Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
Lonnie Fortner of Port Gibson, Miss., left his career as a county executive director with the USDA Farm Service Agency to become a farmer. He started as a farm manager and later was made a partner in Rock Lake Planting Company. He recently branched out on his own as...
Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
An occasional local talk radio personality, Darren Luttrell is also a third-generation farmer, a successful poultry producer and a high yielding corn and soybean grower. He lives in Beaver Dam, Ky., and farms in Ohio County near the Olaton community. Luttrell’s farm...
Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
An attorney who practices law from offices on his farm, James Vaughn of Forsyth, Ga., is especially proud of taking a 650-acre pine tree plantation and converting it over a ten-year period into productive pastures where he raises forages for his beef cattle. As a...
Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
Lynetta Usher Griner’s life and career plans changed dramatically during 1989. That year, her brother Tommy Usher died in a boating accident on the Suwannee River. A seventh generation Floridian, Lynetta lives in Levy County, Fla., where she had been practicing law....
Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
Luke Alston of Mena, Ark., gave up a stable career as a Farm Bureau insurance claims adjuster to pursue his dream of farming. He returned to his family’s farm where his great-great grandfather homesteaded in 1897. At his Holly Springs Homestead farm, he built eight...
Jul 23, 2018 | 2018, Farmer of the Year
John DeLoach of Vincent, Ala., is successfully raising row crops on a farm that has been in his family since 1820. He grows corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and hay on his 1,325-acre farm. He owns 710 acres and rents 615 acres. DeLoach’s yields have been good. His per...
