MAPLE PARK—“It’s better to be contributors than space takers,” says Sandy Gould. This is the family philosophy that drives Eldon and Sandy Gould of Maple Park, who along with their son Chris and his wife Dana are the owners and operators of Gould Farms.

Eldon and Sandy share a deep faith in God and support one another in their beliefs. Eldon is an active member of St. Gall Catholic Church in Elburn, where he is a member of the building committee and an usher and former parish council member.

Sandy, who was born and raised a Methodist, is a long-time active member of Kaneland United Methodist Church serving in a wide variety of leadership positions for many years.

Both Sandy and Eldon make a difference together at each respective church having a long list of community involvement and church activity participation where they share their time and talents.

“We just can’t sit around and not give back,” Sandy says. “It’s very important to us.”

At St. Gall’s, Eldon and the building committee are trying to gather up momentum to raise funds and build a new larger church at Illinois Rte. 47 and Hughes Road, several miles south of the present church.

“We had a capital campaign over 10 years ago and then the recession hit,” Eldon said. “We have hope to start up our campaign and move forward again.”

The Goulds have made a big difference in their life-long journey of creating a successful family farming business with strong ethical values. They’ve impacted their community in many ways and have left their imprint in agriculture on the national stage.

They raised their three children — Chris, Richard and Lynda — on the farm. And the family has grown. Chris and his wife Dana have three children, Kelsey, Vanessa and Andrew. Richard and his wife, Jackie, have three sons, Aidan, Damian and Owen. Daughter Lynda and her husband, Austin Shingledecker, have a baby daughter, Ellie Em.

“A farm is the best place in the world to raise a family,” Sandy says. “Our children have learned responsibility and a realistic feeling for what life is all about. Farming is a ‘disease’ that gets into your blood.”

Sandy has managed to raise three children, help her husband on the farm, and work as an office manager at Rich Wrap in Elburn for 25 years.

Their children are all accomplished in their careers.

Prior to returning to the farm in 2001, Chris served as a fighter pilot in the US Navy, graduating from the “Top Gun” Fighter Weapons School. He continues his passion as a commercial pilot and flies as an MD-11 First Officer.

Richard works in the agricultural division of a computer technology firm.

“He’s the tech guy in the family who helps and advises us with our equipment,” Sandy notes.

Lynda is a veterinarian and owner of Ashton Animal Clinic, which escaped damage from the recent EF4 tornado that touched down first in her area. Her husband is the office manager at the clinic and  works on the farm alongside Eldon and Chris.

Farming has provided the Goulds with a good life and they have met the many challenges along the way.

The Gould family has been an integral part of pork production in Kane County for over 66 years.

Eldon met Sandy, who is a native of Champaign, while they were in college at the University of Illinois.

Eldon graduated with an animal science degree and Sandy with a degree in physical therapy.

After they married in 1963, they returned to Maple Park and joined Eldon’s late father, Don, to continue and expand the family farm operation.

As pork producers, the Gould Farm breeds and weans pigs with a 750-sow operation. The farm produces 18,000 piglets annually for a local hog production network.

An interesting fact: the time it takes for a piglet to be born is most usually three months, three weeks and three days, like clockwork, according to Sandy.

The Gould Farm takes every precaution to ensure the health and safety of the animals as the breeding and gestation building is closely watched, highly sanitized with ideal heating/cooling conditions.

Visitors aren’t usually allowed into the facilities, but everyone who enters must wear appropriate coverings from head to toe.

In addition to pork production, the Gould Farm includes 150 farming acres. But collectively with additional farmland Chris Gould and his business partner Steve Pitstick manage, they tend to over 6,000 acres dedicated to corn and soybeans.

The grain operation is active at the farm as an annual average of 904 trucks with grains go into the grain bins on the farm to be weighed. Their corn is used as feed corn.

The responsibility of operating the family farm is vast. Eldon is considered the “go-to-it-guy” for all aspects of the business and they have three full time employees and additional seasonal workers, who recently took part in a safety and work training session led by Chris. “It was a busy day and we served lunch for twelve people,” Sandy added with a smile.

The Goulds are industry leaders. Their dedication and commitment to the pork industry for three generations has garnered them collectively and individually numerous agricultural awards. This past February they were named the 2015 Illinois Pork Producer Family of the Year from the Illinois Pork Producers Association, which represents more than 2,000 pork producers in Illinois.

Curt Zehr, president of the association, remarked, “the Goulds sincerely care about pork production and the community where they live. They have adapted to change, care for their animals and are good stewards of the land”.

“It is an honor to be recognized by your peers,” said Eldon, who has held many leadership roles in agricultural organizations. Among many other honors for his lifetime service in the industry, Eldon is a recipient of the Abraham Lincoln National Agricultural Award for outstanding achievement in American agriculture. Close to home, he is a member of the Kane County Fair board and has served as a 4-H leader, the Kane County Farm Bureau and the local volunteer Fire Department, plus many other organizations.

“The industry is constantly changing,” Eldon says, “and farm machinery is now bigger and more sophisticated with the use of computer technology. It tracks everything from planting to distance and capacity, and much more.”

With many accolades attributed to their accomplishments, the Goulds shy away from the spotlight and are a humble and hard-working couple who value, along with farming, their family and faith first.

As Sandy reflected, farming is a disease, but it’s one that Eldon and Sandy say they will never let go.