Colton Family Honored with Good Neighbor Award

The scenery in rural Minnehaha County, S.D., has changed dramatically in recent years. Where there was once only farmland as far as the eye could see and scattered farmsteads, now there are homes on nearly every eligible piece of ground. Many of these new rural residents are unfamiliar with the common practices of production agriculture.

That changing rural landscape hasn’t lessened the passion of Glen and Dave Grinde and their families for production agriculture in Minnehaha County. This multi-generation farm family is the winner of the April 2006 Good Neighbor Award, sponsored by Ag United for South Dakota and the Tri-State Neighbor.

The Grindes’ farm north of Colton, S.D., has been in the family for generations. Glen and his wife, Brenda, a former teacher, are the third generation on the farm. Glen’s son, Dave, and his wife, Sue, a pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bryant, S.D., are the fourth generation.

“I’ve known the Grindes for 10 or 11 years, ever since we moved to the Colton area,” said neighbor Craig Dybedahl, who nominated the Grindes for the award. “They are always very community-minded and conscious of their neighbors and the impact they have on the people around them.”

Over the years, the farm has included many types of livestock, including beef cattle, hogs and chickens. Glen’s father also operated a small dairy on the farm at one time. Today, the Grindes have narrowed their focus to hog production in addition to their cropland.

While at one time the farm included a farrowing operation, today the Grindes feed about 1,000 pigs from isowean-to-finish in two finishing barns and one nursery.

The Grindes believe taking extra steps to be a good neighbor is important to continued agricultural growth in Minnehaha County and other areas seeing increases in rural, non-agriculture population.

“In the section we live in right here, not only are we are the only ones with livestock, but we have five close neighbors, and we are the only ones that are really full-time in production agriculture,” said Dave.

The Grindes use a straw-based deep bedding system for their finishing hogs and haul all solid manure. The nursery barn has a liquid storage tank that is custom applied.

They avoid spreading close to the neighbors’ property lines and work the field soon after spreading, especially during the summer, in order to cover the manure and minimize any odor from application.

The Grindes have also made it a habit not to spread manure on weekends, when they know many of their neighbors may be home and outside.

“If we spread during the week when our neighbors are only home a few hours in the evening, and not outside more than an hour or so at night, it affects them less,” said Dave.

“But now we’ve got a pastor in the family,” he jokes about his wife Sue. “She’s the only one allowed to spread on Sundays.”

The Grindes’ neighbors have noticed the efforts the family makes to be a good neighbor in their community.

“They are very conscious of what they do,” said neighbor Don Koopman, who owns and operates Koopman & Sons Gas Company in Colton, and has known the Grinde family for many years.

Koopman has a long-standing good humor offer with the Grindes that if they ever run out of their own land to apply manure on, they can always bring it over to his.

He appreciates the concern the Grindes have for the neighbors when applying manure, but adds, “it’s a part of living in the country, and you can’t complain about that.”

Taking extra precautions when spreading manure isn’t the only way the Grindes have cared for their neighbors. They have done chores for neighbors when they are out of town and have pulled drivers out of the ditch during the winter.

In addition to concern for neighbors, the Grindes believe being a good neighbor includes giving back to the community to make it a better place.

“The Grindes have always stepped up and supported community activities such as 4-H, FFA and church events,” said Dybedahl.

“Right now we help out during 4-H Achievement Days if they’ve got something extra,” said Dave. “It seems like the Extension office knows our number by heart.”

The Grinde family assists with the swine shows during Achievement Days, weighing in the pigs and creating show orders, an aspect of the fair they are familiar with from participating in swine shows when Dave was a 4-H member growing up. Glen served as a 4-H adviser for local clubs even before Dave and his sister, Nancy, were 4-H members.

The Grindes are also involved with the Pork Council on a county level, grilling at community events. Dave has assisted with South Dakota State University’s Little International and was a member of the South Dakota Ag and Rural Leadership (SDARL) Class II.

“It’s a wonderful experience, especially the international experience to physically be in a global market and to realize how what you are doing in the U.S. on your farm is impacting a global market and how a global market is impacting what you do,” said Dave of his SDARL trip to Europe.

As the population in rural Minnehaha County continues to change, the Grindes believe the balance in the countryside between acreage dwellers and farmers can be maintained.

“It’s a two-way street,” said Dave. “You need to know who your neighbors are and what they do and in return you should maintain open communication lines so they feel free to come and ask what you’re doing and why.”

“That’s probably the most important, helping your neighbors understand production agriculture,” he said.

“It will help our neighbors develop more of an appreciation for farmers and what they do,” said Sue.

Glen and Brenda agree, and believe working together and helping each other when in need is the essence of being a good neighbor.

“We’ve got good neighbors ourselves,” said Glen, “very good neighbors, all of them.”