Secretary Naig to Present the Brooke Family with the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig will present the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award to the Lee and Darla Brooke Family of Page County during a ceremony on Friday, Jan. 9, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Brooke family farm near Clarinda.

Lee Brooke began his farming career out of high school in 1980, building an operation that is now multi-generational. Today, he farms alongside his wife, Darla; their son, Logan; Logan’s wife, Annie, an agricultural education teacher in Stanton; and their five-month-old son, Lawson. Lee and Darla also have two daughters: Bailey Clubb, her husband Cody, and their children Bowen (7) and Raylee (5) of Clarinda, and Leah Carlson and her husband Josh of Red Oak. 

The diversified crop and livestock operation includes approximately 250 spring-calving beef cows, a cattle finishing hoop building, replacement heifers, and a 2,499-head wean-to-finish hog facility. The Brookes also raise corn, soybeans, hay, and maintain pasture acres across Page and Taylor Counties. Additionally, Logan operates his own farming enterprise. 

Their agricultural roots run deep, with the family farming land that was originally homesteaded in 1869. Although some of that ground left the family in the 1970s, Lee and Darla were able to repurchase it in 1998, reconnecting it with a Heritage Farm originally deeded in 1869. That Heritage Farm is owned by Lee’s mother, Marnice Brooke, age 91, and is farmed by Lee, with Logan and his family residing on the acreage.

“Being a good farm neighbor means more than what happens in the field or the barn, and the Brooke Family clearly understands that,” said Secretary Naig. “They are good neighbors in every sense of the word, caring for their livestock, utilizing conservation, and staying actively engaged in their community and agricultural organizations. Their stewardship and involvement strengthens both their local community and Iowa agriculture. I am pleased to present them with the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award.”

Environmental stewardship has long been a priority for the Brooke family, particularly given the rolling, erosion-prone ground common to southwest Iowa. They use precision technology to optimally apply fertilizer and plant seed. They have practiced 100 percent no-till on their row-crop acres for the last three decades. All owned cropland is fully tiled and terraced, and nearly all rented ground has received similar conservation improvements in close coordination with landlords. They utilize cover crops with rye and triticale planted in the fall and chopped in the spring for cattle feed ahead of soybean planting. Several hundred acres of rye and turnips are flown or drilled into cornstalks to provide fall and winter grazing for cattle. The family plans to continue expanding the use of cover crops.