Thank you for your interest in the Tennessee Century Farms Program. 
Please choose from the topics below to learn more.

What is the Tennessee Century Farms Program?

What are the requirements?

How do I register my Farm?

What happens when my application is submitted?

View a list of Century Farms by county

View the Tennessee Century Farms Newsletter

View Holding on to the Homestead: A Guide for Programs, Services, and Options for Tennessee’s Farmers

Use historic farms as a teaching tool for K-12.

Century Farms Program Contact Information

What Is The Tennessee Century Farms Program?

The Tennessee Century Farms Program was created in 1975 by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as part of our nation’s bicentennial celebration.  In 1985, the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University assumed the responsibility for the program.  The program was originally designed and continues to be a recognition and documentary effort. 

First, it honors and recognizes the dedication and contributions of families who have owned and farmed the same land for at least 100 years.  After 30 years, the statewide and ongoing program has 1,218 certified farms. Of that number 107 are 200 years old, 567 are 150 years old, and 544 are over 100 years old. 

Secondly, it is a documentary program that collects and interprets the agrarian history and culture of the state.  The collection has supported the 1985 book, Tennessee Agriculture: A Century Farms Perspective; a traveling exhibit that toured the state from 1988-89; articles in journals and magazines; county displays; local museum exhibits; brochures and booklets; and web sites.

Families choose whether or not to submit an application and be a part of the program.  The Century Farms Program places no restrictions on the farm and offers no legal protection.  There is no cost to the family to nominate their farm and be a part of the program.  

What are the requirements?

Has the farm been in your family continuously for at least 100 years?

Does the farm have at least 10 acres of the original founders’ land?

Does the farm produce at least $1000 in farm income annually?

Is at least one owner a resident of Tennessee?              

If you answered yes to each of these questions, your farm is eligible to be a Century Farm.

Request an application packet by contacting:

Director, Tennessee Century Farms Program
Center for Historic Preservation
MTSU, Box 80
Murfreesboro, TN  37132

Ph:  615/898-2947
FAX: 615/898-5614
email chankins@mtsu.edu

You may also view or download the Century Farm application on line.

The application must include the founder’s name and a founding date which you must be able to prove by deed, census record, family papers, or other legal documentation.  Beginning with the founder, you will be asked to list the generations of ownership of the farm through the family to the present day owner.  The application also has space for you to recount such information as crops, family stories, involvement in agricultural, civic and community activities and organizations, and the like.  The application must be notarized and also signed by the county agent or county historian.

Crockett County, Family Portrait on Oakcrest Polled Hereford Farm

You are invited to include photographs, historic or contemporary, of the farm land, buildings, generations of family, animals, and crops.  Photographs will be scanned and/or copied and returned to you on request.  Please do not send your original photographs.

There is no fee for applying to the Century Farms Program.  This program is administered as a public service by the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation.

Since 1985, when it assumed the administration of the Tennessee Century Farms Program the Center for Historic Preservation has considered the documentation of rural resources a priority.  The program has provided an opportunity for shared interests among the Center, farm families, and other local, state and federal partners including the Tennessee Department of Agriculture; historical societies and museums; city and county governments; chambers of commerce; county extension offices, Resource and Conservation Development District Councils; Soil Conservation Districts; the Farm Service Administration; and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.

Taking rural preservation work in new directions, Center staff have successfully nominated several historic family farms to the National Register of Historic Places.  This work paved the way for the innovative Historic Family Farms of Middle Tennessee multiple property nomination.  Considered a model for rural preservation, this was the first thematic nomination in the country to deal with historic farmsteads.  Many Century Farm families choose to have their farms nominated to the National Register as a protective measure from future federally-funded projects that may impact their farm.  If you wish, take this opportunity to view a fact sheet about the National Register, telling what it does and what is does not do.

The CHP, working with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Historical Commission, serves as a clearing house of information on the Tennessee Century Farms Program, National Register preparation of farms, and is a national leader in documentation and interpretation of historic family farms.

For more information on the programs and services of the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, please return to or visit the Center for Historic Preservation web site.

If you have questions about this process, use the same contact information provided above.

What happens when my application is submitted?

Once you have submitted your application, it is reviewed and processed at the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation.  Within one to two weeks a letter will be sent to you along with a certificate that you may choose to frame. A file is prepared on your farm and it is added to the respective county file, joining the over 1000 other Century Farms that make up this significant collection on the state’s agricultural history.   A news release will be sent to your local newspaper and the farm will be added to the web site.   Your farm name will appear with other newly certified farms in the next issue of the Century Farms newsletter which is issued in Jul y and December each year.

After your application is processed and approved, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture will be notified that you are to receive a complimentary yellow metal sign.  One sign is provided free to each farm.  The sign program is funded by the Tennessee AG TAG specialty license plate.  You may order additional signs for your farm by printing the Century Farm Additional Sign order form, completing it, and mailing it with a check to the TDA as instructed on the form.

Century Farms Program Contact Information

Caneta S. Hankins, Assistant Director of the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, is the Director of the Tennessee Century Farms Program

Center for Historic Preservation
Box 80, MTSU
Murfreesboro, TN  37132

Ph:  615/898-2947
FAX: 615/898-5614                                                
chankins@mtsu.edu                         

Kevin Cason, a Ph.D. student in Public History at MTSU from Tullahoma, Tennessee is primarily responsible for assisting with the processing of applications and for preparing text and photographs for the web site.

This web site is produced and maintained by the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University and was funded, in part, by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Development Fund. Proceeds from this fund are derived solely from the sale of the Tennnessee "Ag Tag" speciality license plate.