A White County farmer is being recognized as a Master Farmer. Prairie Farmer editor Holly Spangler says, “The Master Farmer award is Illinois agriculture’s lifetime achievement award.” The award was first awarded 98 years ago, in 1925 and Martin Rae Barbre is among the four 2023 recipients.
Nominated by Illinois Corn, Barbre is a man who’s described as always building something. His farm, family, and sometimes a literal shop. Barbre’s corn and soybean operation has sustained not only his family for 50 years, but is now sustaining that of his children and grandchildren. Barbre began farming in 1974 with his father. His son, Brandon, returned to the farm in 2004. Today, he and Brandon grow corn and soybeans on 6,500 acres, including white corn and seed soybeans under the Chestin Farms heading.
Barbre says, “The most important advancement in my mind is precision fertilizer application, which saves us money, but also preserves water quality and helps ensure we don’t overuse nutrients.” Their goal they say is to preserve and rebuild soil and water, so they split apply nitrogen with passes at preplant, with the planter and in a final sidedress pass on the most productive soils. They no till all their soybeans about 60% of their corn. Beyond that, they’ve taken non productive land out of production to help preserve soil and water. “We use precision agriculture to grow more with less”, according to Barbre.
Barbre’s served on the White County Farm Bureau board and the Illinois Corn board, where he was elected president. Additionally, he served as president of the National Corn Growers Association and in 2018 Martin was appointed under the Trump administration as the USDA Management Agency administrator, where he oversaw federal programs including crop insurance.
Other Master Farmers chosen for 2023 include David Meiss of Gridley, Ron Moore of Roseville, and Curt Strode of Marietta. The gentlemen will be honored during the magazine’s annual event in Bloomington, Illinois on March 15th.
