Our Farming heritage is traced back to 1852 when (Ferdinand Koehn) was born in Germany and sailed to America 17 Years later.  In 1886 my Great Grandfather was Born (Paul Koehn Sr.) he farmed in Iowa before moving to central Illinois to continue farming.  Years later in 1919 my Grandfather (Paul Koehn) was born in Danvers Illinois.  Grandpa grew up learning about farming and agricultural business from his dad and working for neighbors (he also had a small custom farming business).

In his 30’s grandpa married (Minerva Klein) they had two daughters (Sharon & Mary).  While farming the small family farm grandpa and grandma started a fertilizer dealership / trucking company and operated it for many years before selling it (currently called Earlybird Grain & Fertilizer Service).  His youngest daughter (Mary) married Neil Jacobs and the three of them operated the growing family farm for many years.  Neil and Mary Jacobs had 2 boys (Andrew and Jeffrey).  “Us boys” worked side by side with our parents and grandparents learning the farm business.  Both of us love the farm work and told grandpa many times that we wanted to farm for a living.

As farming changed and machinery got bigger all the work on the family farm got done faster so dad started a trucking business.  Dad bought a couple of trucks and Jeff bought a truck, I drove the extra semi-truck and sold seed for Golden Harvest in the off time.  The trucking business was fun, got to meet lots of people and make extra money at the same time, but wasn’t home very much for family.  Because family is important we trucked less and started doing more custom farming work instead. 

As grandpa was getting older “us boys” started taking on more responsibilities.  Grandpa enjoyed the days of operating machinery with out all the planning and book work that went along with farming.  As time went on the family life started, Jeff married Claire and I married Jennifer both of us have 2 kids each.  Dad still trucks and helps us on the farm, mom brings meals to the field and stand by for kid sitting.  Even though the previous generations of the family farm are not with us anymore, their spirit still carries on every time a story is told to the next generation.

Currently the family farm operates 1450 acres we will custom plant another 3000+/- for the neighbors.  We also custom spray around 14000+/- acres thru out the whole year, fungicide application over the crops late in the growing season is a huge part of the acres.  Harvest time is just as busy, most years we cover 2500+/- additional acres above the family farm acres.  Like most farming operations we want to grow the family farm.  The 6th generation is growing up fast and has expressed interest in farming.  We are truly blessed with family, friends, neighbors, and business partners.

Andrew & Jeffrey Jacobs