Editor’s note: The Farm Progress Show is Aug. 27-29 in Boone, Iowa. Visit FarmProgressShow.com.

Part of what makes the Farm Progress Show unique is that its site is rooted in farmland owned and operated by farm families.

These host families include growers such as Don Uthe, who farms a large portion of the ground around the show with sons Scott and Kevin.

“Farming has been in our family since the early 1900s, and it just becomes part of your life and your lifestyle,” he says.

Uthe also operates an ag input business and sells seed, fertilizer and fuel to other farmers, which also helps his own operation.

FARMERS AT WORK: Don (left), Scott and Kevin Uthe farm a large portion of the ground where the harvest demonstrations happen during the Farm Progress Show. (Farm Progress)

This year has been a dichotomy of sorts for Iowa farmers, with mostly dry conditions during April, followed by heavy rainfall and flooding during the growing season.

“There’s been plenty of moisture,” Uthe says.

At the show site, though, timely planting did occur April 11 when corn was put in the ground.

Highlights for farmers

Uthe says he always looks forward to seeing the different technologies and ideas that are presented at the show.

“It’s just fun to look at,” he says.

For farmer Eric Ziel, relationships have been the best part of being a Farm Progress Show host family.

“The show been a real experience and an adventure,” he says. “We’ve worked with people all over the world.”

The land owned by Ziel and wife Carol, where the show located its permanent site, has been in the family since the 1930s, when Ziel’s grandparents, Wallace and Gladys Samuelson, bought it.

Later, Ziel’s parents, Robert and Marilyn, farmed it. Ziel then farmed it, and he still puts up 160 acres of hay on the site that is used for parking. Besides hay, the Ziels grow corn and soybeans.

Ziel is also part-owner of AgInPuts, a fertilizer, chemical and seed supplier near Ames. He also has a large antique car and tractor collection.

ISAACSON FAMILY: Part of the Isaacson family includes April (back row, left), Ben, Dick and Judy, and Libby (front row), Westin, June, Brennan and Ella. (Courtesy of Isaacson family)

The Ziels’ daughter Jennifer is married to Pat Graham, who works in the family operation. The Ziels’ daughter Erica and her husband, Brent Conklin, have three children. She has an online fitness business and owns Core Athletica Pilates Studio in Ankeny. Brent heads the fire science program at Des Moines Area Community College.

For host family the Isaacsons, the show revolves around the family’s matriarch, June Isaacson. She turned 97 years old in June.

“She loves the show,” says son Dick, adding that she’s seen farming change tremendously and is amazed by the new technology and products from show exhibitors.

54 years on farm

June and her late husband, Warren, were dairy farmers and milked cows for 27 years. She’s lived on the farm for 54 years.

The Isaacson farm is east of the exhibit area, and June lives on the farm, which has been in the family since the late 1930s.

Dick and his wife, Judy, live in Coggon. Judy is retired from Iowa State University Extension and Dick owns Growthland, formerly known as Agri-Management Services, with son Ben. The business focuses on farm management, rural appraisal and farm real estate.

The Farm Progress Show thanks these host families who own the land and farm the ground around the show.