Farm Family of the Year: Phil and Brad Moritz

BUCKINGHAM – When it comes to farming or nearly any subject related to the agriculture profession, if Phil Moritz doesn’t have the answer, he surely knows where to find it.

But when asked a certain question related to his chosen profession, he fell silent.

The father of three sons was posed with the question: If you were not able to be a farmer, what profession would you have settled into?

Phil adjusted his cap. He looked downward. He then gazed skyward.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “I don’t know what I would have done. I only ever wanted to be a farmer.”

He was simply following in the footsteps of his father, Walter, who taught him virtually everything he knows about the basics of farming.

While his father, Walter, passed away in 2019 at the age of 79, Phil knows farming ran deep in his veins, just as it does in his, and just as it seems to for his son, Brad, who is now not just his son and helper, but his partner.

Like his father, Brad acknowledged he never wanted to do anything else. From his earliest memories, farming has always occupied a large part of his life.

He fondly recalls his days as a small boy being what he calls a “carpet” farmer. That means playing with his toy tractors and pretending he was working the fields, albeit, on the living room rug.

“I’m not an office person,” Brad said. Working at a desk would likely have not led him to much job satisfaction.

“You either have the sickness,” he said in reference to being a farmer, “or you don’t.”

And these men, along with Phil’s brother, Tony, of Cabery, are farming some 3,000 acres across sections of Kankakee, Livingston and Ford counties.

Phil and Brad are also being honored as the 2025 recipient of the Farm Family of the Year, hosted by the rotary clubs of Kankakee County and sponsored by Harvest Solar.

The Farm Family of the Year, once a staple of The Journal’s agriculture coverage, had been on hiatus since 2017. It was brought back by the rotary clubs to help celebrate the impact agriculture has on the Kankakee County region.

Phil, a 1980 graduate of Tri-Point High School, and Brad, a 2004 grad, firmly believe they are doing the job they were born to do.

“This family has been farming as long as I know,” Phil explained as he sat in his kitchen wearing his black hooded sweatshirt with Moritz Farms printed across his chest. “There was not much doubt. I was driving tractors [as a young boy] when I shouldn’t have been.”

Brad followed suit. Like his father, he played with toy tractors. He also began operating equipment when his schoolmates were playing video games.

“I’ve always helped with the farming,” he said. But his presence has changed dramatically.

The 2008 University of Illinois agricultural business major graduate is not just operating equipment and doing the work needed to produce an untold number of bushels of corn and soybeans, but now part of the conversation when business decisions are being made.

Stewards of the land

On the farm, cattle and hogs were once raised. That aspect was removed from the equation several years ago. It is now grain only.

The duo also hire out for hauling grain. Brad is a seed salesman for Synergy Seeds, Inc., in Bonfield. He’s been a rep since 2015. From 2008 to 2015, he worked with AgriGold Hybrids in Aroma Park.

“I don’t do a lot of sleeping in the springtime,” Brad joked. He said he must get all the seed delivered to his farming customers before he can relax and focus on his planting task.

The two men are targeting mid-April for planting. They have about three weeks until the corn and bean planters start plugging corn kernels and soybean seed into the earth. Brad plants the soybeans. Phil plants the corn.

The tandem enjoy their life. Working side by side, along with Brad’s two brothers who also lend helping hands as time allows, could not be more enjoyable.

Working together is part of the family’s long-standing heritage tucked into this Kankakee County’s western corner.

“It’s not just about raising as much grain as we can. It’s not about covering as many acres as we can. It’s about being good stewards of the land.”

Not just a job

Phil said that was the lesson passed down from his father to him. It’s the same lesson he has taught Brad.

“We are always willing to try new practices to help care for our ground,” Phil said. The duo note they have found success with no-tillage bean planting.

“We’re not afraid to try anything,” Brad said. “This is not just a job. This is a way of life.”

From the perspective of non-farmers, Brad said it may appear farming is about driving a tractor up and down the black dirt. But it’s much more than that.

It is also not just about farming and agribusiness.

Phil has been a trustee of the Norton Township board since 2015. He’s been a longtime member of the Kankakee County 4-H. Phil and his wife, Kristi, also have a massive barn quilt on the property which was featured in the “Barn Quilts of Kankakee County” publication.

Phil is also a member of the Alliance Grain board and with the One Earth Energy, LLC, board of directors, a Gibson City organization which produces ethanol and distiller’s grain.

Following his father’s lead, Brad has served on the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Young Leader Executive Board and also has been a member of the Kankakee County Farm Bureau’s Young Leader board.

The two men are inseparable. It would be fair to say they have been as successful as nurturing their relationship as they are the seeds they place into Mother Earth.

“Dad always took the time to show me the right way. He never treated me as just a tractor driver. He always took time to answer my questions, even if it was a stupid question,” he said.

A smile then crossed his face. A thought had struck him.

“I guess I’m the lucky one. I still get to play on a tractor.”

Phil chuckled. He thought back to how his father raised him.

He said it was a high school agriculture teacher who informed him farming was a future he should strongly consider. His skillset even then stood out.

And while he is fully aware Brad will soon be taking over the business, he cannot see himself ever being far away.

Just like the faith a farmer places into Mother Nature when the planting process is completed, Phil lives through the belief everything will come together as the seasons change from summer to fall.

“There are no guarantees it will all work. You just try to do it right and you hope for the best.”