The History of Gingerich Farms and Gingerich, Inc.

In 1960, Ed Gingerich rented his mother-in-law’s 80 acres and began farming. Then, in 1962, Elva Gingerich bought his in-law’s120 acres and began farming. In 1969, the brothers realized that their personal resources would be of greater value if combined. This joint venture allowed the brothers to combine their expertise & assets allowing them to better their position of labor, finances, personal contacts, and also combined their similar goals.

Farming 770 acres, the brothers began to grow the farm on the guiding principle of honesty and integrity to the landowner. Practicing responsible stewardship of the landowner’s land and providing accurate reports in a timely matter led to more landowner’s trusting Ed and Elva to farm their land. This growth allowed the brothers to spread their costs over more acres and allowed them to become more efficient.

A factor that hindered efficiency was long lines at the local elevators in the fall. To avoid these long lines and allow timely harvesting, the brothers decided that they needed to build a grain storage facility. In 1976, the decision to build this storage facility was made. This allowed the brothers to get grain unloaded faster than before. With the ability to store grain, the opportunity to market grain directly to the processor became an option.
Trucks were bought for transportation of the grain to the markets and soon the opportunity to haul grain for local farmers and elevators became available. The brothers then started a trucking firm, Gingerich, Inc.

The growth of the farm through the 1970s and the addition of Gingerich, Inc. presented a need for more labor and management. To meet these needs, Ed and Elva decided to make their sons partners in the business.

In 1983, Gingerich Farms was formed. This partnership was between Elva, his sons, Glen, Dannie and Ed, with his son, Darrel. This partnership unknowingly prepared the operation for a large ground acquisition in 1985 which helped propelled Gingerich Farms to new levels of economics.

In 1995, Glen left the Gingerich Farms partnership and started his own transportation business.

In 2001, Elva retired, leaving Ed, Darrel, and Dannie as the present owners of Gingerich Farms.

Gingerich Farms has continued to grow it's land base and is continually updating current and adding new infrastructure to meet the needs of it's operation and to prepare for the future in agriculture.