A Family Tradition
The Anderson Farms story begins in 1911 when Swedish immigrants August and Josephine Anderson purchased a farm south of Mead, Colorado. They lived there with their four children, Albert, Mildred, Edwin and Laurine. August and Josephine died when the children were young, so Albert and Edwin took over the farm. Over the years they grew corn, sugar beets, barley, alfalfa and wheat and in the 1930s they began raising cattle. Edwin married Louise Johnson, a Longmont farming native, in 1946. Her father, Emil Johnson, was also a Swedish immigrant. Emil and his wife Esther spent many years farming near Highway 287 and Lookout Road south of Longmont.
In 1958, as Interstate 25 was being built, the government purchased some of the Anderson property for the highway project. The money Edwin and Albert received from this purchase was used to buy the current Anderson Farms property near Erie. Until 1996, the South Farm, as it is known, was a tenant farm. Other families, including the Walkers and Rasmussens lived and worked on the farm.
Edwin and Louise had three children Barbara, Jody and Jim. Barbara and her husband Randy, three children and four grandchildren now live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jody lives on the farm near Mead. Jim and his wife, Brenda live near the South Farm. They have two daughters Rachelle, who is actively involved with the farm, and Megan, who works as a physical therapist out of state.
Conservation and Innovation
Anderson family members have been innovators and conservationists for generations. August began his conservation efforts in 1912 by building an irrigation pipeline. Edwin and his son Jim continued this conservation tradition.
- In 1987, Jim was named the Jaycee’s National Outstanding Young Farmer based on advances in agricultural techniques, soil and water conservation, and community involvement.
- In 1988, Edwin was named Outstanding Conservationist by the Colorado Association of Soil Conservation Districts.
- In 1989, Jim and Edwin were the Colorado winners of the National Conservation Award sponsored by the National Endowment for Soil and Water Conservation.
- In 1993, Jim was named Cattle Businessman of the Year by the National Cattlemen’s Association.
- In 1999, Jim received the national Environmental Stewardship Award.
- In 2014, Anderson Farms was named the Longmont Conservation District’s Conservationist of the Year and was also named the Upper South Platte Watershed’s Conservationist of the Year for the Farmer Division.
Family Attraction Takes Shape
In 1997, Jim decided to start a small pumpkin patch at the South Farm. In the first few years, Anderson Farms only offered hay rides to the pumpkin patch and a few farm animals. In 1999, Anderson Farms added Colorado’s first corn maze. The year 2000 brought the Anderson family the honor of Successful Farming Magazine’s Farm Family of the Year. Terror in the Corn made its debut in 2001.
Many members of the extended Anderson family were working on the farm each Fall Festival season, but in 2002, Jim’s cousin Peggy Shupe joined the operation. She worked very hard to grow the business and in 2006 decided to move on to new ventures. In 2007, Jim’s daughter and son-in-law, joined the business full time. His daughter Rachelle continues her role as Operations Manager today.
Other family members you may see around the farm include Jody and Barbara, Megan, her husband Aaron, and Brenda’s parents, Phyllis and Alden Elshof. In 2016, the corn maze design included a special message recognizing the 100th birthday of the family matriarch, Louise Anderson, on November 4th. Louise passed away a few months later on May 4, 2017.
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