’s a very important one.” For Hertz farm manager Ed Kiefer, satisfaction comes in all shapes and sizes – whether it’s 80 acres or 1,000 acres.
