Holmes County farm honors teen valedictorian balancing work and chores

Adam Stutzman finished his class as valedictorian while keeping a full-time job at an outdoor furniture manufacturer and still pitching in at Legacy Meadow Farm after hours. At the Stutzman family farm in Millersburg, that kind of schedule is part of what keeps a third-generation beef operation moving.

Legacy Meadow Farm says it has been raising beef for more than 50 years and describes itself as a multi-generational farm in Central Ohio. The family says Adam is 18, Allison is 16 and helps with marketing and chores, and Alex, 13, and Abigail, 10, also help with daily farm life. The farm’s website says the Stutzmans are the second generation to share home-raised beef with customers, and it sells half, quarter and whole beef shares with local pickup, nationwide shipping and farm tours by appointment.

The family story fits a county where agriculture still carries major economic weight. Holmes County had 1,736 farms in 2022, with 184,549 acres in farms and an average farm size of 106 acres, according to USDA county data. Livestock, poultry and products made up 84% of agricultural sales, and the county’s market value of products sold reached $291.415 million. Cattle and calves accounted for $152.956 million of that total, while milk from cows brought in $60.136 million.

Holmes County also stands out within Ohio agriculture. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture says Holmes has the third-highest number of farms in the state, and the Holmes and Tuscarawas county area has about 71,500 cattle. Ohio has more than 2,300 registered Historic Family Farms statewide, underscoring how deeply multi-generation ownership still shapes farm life across the state.

Millersburg, the Holmes County seat, sits in the heart of Ohio Amish Country, where rural roads, food and working farms are part of the local identity. Ohio tourism says the Holmes County Trail was the first trail in the nation to accommodate buggies, a detail that reflects how closely agriculture, travel and daily life overlap here.

For the Stutzmans, that overlap is visible in the way Adam moves between graduation honors, factory shifts and farm chores, while the rest of the family keeps the beef business, marketing and day-to-day work going at Legacy Meadow Farm.