Hentges Family Farm
Joe's parents, Bill and Gloria, purchased their first 80-acre farm in the mid-1970s. In 1972, Bill along with friends Mike and Ray Pieper started a milk hauling business. A few years later, Mike and Ray began to farm full time to leave Bill and his brother, Paul, to operate Hentges Trucking hauling milk seven days a week.
Joe and his parents currently own and rent 1,200 acres to raise com and soybeans with wheat and alfalfa in the rotation. Joe has used cover crops on about 150 acres since 2012. Joe is a farmer/dealer for Gold Country/Channel seeds and Mustang seeds. Joe and his uncle Paul still operate Hentges Trucking hauling grain for area farmers and milk for about 30 dairy farmers sending milk to Bongards and 1st District creameries.
Joe started hauling the grain to the elevator when he was 15 years old; he eventually started hauling grain for other farmers and took his turn with the milk route as well. Joe attributes much of his learning and knowledge to the farmers he trucked for--he got to see many farms and the farmers shared what was working for them.
Joe is the father of three children, Cody, Taylin and Jorie. They help pick rocks and care for their horses. Cody takes every opportunity to help on the farm. Joe's father, Bill, has taken a step back from the farm, but Joe gives his parents all the credit for building the farm into what it is today. Joe says his mother is the backbone of the operation. She has always taken an active role on the farm, even while having a full-time job teaching 9th-grade science in the Shakopee school district. Now retired, Gloria drives the field cultivator and helps with the harvest. Joe's right-hand man is his good friend Matt Gerdes, who works daily on the farm while being a mechanic as well. Neighbors, cousins and friends also help in the busy season.
In high school, Joe was a member of the Chaska FFA. He earned his FFA State Degree along with earning the National Star Agribusiness award for his trucking business. Joe served for nine years on the Farm Service Agency Board in Farmington. He is a current member of the Spring Lake-Prior Lake Farmer Led Council. Joe recently earned the Lake Friendly Farm Program certificate for using cover crops, installing buffers and conservation practices on his farm and land near Spring Lake and Sutton Lake. Joe works closely with his landowners on conservation practices, because he wants to leave the land in better shape and leave good soil for his children to farm.