General Management
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Janzen Family Farms is managed by John Janzen (far right).
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For more than 55 years, Leroy Hiebert (far left) also worked at the farm, until he passed away in August 2013. (We invite you to see pictures of Leroy and learn more about him here.)
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Janzen family members – four siblings, their four spouses, and their 11 children and grandchildren – continue to play a role on the farm in various capacities. Some, such as the grandchildren, join in for special occasions and summer farm help.
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For around thirty years until his recent retirement from farming, Mark Janzen, Sr. worked the farm, and he and his wife Hennie (center right) lived in the Janzen farmhouse. Today, John Janzen, Mark Sr.'s oldest brother, and his wife Reinhild (center left) continue to live adjacent to the farm, on their property, nicknamed "Heubuden." Our forebears began farming in Kansas in 1880, and our family has been in the Newton area for five generations. Janzen Family Farms is a name we adopted in the 1980s.
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If you'd like to read more about the history of our farm, and the people behind it, please refer to our "History" section.
JFF Receives "Century Farm" Award
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In September 2009, the Kansas Farm Bureau conferred “Century Farm” status on Janzen Family Farms. “Century Farms” are farms that are members of the Farm Bureau, that have been owned within one family for more than a century (with the present owner related to the original owner), and that retain at least 80 acres of the original Kansas farmland. As our farm has been in Janzen hands since 1898, we fit the bill.
John and Reinhild Janzen were at the Kansas State Fair Sept. 18, 2009, to receive the award. Marci Penner, Executive Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, and U.S. Representative Jerry Moran were on hand to celebrate the moment. (It so happens that Moran represents part of our farm, given that it lays on the county line that also happens to be the dividing line between Congressional districts!)
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Left: Our JFF Century Farm Certificate
Right: Family BBQ and blessing after farm meeting, Summer 2009
