Centennial Farm Partner

Besides delivering reliable electricity, the company continues to support farmers by promoting electrical safety and FFA youth leadership. 

The staff is also active in the Michigan Centennial Farm Association (MCFA) and the Michigan Agricultural Electric Council among other efforts. Apply for Centennial Farm certification.

The photo on the right shows threshing operations powered by electricity becomming more common as Consumers Energy pioneered Michigan's rural electrification.     
 
The company sponsors signs to help customers in its service territory mark a farm that has been in the family for 100 years.

There are about 7,000 certified centennial farms in Michigan, the oldest dating back to 1776.  For more information on centennial farms, visit Michigan Centennial Farm Association.

In 1996, Consumers Energy co-sponsored a survey with the MCFA and the Agricultural Heritage Program at the Michigan State University Museum.  Nearly 800 Michigan centennial farm families replied to the questionnaire.      

But the numbers only tell a small part of the amazement felt by farm families as they experienced electricity for the first time.

“When they turned on the lights, all of us kids jumped up and down and my mother cried,” remembered Charles Curtiss of Lapeer, near Flint.

Verna Krogman of Coral, north of Grand Rapids, recalled how thrilled her family was in 1930.  “We lit every light in the house and barn the first night to see if the wires would really handle it. We felt like chosen people.”