Ted Huneycutt
Arkansas Farmer of the Year 2024
The history of Huneycutt Farms reaches back to 1882, when the great-grandfather of brothers Ted and Steve Huneycutt began farming in Dalark, Arkansas, a border town between Clark and Dallas counties. Their grandfather, Claude, sharecropped and later bought land in Richwoods that’s still part of the family property. Today Huneycutt Farms is a thriving partnership of 3350 owned and rented acres producing cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, and crossbred Angus beef cattle. It also has several thriving ag-related businesses.
Ted recalled, “I really started farming when I was fourteen and took over the daily row crop duties when my dad went to work at the local aluminum factory after a bad drought and cotton crop. Growing up on a farm, we were around our grandparents daily who farmed, so we were just born into and called to it.” He added, “When I graduated in 1987 from Southern Arkansas University with a BS in Agriculture Business, I officially began farming with my dad. We rented 1500 acres and, since then we’ve been able to expand our farm operation and diversify into other agricultural enterprises.”
While working on the farm after graduating, Ted met his future wife, Cindy, through a friend of his father, Elton Buck. Ted remembered, “Mr. Buck sold mobile homes and I was in the market to buy one to live in until I could build a house. Cindy was his daughter; we met and were married in 1989.” A native of nearby Amity, Cindy has a master’s degree in Medical Sciences from the University of Arkansas and is an independent consultant pharmacist for local nursing homes.
In partnership with his brother, Steve, Steve’s sons, and his sons-in-law working the beef cattle side of things, Ted continues to manage the row crops. For twenty years Ted ran his own broker/dealer investment company, Benchmark Investments. He recalled, “When the regulations became too burdensome over time, I decided to close the door on that venture.” In 2008, he founded Benchmark Ag, an agricultural service company that provides risk management for producers across the region including crop insurance, cash sales, commodity futures, and options. Huneycutt Agri is another company owned by the family that offers custom ag services such as no till air seeding, cotton picking, and fertilizer spreading. In 2023, Ted and his youngest son, Greyson, started a consulting firm that specializes in crop insurance, FSA, and NRCS reporting and compliance, allowing farmers to have an experienced staff to deal with intricacies of those agencies.
In addition, Huneycutt Farms recently opened Ouachita Valley Meats (www.ouachitavalleymeats.com), a service that processes and manufactures different meat products. It’s run by Ted’s son, Luke, and his son-in-law, Jeffery Liggin. The business is an outlet for other producers in the area as well to sell their meat products. The store also offers ready-to-eat heat-and-eat meals. As their website says, “Whether you’re a seasoned grill master or a weekend warrior, our wide selection of meats has something for everyone.”
Another component of the overall farm is a corporate events and wedding venue called The Barn at Richwoods, run by Ted’s wife, Cindy, Steve’s wife, Leanne, and their daughter, Jessica Day. Ted and Cindy’s daughter, Sara, was the first to use the venue when she tied the knot with husband Jeffery Liggin. Ted and Steve manage all the work on the farms with the help not only of family members but with two H2A workers, one full-time local worker, and a full-time office assistant as well as three to four part-time employees who help seasonally with spraying and harvesting.
Crop yields for Huneycutt Farms are as follows: 1500 acres of cotton yielding 1200 lbs/acre; 300 acres of corn yielding 125 bushels/acre; 750 acres of soybeans yielding 35 bushels/acre; 300 acres of wheat yielding 60 bushels/acre; 200 head of cow calves and 150 head of feeder steers.
The Huneycutt’s soybeans, and wheat are marketed through local elevators. Cotton is ginned at Pilgrim Gin in Texas. Corn is marketed locally to regional hunters and a nearby feed mill. In his capacity as a commodity broker and crop insurance agent, Ted uses futures and options to hedge prices, along with cash sales and Livestock Revenue Protection products. Brother Steve manages the livestock, where cows are calved out and at weaning are sorted and grown to 7-8 weights and sold on video auction in trailer load lots.
At the county level, Ted Huneycutt is a present member of the Clark County Farm Bureau and Macedonia Cemetery Association. He is also a past board member of NRCS and FSA and past board member of the Clark County Farmers Co-op. He has been active for many years as a volunteer coach of youth sports and high school baseball coach. In 2022, the Huneycutt family was named Clark County Farm Family of the Year and the West Central District Farm Family. The Huneycutt’s are supporters of Christian education, having sent their children through Clark County Christian Academy in Arkadelphia, where Steve’s wife, Leanne, and daughter, Jessica, as well as other women in the family, have taught over the years.
Addressing the industry-wide problem of farm labor throughout his career, Ted said, “Skilled, experienced farm labor has been a constant issue. But, in 2022, we began participating in the H2A Visa program to get labor from South Africa. It’s been a game changer.” Ted and Steve have been able to survive in bad years and meet their debt obligations. That accomplishment has allowed them to acquire more assets and thus the ability to obtain capital more easily when needed. Ted added, “Ginning our cotton has been an issue as well, but with a baler picker now we are able to gin farther away from the farm. We’ve also invested in technology, from GPS and auto steer in the equipment to cattle genetics and seed genetics.”
Huneycutt Farms hopes to expand market potential in the future by adding a feedlot for cattle and growing out pigs and chickens to sell locally raised pork and chicken. And they are always aiming for improved efficiencies in their multiple enterprises with an eye on the future and being able to pass on to the next generation a profitable and sustainable operation.
On the environmental front, Ted said, “In the pastures we turned to running water lines to tanks to eliminate the need for ponds, thereby decreasing creek bank and pond bank erosion and improving our water quality. We switched to furrow watering our crops from flood irrigating, and that has saved a sizeable amount of water yearly. Another thing we’ve done is to increase the use of chicken litter instead of commercial fertilizer, dragging our pastures to spread the naturally occurring manure that we have available.”
On the crop side of things, the Huneycutt’s use no till, minimum till, and cover crops that result in better water retention and weed management, along with fewer chemical applications. They also plant wildlife habitat plots each year for deer and ducks.
The Huneycutt’s attend church at Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church, where son Luke is the pastor. The church is built on land that Ted’s great-grandfather, Lee, donated back in the nineteenth century and where he also preached. When there’s leisure time at least once a year, family members like to get together and enjoy going to the beach. Ted said, “We have several places where we like to stay along the Gulf, including St. George Island and anywhere from Ft. Morgan to Orange Beach to Gulf Shores to Destin, Pensacola, and Santa Rosa Beach.” In the fall to early winter months they like to hunt dove, deer, and duck. Ted noted, “We also trap feral hogs,” which he calls “nasty critters, good only for buzzards. The first half of this year we’ve trapped around four dozen so far.”
Farming has taught Ted Huneycutt valuable lessons: “Sometimes you have to hurry; sometimes you have to be patient. So, all the time you have to pray for the wisdom to know which one to do. Another thing I’ve learned is to look for the silver lining in bad situations. God’s providence is evident all around us if we only have the vision to see it.”
Ted Huneycutt was nominated Arkansas Farmer of the Year by Amy E. Williams, of Clark County’s Arkansas Farm Bureau Insurance Company. She said, “Huneycutt Farms was the clearest choice for the honor because this extended family has a work ethic and creativity for expansion in agriculture and business far above anyone. One of their greatest concerns is how their good name and growth can not only contribute to their community but to future generations of their own family.”
She added, “Their overall entrepreneurial spirit has brought many wonderful endeavors forward, while allowing each of the family members to remain individuals as they evolve to highlight some uniquely different gifts and skills. The multifaceted talents and abilities in this family let them follow their passions in multiple ventures to manage their acreage in cotton, corn, wheat, soybeans, hay, and cattle, while at the same time operating a risk management service, an events venue, and a meat market.”
Harper Family Holdings, the Alabama Farmers Federation, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Florida Farm Bureau, Georgia Farm Bureau, North Carolina Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farm Bureau, and Virginia Farm Bureau have joined together to generously sponsor the 2024 program.
State winners of the Sunbelt Expo award will receive a $2,500 cash award and an expense-paid trip to the Sunbelt Expo from the sponsors. A vest from the sponsors will be given to each state winner and nominator. The Moultrie Colquitt Co. Chamber of Commerce will give each state winner a local keepsake.
The state winners are now eligible for the $15,000 cash prize awarded to the overall winner by the sponsors. Massey Ferguson North America will provide each state winner with a gift package and the overall winner with the use of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a year or 250 hours (whichever comes first). A jacket from the sponsors will be given to the overall winner. Hays LTI will award the overall winner with a HAYS Smoker/Grill. In addition, the overall winner will receive a Henry Repeating Arms American Farmer Tribute Edition rifle from Reinke Irrigation.
The Sunbelt Expo is coordinating the Southeastern Farmer of the Year awards for the 34rd consecutive year. $1,324,000 in cash awards and other honors have been awarded to two hundred ninety six southeastern farmers since the award was initiated in 1990.