Jeff, Lena, Brianna, Elsie and Maisie Gregg pose for a family picture outside their house. The Gregg family are now raising the eighth generation of farmers with nearly two centuries of farming legacy.
Nominate a Farm Family by emailing Rob Le Cates at rlecates@cimg.media
CERRO GORDO — Led by their father’s wisdom, Jeff Gregg and his brother, Jared, are raising the eighth generation of farmers and continuing a nearly two-century legacy of farming.
Jeff and the operation were recently named a 20 Under 40 by the Illinois Soybean Association, and he said it is a truly humbling experience for them.
How long has your family been farming?
It dates back more than two centuries.
Where is your farm operation?
Cerro Gordo.
From left, Jared Gregg, Larry Price, Jerry Gregg and Jeff Gregg.
How and why did your family come to this area, and where did they come from?
Their roots trace back to their fourth great-grandfather, David Gregg, a farmer who was born in Pennsylvania. In the late 1800s, the Gregg family journeyed west and settled in Illinois, where each generation since has answered the call to agriculture.
What does your operation consist of? Is it strictly grain, livestock or other?
A corn- and soybean-based farm operation with a strong emphasis on landlord relationships, soil conservation and stewardship.
How many generations of farmers are there?
Seven generations.
Ellen Gregg and son Jeff fish together during their free time.
How many people in the family does the operation support?
The farm supports multiple generations of the Gregg family, including Jeff and his wife, Brianna, with their three girls, Lena, Elsie and Maisie; Jared and his wife, Lori, with their two girls, Callie and Gracyn; and their father, Jerry, and his wife, Ellen.
Brianna Gregg works at the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Lori Gregg serves as an eighth-grade history teacher and archery coach at Next Generation School in Champaign. Ellen Gregg recently retired after a long and fulfilling career as a loan officer with Farm Credit Services.
What are some major changes throughout the seven generations?
Over the past several years, there have been two major changes on our farm: drainage and tire technology. We’ve worked together with several landowners over the last 15 years to install subsurface drainage tile that increases aeration, strengthens soil structure, and leads to increases in overall crop yield.
We’ve also made shifts in tires over the past five years. Multi-year studies on our own farm, comparing dual-tire equipment to Low Side Wall (LSW) tire machines, have produced results showing the significant benefits to the LSW system. These results led our operation to install LSW tires on our combines and planting tractors. In 2026, we will be studying LSW tire systems on our tillage tractors.
Jeff Gregg drives the tractor with his daughter Maisie Gregg on their farm.
Do you have any members of the family in the farm operation also working other jobs?
After graduating from the University of Illinois in 2008, Jeff held many off-farm employment jobs to supplement his farm income. For many years after graduation, he worked for a soil-sampling and -analysis firm out of Sullivan.
From there, he found employment with a soybean cleaning and packaging company in Cisco, where they shipped soybeans all around the globe. Then Jeff spent eight years working alongside a father and son construction company out of Clinton. Here, he learned invaluable skills and forged lifelong friendships.
Jared spent his first several years after graduation from the University of Illinois working as a loan officer with First Farm Credit in Bloomington. In 2013, he joined the family farming operation. For many years, he supplemented his farm income through employment with Great American as a crop insurance adjuster.
What does it mean to be named a 20 Under 40 recipient by the Illinois Soybean Association?
To be nominated and recognized by your peers is perhaps one of the highest compliments one can receive. It’s a truly humbling experience.
How have you seen farming change over the years?
When thinking about the changes I’ve seen in agriculture since my childhood, three things come to mind: size of equipment, trait technology advancement, and machinery technology.
Callie, Jared, Gracyn and Lori Gregg take a picture together.
How did your father inspire you?
From the first moments of my memory, my father instilled upon my brother and I the importance of honesty and integrity. He taught us that above all things, honesty is the true measurement of one’s character and must be upheld at all costs. My Dad also has a knack for being able to coordinate multiple people and actions simultaneously, to make our operation run in its most efficient form.
I’m confident Dad would admit that a lot of what he learned about agriculture, he learned from his father — and that’s how it goes in farming. The next generation listens and learns from the experiences of generations past, while at the same time branching out to try new techniques and technologies to carry the operation into the future.
What does the future of agriculture look like to you?
In my eyes, the future of agriculture would be allowing access to more domestic markets and eliminating the red tape to markets such as sustainable aviation fuel as well as mandatory E15 blended fuel.
Adapting new technologies is something farmers have been doing for generations, beginning with the moldboard plow. Advancing technologies of today allow us to be more efficient with almost every aspect of farming, while always maintaining the family heritage of our landowners.
Your farm equipment: Green (John Deere), Red (Case IH) or other?
In our operation, we utilize John Deere tractors, combines, spring tillage equipment, and vertical tillage tools. For planting and fall chisel plows, we prefer equipment from Case IH. Brianna came from a farm that had all the colors of the rainbow in the shed. We prefer the equipment that works the best for our farm.
Lena, Maisie, Jerry and Elsie Gregg farm together in the combine.
What makes farming such a good vocation?
For me, what makes farming a good vocation is the multitude of relationships. First and foremost, farming has a way of naturally strengthening your relationship with God. In addition, we have the privilege of upholding the family heritage of all our landowners, some of whom have farming in their heritage for over 150 years.
To be entrusted with such an invaluable responsibility is humbling. And finally, the everyday relationships we have with the members of our team, other local farmers, our loan officer, crop insurance agent, retail folks, equipment sales people, and seed representatives makes for lasting and eternal friendships.
What soil-conservation practices do you employ on your farm?
As an active participant in the Conservation Stewardship Program, our operation: studies nitrogen uptake in the corn plant in the later stages of production, utilizes an NRCS model that analyzes how our chemicals, tillage practices, surface and subsurface drainage all work together to lessen our operation’s impact on the environment and continues expanding wildlife habitats through installments of native grasses and flower patches.
If you could change one thing about farming, what would it be?
A greater emphasis on the preservation of farmland ownership through lowering the burdens presented to the next generation, attempting to safeguard family heritage.
What’s the best time of the year to be on the farm?
For me, harvest is my favorite time of year. Working together with all the members of our team, bringing in the bounty of harvest, is an extremely rewarding experience.
