Cupid’s arrow has an ag base in the heartland
Editor’s note: In celebrating Valentine’s Day, Dave Bergmeier remembers this story that was published in 2014.
So you say you are from “the heartland.”
If that’s the case here is a whimsical look at the “heartbeat of America” through the eyes of an agrarian as Valentine’s Day quickly approaches.
We thought readers might enjoy a sampling of Americana as only found in the “heartland.” Elementary schools across the country continue the timeless ritual of passing a note or candy from Cupid to an unsuspecting classmate. Many a story is told in which teachers encourage students to exchange notes with their classmates from country schools that continues to today’s modern attendance centers. Many 4-H’ers recall February meetings that started with a Valentine’s theme.
The photo above was taken by Field Editor Lacey Vilhauer for the story.
Valentine’s Day is named after the Catholic St. Valentine. From history.com, the non-government holiday is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. Always on Feb. 14, it is the one of the largest volume weeks for post offices and it is also represents the “harvest season” for florists across the country.
In the Journal region, the heart of the mythical Cupid could be in Valentine, Neb.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the community has a population of 2,737 residents in the Sandhills of northern Nebraska and sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer. Valentine is known as Heart City! It is located in Cherry County, Neb., near the South Dakota border. It is a prime region of beef country.
“We have Valentine’s Day year around,” quipped Dean Jacobs, executive director of the Valentine Chamber of Commerce, adding that the community finds itself in the media spotlight and he never tires of promoting it. “We do get a lot of exposure.”
As expected, Jacobs said weddings tend to spike particularly when they fall on the Valentine’s Day weekend. Art work contests with a Valentine theme is a popular event in February and local businesses promote special sales, he said. A local restaurant, the Peppermill, cooks a heart-shaped steak for customers.
The Valentine Chamber of Commerce serves as a host for coronation activities for the local high school as all kindergarten through sixth-grade students are included in the royalty court.
For nonresidents who want to mail a valentine the chamber will add a special touch and works with the local post office to add to the fun. The local post office will send the valentines with a special mark. People will need to send their postage to the chamber of commerce for the privilege.
Agriculture is not forgotten, he said. “Agriculture is at the roots of what we do here,” Jacobs said, adding that the farming and ranching in Cherry County is not only big business but well-known in the United States.
A signature business in Cherry County is the Valentine Livestock Auction, he said.
A special event is the Heart City Bull Rush, which is a tradition celebrated on the weekend most closely associated with Valentine’s Day. Ranchers from throughout Cherry County load their cattle and drive to Valentine where portable pens are put in
place for the ranchers to showcase cattle, Jacobs said. Special events and shopping experiences are planned around the Bull Rush. Jacobs said it is fun to watch the town transform with the Bull Rush.
“It is a nice and enjoyable event,” he said.
Jacobs is also executive director of the Cherry County Tourism and he can name the many attractions, such as the Niobrara River, areas designated for wildlife, forest, golf courses, reservoirs and lakes that help the county serve as a destination spot for tourists. When he travels and people ask him where he is from it is easy to promote the many assets of the county.
The Valentine name recognition is a big plus, he said and quipped, “it sure doesn’t hurt.”
According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, Cherry County has 560 farms that cover 3.8 million acres meaning the average size of farm is 6,700 acres. The county has $142 million in market value of products sold with crops at $13.9 million and livestock at $128.6 million. The county is first in forage (hay, haylage, grass silage and greenchop) with 291,120 acres devoted to it. The county has 204,500 cattle and calves to rank third in the state, it is second in bison at 3,370 and first in horses and ponies at 3,159.
Here are some other communities with a cupid’s touch for names.
Loveland
Stories of yesteryear are part of the folklore for those who lived in southern Oklahoma just north of the Texas border in which young men seeking the attention of young ladies drove to a small post office in a southern Oklahoma town just north of the Texas border to send his love letter so it could bear the postmark of Loveland, according to local lore. The post office is closed and the 2010 Census showed a population of 13 people. Tillman County has a population of 7,992 people in wheat and cattle country. The county has about 464,000 land in acres with the average size farm of 847 acres in 2007. The county had 548 farms. Livestock sales were $43.8 million and crop sales were $42.6 million. Wheat had 126,244 acres and cotton had 46,365 acres. There were 53,119 cattle and calves listed.
Of special note Oklahoma also has a Love County.
In our coverage area, there is also Loveland, Colo. Not much traditional agriculture resides in the city of Loveland, once a hub of dairies, sugar beets, specialty crops, hay and corn production. Today the city has a population of 66,859 people. Over the past 30 years urban sprawl has displaced rows of corn with rows of homes. Still, the community boasts of a farmers market and has farm services in its base county of Larimer County. In the rural areas there are many horse farms, cattle ranches and sheep herds.
There are 1,757 farms encompassing 490,000 acres meaning the average farm is 279 acres. Crop sales generate about $50 million and livestock about $78 million. The county ranked 10th in forage such as hay and grass with 45,800 acres. It was third in corn silage with 6,047 acres and sixth in vegetables produced with 3,317 acres. It was 12th in cattle and calves with 50,926, fifth in sheep and lambs, at 14,436, and second in horses and ponies at 6,776.
Hartville
Similar to Loveland, Hartvilles are found in two states—Missouri and Wyoming.
Hartville, Mo., with a population of about 613 people, is located in Wright County in southcentral Missouri about 53 miles east of Springfield. The town has an interesting history because much of the town was destroyed during the Civil War in 1863 and nearly
100 years later a tornado destroyed much of its business district. Wright County is primarily agriculture in beef and dairy country. It has 1,206 farms, 284,271 acres in land for farms and the averaged size is 236 acres and has 23,286 cattle and calves.
Hartville, Wyo., has population of 62 people and is 82 miles north of Cheyenne in Platte County. According to the town’s website, www.hartvillewyoming.com, Hartville has a slogan of “whole lotta Hart!” and has the distinction of being the oldest-still-in-existence incorporated town in Wyoming. The town was established in 1884 with early ties to a copper mine.
In terms of agricultural production, the average farm is 2,686 acres as 487 farms encompass 1.3 million acres. Crop sales are $11.4 million but livestock is $85.6 million. The county is ranked third in the state in cattle and calves with 88,471.
Hartford
Hartford, like Loveland and Hartville, also is a town’s name in two states in the region.
Hartford, S.D., has a population of 2,534 in southeast edge of the state and is about 17 miles west of Sioux Falls in Minnehaha County. One of its most famous residents E.C. Kibbe, was an outspoken proponent of farm interests and progressive legislation as he established the Hartford Plain Talker newspaper in 1892, according to the Minnehaha County website. The town’s early roots were agriculturally based and included grain warehouses and elevators, a flour mill and a creamery.
Today the county has 1,194 farms that encompass 421,416 acres meaning the average size is 353 acres. Crop sales are $109 million and livestock sales are $81 million. The county is ranked fifth in corn production with 154,211 acres and seventh in soybean production at 115,025 acres. It has a diverse livestock mix: cattle and calves, 12th, 74,307; hogs and pigs, seventh, 61,333; sheep and lambs, 14th, 5,583; and horses and ponies, sixth, 2,284.
Hartford, Kan., with a population 371 people, is located in the “heart” of the Flint Hills near Emporia in Lyon County. The county is known for its beef production in its vast pastures. Lyon County had 930 farms with an average of 509 acres in 2007, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Census. Total acreage was 473,679 acres with crop sales at $24.6 million and livestock sales at $78.2 million. The average farm had $110,437 in sales. The county had 69,6465 cattle and calves and 5,515 swine and pigs.
Hart
Hart, Texas, has a population of about 1,114 people, and is about 80 miles southwest of Amarillo, or about 60 miles north of Lubbock in west Texas in Castro County. It is also the home to the Hart of Texas Cattle Feeders. Castro has 485 farms that encompass 567,255 acres with the average size 1,170 acres. The average farm generates $2 million in sales as the county has $973 million in sales with livestock generating about $826 million. There are 732,715 cattle and calves in the county, ranking it second in the state and fifth in the nation.
Lovington
Lovington, N.M., in Lea County, has a population of about 11,000 people in east central part of the state. It is ranked second in the state in cotton production with 12,089 acres. According to Lovington Economic Development Council the county produces about 41,000 tons of alfalfa. The Lea County Cheese plant manufactures 1.8 million pounds of milk per day, and its dairy production ranks sixth in the state. The county has 572 farms that cover 2.36 million acres meaning the average size is 4,135 acres. Livestock sales produce about 82 percent of the market value at $76.6 million.
Hartman
Hartman, Ark., has a population of about 600 residents in Johnson County, Ark., which is located in the northwest part of the state, and is 50 miles east of Fort Smith. At one time the town had blacksmith shops, livery stables, cotton gins, a grist mill and a regular cow buyer, according to the town’s website, www.cityofhartman.org. The good years of the 1920s ended in November 1926 when a large part of the business district of town was destroyed by fire. The discontinuation of passenger and mail service in 1960 also impacted the town. The county is in the “heart” of poultry production.
In terms of agricultural production, Johnson County has 607 farms that encompass about 106,00 acres making the average farm about 174 acres. Crop production is $3.65 million but livestock is $131 million as the county ranks 16th in broilers and meat-type chicken with nearly 5 million chickens and is sixth in turkeys at 803,000, 14th in pullets for laying flock replacement at 248,000 and 22nd in layers at 216,000. The county is 27th in cattle and calves at 27,230.
Lovilia
Lovilia, Iowa, is a southcentral community of 538 people. Located about 56 miles southeast of Des Moines, it is in prime farm country and rolling hills as it is situated in Monroe County. In 2007, the county harvested 31,679 acres of corn, 24,789 acres of soybeans, and had 14,333 hogs and 29,443 head of cattle, according to Iowa State University Extension. The average farm was 305 acres and the sales per farm averaged $69,696.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached by telephone at (620) 227-1822 or by email at dbergmeier@hpj.com.
PHOTO: Kissing calves. (Journal photo by Lacey Vilhauer)
The sweatheart’s treats are also found here
By Dave Bergmeier
For the romantics, wine, cheese, chocolates and flowers all have taken hold in the heartland and enjoyed by rural and country cousins alike.
Here are some tidbits of agricultural information.
You want a glass of wine? As expected, California is the heavyweight with 6.54 million tons of grapes and production of nearly 567 million gallons of wine on an annual basis, producing well-known brands. But there are “vines” that branch in the heartland.
Kansas
How many readers would raise their hands if they knew the Sunflower State, in the 19th century, was a leader in wine grape production? In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the state had nearly 5,000 acres in grape production; however, the cumulative effect of Prohibition ended largescale production, according to state historians.
Missouri
An up-and-comer in terms of wine and grape production is the Show Me State. In 2009, the state ranked 12th in wine grape production at 4,400 tons and was eighth in production of wine at 1,219,204 gallons, according to information from the Missouri Wine and Grape Board. The state has 118 operating wineries and 393 vineyards. The industry has 1,600 acres devoted for wine grapes and produces 491,721 cases of wine. It’s tasting tours are well-known throughout the Midwest.
Texas
The Lone Star State has eight growing regions, according to the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. Texas is the No. 5 grape and wine producer in the country and contributes about $1.83 billion of economic value to the Lone Star State. There are 420 growers covering 4,400 acres.
Iowa
There are more than 350 commercial vineyards in the Hawkeye State. More than 230,000 gallons of wine are produced in Iowa with an estimated market value of $12.3 million, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Similar to Kansas, Prohibition had its grip on the state. Iowa grape production had a yield of 15.8 million pounds in 1929.
Cheese
Often what accompanies wine for heartland couples is naturally cheese and the most important ingredient in cheese is milk.
The dairy products used to make cheese are also found in the heartland as dairies ship their processed milk to manufacturing centers. As expected, California and Wisconsin are the nation’s largest dairy states, but also in the top 10 are Texas (sixth) and New Mexico (ninth). According to the USDA, almost half of the milk supply is used to turn out about 9 billion pounds of cheese each year and mozzarella has surpassed cheddar as the most popular variety.
Some states, such as Kansas, have reversed long-term production trends and production has gone up in the past 10 years. According to the 2012 Dairy Research Report Progress from Kansas State University, the Kansas dairy industry has continued a steady upward climb in production rankings. At the end of 2011, Kansas ranked 12th nationally in milk yield per cow at 21,057 pounds, 16th in number of dairy cows (123,000) and 15th in total milk production at 2.59 billion pounds. At the end of 2012, Kansas had about 300 dairy operations and about 332 cows per herd.
Chocolate
Hershey, Pa., is hands-down the chocolate capital of the United States. Yet one of the largest manufacturer’s in the world, Kansas City, Mo.-based Russell Stover Candies has Colorado roots. In 1923, Clara and Russell Stover equipped the basement of their Denver bungalow home with candy-making equipment and started making “Mrs. Stover’s Bungalow Candies,” according to company’s website. Clara and Russell opened their first store in December 1923 selling 120 pounds of chocolate and raising $90 the first day. A year later Clara and Russell had five stores in the Denver area and 30 employees working in the basement of their home.
Today the company, the nation’s largest manufacturer of boxed chocolates, annually makes 100 million pounds of chocolate with more than 4,500 employees and the company has plants in Abilene and Iola, Kan., as well as Montrose, Colo., and Corsicana, Texas.
Raw materials in boxed chocolates include chocolate, milk, sugar, fruits, dairy cream and nutmeats, according to the company.
Another major chocolate manufacturer is M&M Mars, which opened a large production plant in Topeka, Kan.
Flowers
Wherever the weather is viable, perhaps your flowers are homegrown. Roses are most commonly grown in warmer climates, and Texas is an important producer.
According to information from Texas A&M AgriLife, between 16 percent to 20 percent of roses are produced in Tyler, Texas. The wholesale value of the rose plant production and processing industries in northeast Texas is estimated at $50 million and is a large part of an estimated $150 million in ornamental plant production in the northeast Texas area. Sandy acid soils, relative abundance of rainfall, 45 inches a year, and mild winters, advantages as well as central location of Tyler to transportation corridors. As with any heartland operation, summer drought, severe winter cold and early and late freezes can impact growers. In the late 1950s, more than 20 million plants were harvested by almost 300 growers. Today there are around 5 million plants grown on about 500 acres within a 30-mile radius of Tyler by fewer than 25 producers.
Larger centers for rose production are naturally in Arizona and California.
So take a bow if you live in the heartland, and remember the day by making the one of your choosing a special day with the products that are familiar to you.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached by telephone at (620) 227-1822 or by email at dbergmeier@hpj.com.
