Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
After two weeks in an eighth grade vocational agriculture class, Robert Mills, Jr., decided he wanted to become a farmer. He defied everyone who told him he couldn’t do it. Mills says his dream came true. At Briar View Farm, he is now a successful first generation...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
At Sugartree Farms near Belvidere, Tenn., Mike Robinson has built a successful family row crop and beef cattle farm. He also owns Sugartree Feeds, a store that adds value to some of his grain, hay and straw. A farmer for 35 years, Robinson owns 1,108 acres and rents...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Alexander “Kemp” McLeod of McBee, S.C., is a hard-working farmer who raises 22 peach varieties, strawberries, pumpkins and row crops. He operates a successful roadside store along a busy four-lane highway where he sells his fruit and where visitors enjoy an...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Van Hemric of Hamptonville, North Carolina started farming on a modest scale in 1988 with six acres of tobacco. The next year, he put up his first chicken house. He now grows 200-250 acres of flue-cured tobacco, and raises broiler layers in eight chicken houses. He...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
After earning a prestigious Harvard University Master of Business Administration degree, Micajah “Mike” Sturdivant III could have entered real estate or most any other business, but decided instead to become a Mississippi Delta farmer. Sturdivant comes from an...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Robert Michael “Mike” Bach has served his country as an officer in the U.S. Army, and as a successful Kentucky farmer. In the Army, Bach was known for his marksmanship. He retired as a lieutenant colonel. As a farmer, Bach successfully transformed his farm from...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
At WDairy near Madison, Ga., Everett Williams milks 1,700 to 1,800 highly productive cows three times daily. This herd of crossbred cows has an impressive rolling herd average for milk production at more than 28,000 pounds of milk per year. Williams farms 3,657 acres....
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Mark Wilson migrated to the United States in 1972 and gave up a promising corporate career to live the American dream as owner and operator of his own successful plant nursery. Wilson runs the 30-acre Greendale Nursery in Homestead, Fla., produces plants that are sold...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Mark Morgan is a young farmer who specializes in bringing customers to his farm to pick his peaches. “If people to come here one time to buy peaches, they’re likely to come back,” says Morgan. Morgan of Clarksville, Ark., produces pick-your-own peaches at his Peach...
Jul 31, 2017 | 2017, Farmer of the Year, News
Beef cattle and timber are ideally suited to the land Chris Langley farms near his home in Camp Hill, Ala. Langley sets and meets annual production goals. His farm includes 2,650 acres of which 2,402 acres are owned and 248 acres are rented. “Our rented land is mainly...