Tom and Joyce Soderholm
The Soderholm family farm has operated in Elk Township in southwest Minnesota’s Nobles County since the 1890s. Five generations of the family have farmed the land. The farm has always been a crop and livestock operation. In the 1940s, there was a registered Black Angus herd that lasted for more than 30 years. The present farm includes Tom and Joyce, along with Tom’s brothers and nephews who raise hogs, cattle, corn and soybeans. The farm consists of family and individual-owned land. Some land that is worked by the Soderholm family is rented and some is custom farmed.
Tom and Joyce have three married daughters and sons-in-law: Kari and Chad Buendorf, Jennifer and Dave Marcotte, Courtney Soderholm-Storlie, and her husband Ben Storlie. All the Soderholm daughters were active in 4-H growing up at the local, regional, and state levels. Tom and Joyce met through 4-H.
Tom and Joyce have eight grandchildren: Devin, Kia, Ethan, Piper, Jack, Tate, Lilian and Olivia. The grandchildren love to help their grandpa on the farm.
Tom is a Nobles County Farm Bureau board member and serves on the Farm Bureau’s Promotion and Education Committee. He helped to start the local Ag in the Classroom effort. Tom served on the Producers Livestock Board for 15 years. Joyce has been a 4-H leader and chair of the Interstate Exchange Program. She’s been a judge for a variety of state and local competitions including the Minnesota State Fair. She is very active in the family’s church, serving on many committees, and has taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. Joyce serves on the board of the local hospital auxiliary, volunteers at the cancer center, as a lobby hostess, and assembles “New Mother” bags. She delivers Meals on Wheels, provides rides for the elderly in the community, and sews infant Christmas stockings for newborns. She also participates in several neighborhood clubs and projects. Joyce does a great deal of parts-running, banking, and record-keeping and provides lots of meals for the crew, especially in the spring and fall.
Tom and Joyce are very proud grandparents!