The Hoosier Homestead Award
Indiana has honored farms kept in one family for a century or more since 1976, through the Hoosier Homestead Award from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. More than 6,000 farms have been recognized.[1]
Three levels
Who qualifies
The farm must have been owned by the same family for 100 years or more. A farm under 20 acres must show at least $1,000 a year in gross income (proof for the most recent year only). Each change of ownership is shown with a deed, quitclaim deed, or a will that includes the property description; birth and marriage certificates are not required. Awards are given only at the 100, 150 and 200-year marks, and a farm cannot receive the same award twice.[1]
How to apply
Deadlines: November 1 for the March ceremony · April 1 for the August ceremony
Apply with State Form 28547.[2] Two ceremonies a year, one at the Indiana Statehouse and one at the Indiana State Fair in August. Apply by November 1 for the March ceremony, or by April 1 for the August ceremony. Questions go to the program by email: HoosierHomestead@ISDA.IN.gov.[1]
Flatland Farms is not part of the program. This page is a plain-English summary of the state's own page; the state's rules and forms are the ones that count.
A century farm usually has a century barn.
Hoosier Homestead families: nominate the barn for Barn of the Month and record its story while the people who know it can tell it.
Nominate a barn Record its storyWhere these facts come from
- Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Hoosier Homestead Award Program
- ISDA, Hoosier Homestead application, State Form 28547 (fillable PDF)
Facts checked October 2026 and written in our own words. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us through the Barn Letter form and we will fix it. The engraved plates are Flatland Farms artwork, not historic photographs.