To Dale and Kim Bissen, earning the 2015 Mower County Farm Family of the Year Award is a nice gesture, but it gives them the opportunity to share their love for farming.

“Basically, it’s to tell our own story,” Dale said.

The father and son duo’s company, Bissen Farms Incorporated, was honored at this year’s Mower County Fair as the latest Farm Family of the Year through the University of Minnesota extension program.

“Quite privileged I guess,” Kim said. “It’s nice to be acknowledged.”

Dale and his wife, Sandy, began with 400 acres near Adams in 1973. Today, Bissen Farms has more than 1,400 acres of corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, as well as a farrow-to-finish hog operation run by Kim.

Kim got his start in the late 1980s, when he received a gift from the Mower County Pork Producers while in high school. By the time he graduated in 1990, he “already had a pretty decent job established.”

“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Kim said.

The Bissen men take just as much interest in their community as they do in farming. Dale is a member of several area ag boards and will become commander of the Adams branch of the American Legion next year. Kim is on the Adams Township Board, as well as several area ag boards.

The Bissens are proud to come from a family of farmers and hope their descendants will continue their legacy.

In the meantime, it’s nice to be recognized for being good at their work.

“I guess it means you take the agriculture and the job very serious,” Kim said.