The Schroeder family has been named Jefferson County’s Farm Family for 2022.
Gil and Linda Schroeder and their children were recognized by the University Extension Service at the Missouri State Fair held in August in Sedalia along with their counterparts from other counties across the state.
“It was quite a surprise,” said Trish Petrus, one of Gil Schroeder’s four daughters.
Petrus, 50, of Catawissa is the office manager at Gil Schroeder Sod Sales, a sprawling, 850-acre spread at 4600 Byrnesville Road in House Springs.
“While I’m the fourth generation of a farming family, we’ve only been in Jefferson County for 27 years,” she said. “So we weren’t expecting this at all. It’s nice to be recognized.”
Mistti Ritter, county engagement specialist for the University Extension Service office in Hillsboro, said the Farm Family of the year is selected by the Extension Council’s Agriculture Committee and the Jefferson County Farm Bureau.
Factors include the family’s farming operation, community involvement and “upholding the qualities that honor farming’s roots,” according to the service’s website.
Ritter said the Schroeders will be honored in the spring at the 99th annual Jefferson County Agriculture Conference (also known as the Soils and Crops Conference), sponsored by the county Extension Service and the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District.
The conference was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the 2020-2021 Farm Family, Harold and Tami Hamby and their son Hayden, will share the stage with the Schroeders.
The Hambys own LaChance Vineyards of De Soto, which has nearly 5,000 grapevines on 80 acres.
Petrus said her father, 76, and stepmother, 66, remain intimately involved in the day-to-day business of farming, just like her and her husband, Bob.
She said her siblings, Jennifer Porter, Kelly Schroeder, Amy Brooks and Doug Busken, also have put in their time down on the farm.
“All of us worked in the business at one time, either in the office or in the fields, or both,” she said. “You can’t grow up in a farm family and not work on a farm.”
Petrus said the family agricultural tradition started more than 100 years ago in Hazelwood in north St. Louis County, where Gil Schroeder’s grandparents staked out their operation in 1904. Through the years, she said, encroaching development has cut the farm there to about 30 acres or so, but Gil’s brother, Roger, still lives and farms there. In addition to cultivating and selling sod, he also grows row crops.
Petrus said the Hazelwood operation was honored a few years ago as a Century Farm by the St. Louis County University Extension Service.
“At one point, I understand they grew corn, soybeans and winter wheat there,” she said. “I think they had some cattle and hogs. It was a true working farm in every sense of the word.”
Petrus said the sod operation started in 1980 in Hazelwood.
“I understand we got into sod just to diversify,” she said. “There were very few sod farms at that time. That was before the big construction boom.”
With development – and the demand for sod growing – the family opened a second location near St. Clair in 1994.
Three years later, the family bought 297 acres in House Springs.
“It’s just grown through the years (to 850 acres),” Petrus said.
The St. Clair operation eventually was sold off, she said.
While renowned for sod, Petrus said the family still cultivates soybeans and winter wheat. “The sod business can have its ups and downs, but people always have to eat,” she said.
Petrus said it’s yet to be determined if a fifth generation of the family will keep the business going.
She and Bob have twin 22-year-old daughters, Haley and Shelby, and a son, Cole, 19, all attending college.
“They all have worked on the farm,” Petrus said. “I would assume they’ll carry on the legacy, although there’s not anything like a succession plan in place. But they’ve been exposed to farming all of their lives, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they want to continue. The business has been good to us.”
Petrus said agriculture has taught her invaluable lessons.
“Growing up in a farm family, you definitely learn the value of a dollar,” she said. “You learn work ethic. You learn to work until the task is done right. When you’re around agriculture and you talk with other farmers about farming, you learn that those are common values that are passed on from generation to generation.”
For information, go to https://www.loc8nearme.com/missouri/house-springs/gil-schroeder-sod-sales-inc/6940488/