History

In 1977 as we became a "century farm", tragedy struck. Robert was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and as a result, he would never farm again. The dairy herd was liquidated and Shirley was left with a farm to operate. A swift transition was made from dairying to grain and hay farming. The Wilferts' two sons, William and David, took time out from their professional careers to keep the farm operating. In 1978, William purchased the original Joseph Wilfert farm and David purchased the house on his grandfather Martin's farm. Bill would continue his professional career, but Dave would leave his job as a Sales Manager of a Midwest marketing company. With Dave and Bill as informal partners, Wilfert Farms would continue to grow. A modern grain storage and drying facility and a custom farming business were added in the late 70's to early 80's. Things were good! 

The Russian Grain Embargo of 1982 brought us back to reality. America was telling the world that they would use food as a weapon. Prices fell, cropland was set aside, and the market told us we needed to go in another direction. To diversify, green beans, peas, and carrot crops were added. With carrots needing abundant and regular watering, irrigation was added in the mid 80's. 

The drought of 1988 brought devastation to crops in our area. Our irrigated peas soon became a much sought after commodity. Once again we turned a negative situation into a positive one, with the birth of our retail vegetable operation. As the 90's progressed, we added neighboring land as it became available. Asparagus, sweet corn, pumpkins, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, kohlrabi and a variety of other vegetables were added to our market. Today the Wilfert tradition of quality continues. Dave and his wife Terri, oversee the day-to-day operations of Wilfert Farms. The year 2022 brought about some changes as that was the last year we provided about 2% of the processed carrot tonnage in the state of WI.  Our farm market has become the center of our farming operation.