Most of John Smiley鈥檚 major milestones have been celebrated on his farm in Adams County. It鈥檚 where he was born, where he learned to park a tractor, where he鈥檚 raised his children and the cattle he makes his living off of.
On a cold winter day, he drives around the hilly terrain in his utility vehicle, stopping frequently to point out parts of the farm鈥檚 history: the woods where his father tapped maple, the site of an old sawmill, the former horse stable that he now uses for storage.
He鈥檚 the seventh Smiley generation to farm this land over the last 250 years.
鈥�As a little boy, that's the only thing I've ever wanted to do,鈥� Smiley said. 鈥淚 really feel blessed that I've been able to do what I've really wanted to do.鈥�
From 2017 to 2022, Ohio . Still, many family farms, like Smiley鈥檚, are holding on and preserving their agricultural legacy through the Ohio鈥檚 Historic Family Farms Program.
Ohio鈥檚 oldest family farm
The Smiley family has farmed around 500 acres since 1772 鈥� before Ohio was a state, and before the United States was even a country.
Native American tribes cultivated land in Ohio for several centuries before European settlement, but most surviving documentation started in the post-colonial era. Smiley鈥檚 family has a particular claim to longevity fame: it鈥檚 the oldest continually operating farm registered with the .
鈥淭hey tell me that it's the only farm still in existence that the ground was acquired from King George III of England,鈥� Smiley said.
More than 2,000 Ohio farms are registered in the program. Every county in Ohio has a so-called 鈥淐entury Farm,鈥� land that鈥檚 been used to make food for more than a hundred years.
鈥淚t really brings that focus back to the history of agriculture,鈥� said Brian Baldridge, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, who can trace his own agricultural ancestry back to the 19th century. 鈥淲hat does [it] mean for our state? What does [it] mean for our local families or communities?鈥�
Challenges to preservation
Today, these long-farmed lands stand out more and more as it鈥檚 become harder for small farms to survive, Baldridge said.
鈥淥hio farming has gotten larger and there's been mergers. Farmers are farming more ground, they're raising more livestock,鈥� he said.
While agriculture remains , it鈥檚 facing competition. With businesses like corn, soybean and wheat farmer Geoff Mavis said there鈥檚 increased pressure to sell off productive farmland.
鈥淚've always thought that we needed to look after our farmland and not let it get too developed,鈥� Mavis said. 鈥淗ousing starts, you hear all that [in] terms of progress. I think farmland is kind of ignored.鈥�
Continuing Ohio鈥檚 agricultural legacy聽
Mavis farms more than 900 acres in Fayette County, 40 miles southwest of Columbus. His ancestor James Madison Willis, the son of a Boston Tea Party Revolutionary, started the farm in 1840.
Mavis is proud to be part of this long tradition of farming, but he isn鈥檛 afraid to deviate from the path of his forebears. He鈥檚 the first of his family to introduce conservation practices like no till farming and cover cropping. It鈥檚 an effort to think not just about the past, but about the future.
鈥淚 think it's worth saving,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's just a really nice ecosystem here that we can help make even better.鈥�
Mavis has a son and grandson that seem interested in taking up the family business. But he isn鈥檛 leaving the farm鈥檚 fate up to chance: he put his land in an agricultural easement so it legally has to remain farmland, no matter who owns it.
That easement means the land will persist here for centuries more, providing food for generations. Farmers like him and Smiley know the land will outlast them; they just want to see its value recognized while they鈥檙e here.
鈥淲e're grateful,鈥� Mavis said. 鈥淲e've been given a gift from God to keep it, to try to be good stewards.鈥�
