2025 SUNBELT AG EXPO SOUTHEASTERN FARMER OF THE YEAR

The 2025 Farmers of the Year have been named for their respective states. Learn more about their operations below. More information and media will become available after the Farmer of the Year judging tour in August 2025. View the 2025 Farmers of the Year and stay-up-to-date on who is named the 2025 Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year.

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2025 FARMERS OF THE YEAR

2025 Farmer of the Year – Steve Hopkins – Virginia

Steve Hopkins Virginia Farmer of the Year 2025 Seven generations of Hopkins family members have worked to maintain and grow their Riverview Farms Cattle operation in Louisa. Steve and sons Blake and Garrett run the 1200+ acre cattle, crops, and poultry operation as...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Jeff Wilson – South Carolina

Jeff WIlson South Carolina Farmer of the Year 2025 Cotton Hills Farm in Lowrys has been operating continuously since 1882, when the original 100 acre home place was gifted to Theodosia Abell by her father on the occasion of her wedding to Joseph Wilson. Cotton, small...

2025 Farmer of the Year – David “Harrell” Overman – North Carolina

David "Harrell" Overman North Carolina Farmer of the Year 2025 Harrell Overman is a sixth-generation Wayne County farmer whose grandfather rented him a 13-acre tobacco farm to work when he was just 14 years old. He and his wife, Lorenda, have been farming row crops...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Kent Hamilton – Georgia

Kent Hamilton Georgia Farmer of the Year 2025 Kent Hamilton is CEO of Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetable, Inc., based in Norman Park. Kent said, “It was founded in 1987 and is a women-owned and family-operated corporation that’s spent generations growing, packing,...

2025 Farmer of the Year – James “Jim” Alderman – Florida

James "Jim" Alderman Florida Farmer of the Year 2025 A fourth-generation Floridian, Jim Alderman was one of eight children born into a farming family that first came to Florida in the 1820s. As a child he worked in the orange groves and helped out with his father and...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Jeremy Allen – Arkansas

Jeremy Allen Arkansas Farmer of the Year 2025 Jeremy Allen of Bismarck has deep family roots in Hot Springs County. His grandfather started a dairy in the 1950s, and his parents were poultry farmers who built three chicken layer houses. Jeremy bought his first set of...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Dr. Issac “Nealy” Barrett, Jr. – Alabama

Dr. Issac "Nealy" Barrett, Jr. Alabama Farmer of the Year 2025 Bar Neal Farms in Wetumpka is a fifth-generation farming and ranching operation with deep roots in central Alabama. Nealy Barrett Jr. started his own cow herd at the age of thirteen with twelve stocker...

Media: Get Farmer of the Year Photos

2025 photos will be available after the farmer of the year tour in August 2025.

If you are looking to have a photo accompany releases in your state, you will be able to download your state’s winner photo soon.

COMING AUGUST 2025

2024 SUNBELT AG EXPO SOUTHEASTERN FARMER OF THE YEAR

Steve Cobb 2023 Farmer of the Year Southeastern Sunbelt Ag Expo

Faylene Whitaker, of Climax, North Carolina, has been selected as the overall winner of the Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Award for 2024.

Two years after they married, Faylene Whitaker and her late husband, Richard, started their own farm in 1975 on ten acres of rented land, using a 150 International tractor and a $40 tobacco setter. When the first crop was sold, they applied the proceeds to the purchase of 36.5 more acres. “That winter,” Faylene recalled, “my husband, who had a farming background, started a tree-planting business, and I was responsible for growing our plants and preparing the land for planting.”

Eventually the Whitaker’s bought a larger tractor and actually began working 24 hours a day—one taking the day shift and the other the night shift. They paid back their first hard-won bank loan in one year and overcame drought to begin irrigating their fields. In 1983, they were able to build their house on the original tract and began cultivating vegetables in addition to tobacco. Each year thereafter the couple added a few more acres and continued to diversify crops.

Today Whitaker Farms & Garden Nursery operates at three different locations in and around Climax, North Carolina, on 940 acres of owned and rented land that produces tobacco, garden plants (annuals, perennials, houseplants, trees, and shrubs), field tomatoes, strawberries, organic corn and wheat, and a variety of vegetables. It also features an agritourism business catering to all age groups.

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