Author Archives: John Holcomb

2022 May Have Been Better for Cotton Yields

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Millen, GA

With more than 1.3 million acres of cotton planted every year in the state, Georgia is the second largest producer in the country. While this year’s yields will be better than expected, it’s not quite going to be the bumper crop growers saw in 2022.

“This is the first cotton that I’ve picked in the field where we’re standing and it looks good, but I honestly don’t think it’s as good as it looks,” says JD Newton, Jenkins County Farmer. “So, I think we’re going to be a couple of hundred pounds off of what it actually looks like it should be. Overall, for what it has been through, the crop’s going to be probably better than it probably should have been with what it went through. This field is not going to turn out what it did last year.”

That drop in production can be attributed to an uneven growing season that saw too much rain in the beginning and not enough to finish it off.

“Growing season was pretty tough. We couldn’t get in and spray a lot with this rain. We had these big rains that weren’t an inch here or two inches here, but were seven, five. Then we hit a dry spell in early August to middle August, we went through about two to three weeks dry, and we just didn’t develop a root system early on,” says Newton.

That weather has impacted the timing of harvest as well, with growers unable to get into the fields during October, despite putting a rush on defoliating their crop.

“We were definitely pushed back with all the rain and stuff we had earlier in the growing season. The crop got pushed back. I’m probably easily two weeks behind where I wanted to be, in fact, I can even see that probably when we defoliated this cotton that we might have been just a few days too early. As it opened up, it looked like some of those top bowls didn’t want to quite mature enough. So, we probably could have been as much as a week early, which would have pushed me back another week,” says Newton.

While the quantity might be a little off this year, the same cannot be said for the quality, as long as Mother Nature cooperates for the next few weeks.

“I think the quality is going to be great. This cotton hasn’t been rained on. It’s nice and white, it’s fluffy, no hard lock in at the bottom of the crop. I don’t see any reason why the quality would be down. If it rains for a day or just a couple of tenths and the sun comes right back out for another week, we won’t see much quality loss at all,” says Newton.

As for the priority this time of year, it’s getting this cotton out of the field a soon as possible to avoid anything unforeseen.

“We generally haul our own cotton to the gins. So, generally that comes a little later but if we can get it picked and in a roll, we’re not going to lose any quality. We’re not going to lose any yield to weather like that, and so, the main priority is just getting it in a roll.

By: Damon Jones

Inaugural Antique and Garden Tractor Show a Success at the Sunbelt Ag Expo

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Moultrie, GA

This year at the Sunbelt Ag. Expo, antique and garden tractor enthusiasts got the chance to showcase the power, speed, and capabilities of their machines. It’s something that was new to the Expo this year, and is something that turned out to be a crowd favorite as these machines were put to the test by pulling a weighted sled behind them.

“Tractor pulling is a competition which we hook to a mobile sled that has a weighted box over the rolling tires on the rear axle. As the sled is pulled down to track, the weight box progressively moves forward, mashing harder on the skid plates at the front, creating the drag which the truck or tractor or in this case, garden tractor must overcome. On my sled, fully loaded, the box all the way up, roughly 7500 pounds drag. Pretty good handful for a small tractor,” says Joey Norman, Promoter of Slow Jo Car & Tractor Pulls.

“What’s the purpose of this event, you ask? According to Norman, it’s a chance for gearheads and tractor enthusiasts like himself to showcase the speed and power these machines have to offer, all in a family friendly environment that will hopefully land them some bragging rights in the end.

“Sort of like John Force. What does he need to travel 300 miles an hour? It’s the thrill of the thrill of the speed,” says Norman. “Gearheads like to make horsepower, and this is the way we transfer it. It’s just a family-oriented competition. Every now and then we get a little pay out or a little certificate at the end, but mostly trophies and bragging rights.”

Aside from the friendly competition however, Norman says all of this has a greater meaning behind it, as he says that tractor pulls and other, similar shows to this one pay tribute to the tractors that were developed in the twentieth century and honors the heritage of those that used them to grow food and fiber.

“I would like to say heritage, but a large portion of the people that participate never had family farms, their children certainly never saw these tractors. Now there’s a large portion of the antique folks that’s several years older than I am, but for the most part, it brings back the nostalgia of childhood memories for some of the older people. To be honest with you, it’s a marvel of our ancestors’ mechanical knowledge. They really built a good machine. It’s still something that we deeply appreciate,” says Norman.

As mentioned, this was the first year for the event, but Norman is already planning on bringing back the event next year and wants to make it bigger and better than before.

By: John Holcomb.

Peanut Buying Points Vital for Industry’s Success

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Tifton, GA

Peanut harvest is wrapping up here in Georgia, which means shellers are now working overtime on this year’s crop. However, getting them from the fields to its final destination is anything but easy, involving a number of different steps along the way. That’s where the peanut buying point comes in as it offers growers all the assistance needed to help navigate this process.

“We’re the middleman between the shelling plants and the farmer,” says Timmy Domingue, General Manager of Tifton Peanut. “We provide the farmer with the equipment to get their peanuts from the field to the buying point. We dry them. We clean them. We have to grade them here. According to the grades is how we segregate where the peanut’s stored before it goes to the shelling plant.”

These operations are vital this time of year for the growers as they provide not only personnel to negotiate and document eventual sales, but also equipment the vast majority of them don’t have access to on their own farms.

“We’re just a necessary part of the operation to help them get it here because all of your farmers, they don’t have a way of drying their peanuts and cleaning them if they happened to need to be cleaned. They come from the farmer. The farmer actually picks them. The first thing we do is check the moisture. Once we check the moisture, that determines if it has to go to the dryer. If they don’t have to go to the dryer, then we grade them. Once they’re graded, then we dump them. We put them in tanks. We ship them out to a storage warehouse until they’re decided to be shelled,” says Domingue.

While it might sometimes be overlooked, the drying process is an essential role the buying point plays, as peanuts are far from ready for the shellers straight out of the field.

“They have to be at a certain moisture. If they’re not, then they mold and if they’re too dry, you don’t want to get them too dry because when you go to shell them, they bust open and split on you,” says Domingue. “Around here, we like to average about fifteen thousand tons as far as going through the shell, the buying point. We try to shell somewhere around eighty to ninety thousand tons at the shelling plant.”

As for this year’s crop, a difficult growing season that saw both high temperatures and long stretches of dry weather did have a negative impact on both the quality and quantity. That coincides with a price that is also lagging.

“Peanuts are off, dry, hot weather, yields are not near as good as last year nor their grades. Prices right now is five-fifty to six hundred dollars. So, you know, naturally a row crop, peanuts really, need to be seven hundred and fifty dollars,” says Domingue.

By: Damon Jones

Farm Group Works to Support Their Community

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Carl, GA
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Believe it or not, Georgia is home to over fifty thousand Korean Americans, placing it in the top ten states in the country in terms of population. This is why organizations like the Korean American Farmers Association are so crucial; they provide individuals interested in agriculture with the essential information required for success.
“Since we didn’t know much about farming, we tried to take on this role as our life’s purpose. Since then, we formally organized in 2019 to reach out and educate people about USDA’s supporting programs,” says James Lee, Executive Director of the GA Korean-American Farmers Association.
Despite the name, this association is open to all, with more than half of their nearly two hundred members not being of Korean descent. It’s that all-inclusive attitude that is represented on their new operation in Barrow County.
“We thought, ‘Yes, we’ll take over the land and turn it into a farm, do all the Korean vegetables,’ and it would be a great thing to show to the neighbors here. However, our purpose keeps on growing. Our purpose is to show everybody how to coexist,” says Lee.
Thanks to a new USDA grant, their goals have expanded to provide mental health counseling and even educational classes.
“The first thing we’re going to do is create a path all over the six-point-six acres, ensuring that the elderly and disabled have full access to every part of this property. We’ll also demonstrate composting techniques and how to make the best use of the materials and support from the USDA,” says Lee.
That support extends to the University of Georgia as well, with the organization looking into some nontraditional ways of growing food on the new site.
“Recently, over the past couple of days, he called me and expressed his interest in hydroponics. Given that hydroponics primarily involves water, he asked if I could come and provide guidance on what we need to consider and how to approach a hydroponics project. It’s still in the early stages of development, but that’s the direction we’re heading in – exploring the possibility of implementing hydroponics here on the farm,” says Gary Hawkins, Water Resource Specialist at UGA.
USDA hopes this new farm will be another example of how farmers and government agencies can successfully work hand in hand.
“People often have doubts and concerns about whether the agency, especially the federal government, will provide assistance. Our aim is to reassure them and show that if one person can do it, others can too. The program and the agency are tailored to support new and beginning farmers. We offer a ninety percent car sure assistant, and all they need to do is become a valid customer with our sister agency, the Farm Service Agency,” says Terrance Rudolph, State Conservationist at NRCS.
By: Damon Jones

Difficult Season for Georgia Peanut Growers

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Iron City, GA

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For a farmer, there’s nothing quite like seeing the fruits of your labor come to fruition, and farmers here in Georgia are getting to do a lot of that as the 2023 harvest season is in full swing. One farmer who’s busy doing that now is Jeff Braswell, a peanut producer in Seminole County who has been busy in his fields after quite the growing season.

“It was a tough growing season this year from the onset. The majority of what I farm in regards to peanuts is probably dry land. About two thirds of my peanut crop is dry land, peanut crop with the other one third being irrigated. It was tough for us at the onset with moisture. We didn’t get the rains that we needed to be able to plant. We were able to work it in so that when we did get the rain, we were able to get to the field and get them in. I think our stand was probably not as good this year as it has been in the past, but we had a decent stand to begin. We had some decent rains early on, but later on in the season, maybe two thirds of the way through the season, we began to see a lack of rain and an increase in heat,” says Jeff Braswell, Owner of Braswell Family Farms.

According to Braswell, because of that lack of rain combined with the hot, South Georgia heat they had this Summer, he says the plants really took a hit.

“The pressure begins to impact the plant itself, the heat pressure does by way of maturity and filling out those pods as well as you see an increase in insect pressure as a result of the heat as well. Irrigated peanuts, even those, we have the ability to put water there, but it was a fight for those to even go against the heat that we were that we were seeing throughout the summer,” says Braswell.

However, the growing season is in the rearview mirror as Braswell says they are well into this season’s harvest but says that so far, getting the crop out of the field this year has been just as challenging as growing it.

“Harvest, again has been tough for me in regards to trying to get these dry land peanuts up. We have actually started the harvest season digging some peanuts at only one hundred twenty days where we typically hold those to about one hundred and forty just because we had some kernels turning loose in the hulls. So, we felt that it was better to go ahead and begin early on, which as a result, gave us some lower grades at the onset of the season. Plus we had a lack of rain there. So, we had to kind of work as best as we could to work to get those up as quickly as we could in between what showers we were getting. So, it was initially tough. I havent really gotten into the to the irrigated peanuts yet. We’re just beginning to get into those because they are going to full maturity, which would be beginning this week. So, we’re looking forward to seeing how those turn out and hopefully an increase in yield and grade on those,” says Braswell.

By: John Holcomb

Bibb County’s Last Remaining Dairy Closes Doors

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Lizella, GA

With the fields of Bibb County serving as it’s backdrop, fifty years have passed since Donacin Dairy filled its first container of milk. What was once a bustling hub of life, the heart of a dairy empire, is now a haunting shell of its former glory. Empty milk tanks loom like silent sentinels, bearing witness to the decades of hard work and dedication that had once coursed through the veins of this family-owned business. Stalls where cows had been passionately milked day after day, now layered with cobwebs.

“The quietness of the church in my office, I opened this Jamison Faucet Brown commentary and I was reading the commentary on that passage of scripture. The very last sentence of that commentary of that verse said, ‘it’s not a return to the world, but a reluctance to break from it.’ When I read that I broke down in my office that morning and tears come to my eyes and God said, ‘it’s time. They have to go,'” says Benjamin Newberry, Owner of Donacin Dairy Farms.

Newberry, the patriarch of the family, looks over his once active milking stations, struggling with an identity he had known his entire life. Like so many small dairymen in his position, the business has transformed from a labor of love into a struggle for survival. According to Benjamin, the traditional gallon of milk, the lifeblood of the Newberry farm, is now wielded as a loss leader by grocery stores and markets. Additionally, he points out the squeeze on profits, milk prices in a perpetual free fall, while the cost of feeding his beloved cows, constantly on the rise. People too are changing their tastes, gravitating toward non-dairy alternatives. The world has moved on say’s Benjamin, and the Newberry’s farm was caught in the undertow of change.

“It was part of my identity. It was part of who I was. I grew up on the farm. I stayed on the farm. I raised my kids on the farm, and just had a reluctance to break from it, but knew that it was the right decision from a business standpoint, but also because God said it was time. So, that’s what I did. The market doesn’t need a small dairy; we needed the market. With the market being so small as I would say in the Southeast, it becomes increasingly difficult for a small dairymen to survive. These larger, family owned farms and producers realized that they had to get big enough that the market needed them. They had the foresight to grow and meet the demands of the market, but also get to a place that the market is dependent upon them,” says Newberry.

At their peak, Donacin Dairy had about 300 cows. Today, this is all the remains. A couple of Holsteins, a handful of jersey’s, and some beef cattle. Yet, the true heartbreak is the impact the closing of the dairy will have on the Newberry family. Benjamin often dreamt of passing the farm down through generations, watching his children and their children tend to the cows he had lovingly cared for. Now, their legacy is forced to take a different path, a new avenue not yet paved.

Even though Donacin Dairy is now silent, it’s legacy will live on in the hearts of the Newberry family, a testament to the spirit of those who once worked this farm with love and devotion. Although his heart heavy, Benjamin tells me he is grateful for what really matters most. His family, his faith and position as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church…
and the entire community of Bibb County, which Benjamin says has gone above and beyond to show it’s support.

“There were 42 dairies in this county in the early seventies and we were the last of them to survive,” says Newberry. “You don’t realize how many people you affect in life until you experience a life changing moment. It’s been good. I’m grateful for it. Me and Ashley are expecting our first grandchild at Christmas. So, that’s exciting and dealing with that and helping my youngest daughter prepare for that. Really haven’t been short of things to do, but as far as what my identity will be, if I tell people what I’m doing, it’d probably be just continuing to Pastor Calvary Baptist Church and loving on the people and helping where I can.”

By: Ray D’Alessio

Merrit Pecan Growing Quality Pecans & Customer Base for Decades

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Weston, GA

While Georgia might be better known for its poultry and peanuts, it’s also the nation’s leading producer in pecans. Even though some areas of the state were severely impacted by Hurricane Idalia, the overall quality looks to be strong.

“Our crop looks pretty good this year. We’re just getting into them. We’ve been into our Pawnees and gone over them and now we’re getting into our other varieties and still got a ways to go,” says Richard Merritt, Owner of Merritt Pecan. “We got some good weather right now and thankful for that. I’m ready to get after it and let’s get them in and like I said, as long as we got some good weather, we need to, we’re out here every day.”

It’s been that way for the past several months as well, with these trees needing plenty of TLC throughout the year in order to be ready for harvest.

“It’s a lot of work. We’re, spraying a lot, mowing, spraying herbicides, it’s just something. Working on irrigation. Doesn’t ever seem like we get caught up. But somehow or another we pull it together at the end,” says Merritt.

Unlike many other pecan operations, the Merritt’s are able to get them from the field to their shelves all in house thanks to their very own shelling plant.

“We get them out of the field and then we take them back to the plant and get them cleaned and shell them, we size them to shell them, or we might just put them in the warehouse and sell them on the open market,” says Merritt.

Speaking of market, this general store is a one stop shop for everything pecan as they sell candies, snacks, and of course, homemade pies.

“We make our own pies and a lot of our cakes here. So, that’s labor intensive. We don’t have a lot of machinery to do it. It’s all done by hand. We make our pies six at a time and we usually sell about three thousand pies in a year. So, we think that special touch makes it more delicious for the customer,” says Tammy Merritt.

That’s quite the jump a from their original store back in 1980’s, which had just a fraction of the products they now offer.

“Yeah, we started off small. We just had pecans and then we started having roasted, salted pecans and then customers asked, ‘well, why don’t you have pies?’ So, we added pies. So, we listen to our customers and see what they want and look at other vendors and see what they have to offer so we can give a better selection to our customers,” says Tammy.

Its customer base has also grown over the years with many making it a destination stop.

“It’s gratifying to have repeat customers and asking for our pecans every year. We got a lot of people that make our stop as they travel to Florida, or they travel to Atlanta, or Birmingham or wherever,” says Richard.

“We have so many who support us. We’re on a major road. We have a lot of travelers who go back and forth from Albany to Columbus, and they are very loyal. They stop in and we know them by name. They’ve been coming here for years,” added Tammy.

By: Damon Jones

Ellijay Apple Orchard a Thriving Family Legacy

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Ellijay, GA

If you take a stroll up through the North Georgia Mountain this time of year, there’s a few things you’re guaranteed to see; beautiful mountains and apple market after apple market stocked full of this year’s apples. One of those markets is Aaron Family Orchards, an operation that’s been a staple in the Ellijay community for decades.

“As soon as you walk in, you’ll notice it’s a really old building. My great grandparents actually bought the property in 1938; started construction on here. Aaron’s Apple House back then officially opened in 1944 with Shafter, Reba, and then my great my grandpa and my great uncles. Over time, the orchard grew from year to year. Back in those days, we were one hundred percent wholesale. Over the past twenty, thirty years, wholesale for us has started to start to move down and retail started to pick up. So, we’ve had to adapt to the market by adding in different things to keep people coming to our orchard year after year,” says Joshua Aaron, Operator of Aaron Family Orchards.

Aaron, who has been involved with the operation his entire life, is now the fourth generation to run the business and as he has begun to take the reins, has continued working to adapt to the changing market by focusing more on agritourism, as they now sell a variety of canned jams and jellies, baked goods, and for the first time, offer a U-pick flower patch.

“Some of the big things that we’ve added in, we’ve added in a wide array of canned goods, of course, we’ve always had cider, but making sure it’s in quantities where people will want to buy it and take home. Getting a variety of different baked goods. So whether that be fried pies, apple cider, donuts, breads, a few other novelty items. When you go to the store, you’ll see we have some candies, we have some soaps and candles, seasonings, different jewelry, things like that; things that are all centered around kind of the Appalachian feel that we have in our store. Then when it comes to agritourism, this year is the first time we’ve tried it, we added in a u-pick flower patch,” says Aaron.

According to Aaron, the patch was a huge success and says that going forward, he plans on continuing to evolve the business by working to create a family-friendly environment; an environment that offers several different activities for people to make new memories and perhaps create new traditions.

“The only thing you can do in agriculture is keep on growing. We teach the kids this every day in FFA and 4-H, it’s either better days through better ways or to make the best better, and that’s just what we’ve got to keep on doing. We have got to add in more family friendly opportunities for them; that’s one way. We’ve just got to keep on growing and keep getting more land, planting more trees, adding in more opportunities for people to come here and make memories,” says Aaron.

By: John Holcomb

Steed’s Dairy Creating Memories, Agriculture Connections for More Than a Decade

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Grovetown, GA

What was once the last remaining dairy farm in Columbia County, Steed’s Dairy transitioned towards agritourism back in 2010, and is now one of the largest operations in northeast Georgia.

“I used to get in trouble with my daddy when I’d invite classes out to the farm when we had the dairy because we had to hold some cows back, which he didn’t like doing. But it’s something that I’ve always kind of wanted to do, not on this scale. I never dreamed it would get this big,” says Jim Steed.

Big might be an understatement as this farm plays host to more than fourteen thousand students every year, providing them with a unique look at the rural lifestyle.

“A lot of kids had an uncle or somebody that had a farm and people would go and visit. Now days that’s not true. So, a lot of people have never seen animals, farm animals. They don’t understand where their food come from. And so, we wanted to kind of change that and kind of ingrain that into their minds there’s people out there that’s providing the food for them,” says Steed.

This type of immersive experience is not just beneficial to the students, but the entire agricultural industry going forward.

“These kids are probably not going to be farmers, but they’re going to be the teachers. They’re going to be the congressmen. They’re going to be people on any social issue with agriculture, now they’ll remember coming out and seeing first-hand how things work,” says Steed.

However, it is far from all work and no play, as kids get to enjoy a number of different activities from a petting zoo, to tube slides and even a five-acre corn maze. And this year’s theme is UFO’s.

“What I do is basically come up with an idea. I draw it out. Our surveyor and I in the area, we get together with the EMC, we get together and we basically just come up with how we want the corn maze to be in the field and he’s got a map of the field that we do it in. Once we put it out, he plots the points, I do a connect the dots kind of thing, once they come out and survey it. It’s very expensive to do it that way, but it’s more precise,” says Steed.

Providing the best experience possible is something Steed takes very seriously as he knows just how much of a long-lasting impact it can have on someone’s life.

“People are hungry to just to come out and see a farm and have their kids experience what you normally do on your daily life. And so, that’s the neat thing about it. I mean, you’re kind of sharing your life with a bunch of kids, but you see them having a great time and they remember. There’s a lot of kids in high school, that I taught in high school that basically remember coming out on the field trip. So, that kind of warms your heart a little bit knowing that you did something that they’re going to remember probably for the rest of their life,” says Steed.

By: Damon Jones

2023 Georgia Farmer of the Year, Bart Davis

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Doerun, GA

Amidst the endless stretches of peanut fields, Bart Davis is hard at work, tending to his family’s legacy. With a deep rooted of love for agriculture, Davis has has transformed this once, five hundred acre family farm into a sprawling five-thousand acre operation over four decades. It’s a combination of Davis’s lifelong dedication, coupled with an unwavering commitment to innovation and community.

“It’s about a lot of other things other than actually putting the plow on the ground. I mean, a farmer that’s been successful does a really good job farming, tries to stay up with times and, tries to make his operation better each and every year,” says Davis. “Being involved in your farm, organizations such as, the Cotton Commission, Peanut Commission, or whatever you may be in, just to be a real big advocate for agriculture in Georgia.”

Davis is not the type of person who seeks accolades. He would rather his work do the talking. When asked about his recognition of being Georgia Farmer of the Year, Davis humbly replied, “I’m sure there are a lot of other farmers out there who deserve it more than I do.”

“I’m just the kind of guy, I just like to work and do things and try to help people, but I don’t ever really like to get the recognition for doing it, but it is an honor. After I got it and it sort of sunk in, I was like, ‘well, maybe I do more than I feel.'”

For Davis, farming isn’t just a profession, it’s a way of life, a journey that began at the tender age of eighteen, following the untimely loss of his parents during his senior year of high school. With resilience as his guiding force, Davis embraced his role as a steward of the land. Today, Bart focuses on cultivating cotton, peanuts, and corn, while also managing a thriving cattle operation.

“I was actually planting the crop. We was actually planting peanuts the day daddy died, which was April the seventh, 1982, the day he passed away. So, sort of got thrown in
my lap sooner than what I was expecting. Of course, you know, I felt like the world was coming to a end, but friends and family and just working every day and loving it. I mean the good Lord blessed us, and I’ve been successful at it,” says Davis.

But Davis’s contributions extend far beyond the boundaries of his own farm. He has actively given back to the industry by assuming leadership roles. For a decade, he has served on the Georgia Cotton Commission Board now as its chairman. Additionally, Bart chairs the Georgia Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation and represents Georgia on Southern Cotton Growers and Cotton Incorporated at the national level. His dedication to the industry, a testament to his passion for agriculture,

“You have gotta be dedicated to it. You can’t just wanna do it because you like it, and if you don’t wanna work that day, you don’t work. We work every day out here. I mean, there’s something to do seven days a week, twenty four hours a day out here, if a man’s willing to do it, you know? It’s tough. I mean, if a young man today, like my boys and my daughter, they are involved in it. Of course, I was the second generation farmer, and now they are the third. If you got somebody that can help you, a family member or somebody that’s willing and that you can work with and maybe learn from them, and then possibly let them work some land, it’s probably the best way for a young man to get started today. But if he don’t have some kind of way to get started, it’s just almost impossible to start from scratch,” says Davis.

As Bart Davis continues to shape the future of farming in Georgia and beyond, his story serves as an inspiration for aspiring farmers and a testament to the enduring spirit of agriculture in the Peach State.

By: Ray D’Alessio