Albert Ebers was a leader in soil conservation activities and his farm was the model in the Seward area. He believed the family farm system was the financial backbone of rural communities and yielded a higher standard of living by nurturing rural social values. Albert was a certified seed producer of grain and brome grass and planted over 1000 evergreens and deciduous trees.
Albert was born March 22, 1909, to the parents of Carl and Emma Eberspaecher on a farm southwest of Seward, Nebraska; the seventh child in a family of eight, five boys and three girls. The name Eberspaecher was legally shortened to Ebers in 1924.
His education consisted of eight grades in six years in a rural one-room schoolhouse. There were as many as 42 pupils at one time. Albert says that his teachers had character, knowledge, and discipline. He graduated from Seward High School in 1925. After high school, Albert helped his father farm for four years while a brother and sister attended the University of Nebraska. The farm could only support two students in the University at one time. He graduated from the Agricultural College, University of Nebraska in 1933, majoring in Agronomy. His grades were near the top. In college he was President of the Farm House Fraternity, a member of the Lincoln A Cappella Choir and Alpha Zeta. He served on the Ag Executive Board, in Ag Club and was on the Dairy Judging Team. Through the help of tuition scholarships and work in the Soils and Horticulture Departments, he was able to belong to a fraternity and get a year's schooling for $240. He made the choice to farm during his third year in college and rented the home place in 1934. Crops failed due to drouth and the entire farm produced only a few bushels of wheat and oats. The farm account book shows 60 acres of corn yielded 11 tons of fodder. In the fall of 1934, he was employed as a trouble shooter by the University Extension Service for the AAA Agricultural Program. On his first trip he met his wife, Merle Emma Stone. They were married in September 1935. Just last Tuesday they celebrated their 46th Wedding Anniversary.
The Ebers raised two daughters: Helen and Mary. During the girls' late high school years a German exchange student lived with the family. The girls viewed him as a brother. The girls brought two fine son-in-laws and six grandchildren (five girls and one boy) to the Ebers family. Helen now lives in Lexington. Mary lives in Seward.
The drouth persisted and through the help of his College of Agriculture professors and the Extension Service, Albert obtained work as an assistant agronomist in a CCC Camp and Soil Conservation demonstration area. He returned to the farm in 1938 as his father's health had failed.
Albert was a certified seed producer of grain and brome grass. He observed the stubble mulch farming at the University. Noting the break-over of water after 1 ½ inches of rain on contour stripped crop, 2 ½ % sloped, listed land, he began to use stubble mulch farming. A 3-inch rain on a duck-footed wheat stubble field proved this to be an excellent soil and water conservation practice. From then on hardly a gallon of water ran off the Ebers' farm. But when average or above rainfall years came, weeds and disease were a big problem. This was before much synthetic nitrogen was used, and insecticides and herbicides were not heard of.
Albert is a tree planter. The first thing he did in the spring of 1934 was plant 100 trees. He continued to plant on the farm and on the acreage north of Seward. Altogether, he has planted about 1000 evergreens and deciduous trees. In 1943 County agent K.C. Phelps visited with Albert about organizing a Soil Conservation District in Seward County. Albert had contoured his first corn field in 1938 and had the entire farm laid out in strip crops on the contour by 1943.
Albert helped organize the district and was appointed a supervisor on the Board. He served as chairman of the Board for three terms over a period of nine years. Seward County had an enviable record in terms of the number of farmers using soil conservation practices on their land.
1927 was the beginning of the Salem Male Chorus. Two male quartets were joined and by recruiting other men in the Salem United Methodist Church, the chorus totaled 18 men. When the Director of the chorus moved out of the territory to teach music, the male chorus did not want to disband and elected Albert to direct them. Albert came to the University School of Music for help and found in Dean John M. Rosborough a gracious teacher and life-long friend. Ebers directed the Salem male chorus throughout his Ag college years. He took the 6:10 PM train to Milford where one of the Salem singers met him and took him to the country church for rehearsal. Each chorus member took turns bringing him back to Lincoln. The Chorus sang at the Ag College Christmas Program and at other programs. Albert has directed choirs and choruses most of his life in churches and in the community.
In 1934, Albert helped organize Goehner Grange No. 371. He was the first Master and served three times as such as well as holding other offices. He was summoned to be State Grange Master in 1964, a significant contribution of his six years as State Grange Master was the Nebraska Agricultural Council. He and the Grange had a strong conviction that farm organizations should work together instead of differing and quarreling so much. At that time, bargaining for farm product prices was an issue. An invitation was sent to the general farm, livestock, and commodity organizations to meet and determine if there was some common ground. A program including developments in livestock marketing presented by a speaker from Packers and Stockyards and the requirements of effective bargaining by two Nebraska University Agricultural Economists was planned. The upshot of the meeting was that the presidents of the general farm organizations drew up the articles of organization for the Nebraska Agricultural Council. At first it provided that when the organization took a policy position, support of the policy had to be unanimous. This was later amended so that a two-thirds majority could adopt policy. As a result, some of the farm organizations withdrew. However, the Agricultural Council has continued.
Albert believes that the family farm system is superior in efficiency, is the financial backbone of rural communities, yields a higher standard of living, and nurtures the social values of good rural living better than any large-scale, hired-help form of farming. A family farm as Albert defines one does not mean returning to a particular size or type of farming of years back. It means one or two full-time farmers operating a well-equipped unit, using the latest technology. Albert was known among National Grange delegates as a leader and one who spoke out for the family farm system and its preservation.
Because of health reasons, he sold his general farm, equipment and livestock, and began egg-poultry business on a small acreage North of Seward in 1937. It soon developed into a 5000-hen operation. He retired from the poultry business in 1974. Albert says that this enterprise proved to be good for his health problems but was not a bonanza financially.
In 1951 the Ebers family was chosen as the Sunday Journal and Star Honor Farm Family. Albert received the Gamma Sigma Delta Award of Merit in 1967 and the Northern Kiawanis "Bell Ringer Award" in 1968.
The Ebers Now live on their acreage north of Seward. He is a farm representative for the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Milford, and the Home State Bank in Beaver Crossing. He makes 600 country visits a year of which 300 are with farmers. His employment allows enough time to be active in the church, in the Grange, in the Farmers Union and for helping raise money for the building and furnishing of a new Seward County Historical Society Museum. He works for Crop, the Advisory Committee for Region V of Mental Health, Ambassador and host for the Friendship Force People to People Program. He still has time for a garden and a satisfying life with his wife and family.
Albert remains active in his community. A champion of farm families, farmer, leader, a pioneer conservationist and a very fine gentleman -- he has helped make rural Nebraska a better place to live and work.
