Gunderson Grain Farms of Waterford, in Racine County, has been named the 2026 Conservation Farm Family of the Year by WI Land+Water. Brian Gunderson, his wife Krista, and their daughters Kora and Ashley were honored at the organization's annual conference earlier in March, and a short film about the family's work has now been released.
The award recognizes Wisconsin farm families for conservation work on their land, along with leadership in community involvement and conservation education. Brian Gunderson is the seventh generation to farm the family's land in western Racine County. He began helping on the farm at age 10 and started full-time at 18, working alongside his father, David.
The family's conservation work goes back decades. They first tried conservation tillage in the late 1970s, began running no-till fields alongside conventionally tilled ones in 1981 to compare results, and committed to no-till across the whole operation by the mid-1980s, which at its height covered 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans. In 2004, they added 43 acres of grassed buffers to protect more than a mile of perennial streams and ditches.
A newer chapter began in 2017, when a neighbor returned from a producer-led field day in Dodge County urging Brian to help start a similar group at home. With support from the Racine County Land and Water Conservation Department, the Watershed Protection Committee of Racine County was formed in 2018, with Brian as one of its five founding members. That same year, the farm planted its first cover crop, including planting green.
The group has since grown from five producers to 28, and all of them now use some form of soil health practice. Brian hosts most of the group's shop meetings, has attended every field day and workshop since its founding, and, with his daughters, donates time and equipment to research on 50 acres at Racine County's Case Eagle Park. He also now speaks about soil health at schools, lake association meetings and other events.
Today Gunderson Grain Farms owns and operates 1,300 acres and leases another 700, growing primarily corn and soybeans. Kora and Ashley farm with their father and are set to carry the operation into its eighth generation. Brian said his soil is in the best shape it has been in his lifetime, and described his role as caretaker for the next generation.
