Sunbelt - Sunbelt Expo Program 2019

KENDAL NORRIS

Contributing Writer

THE FARMER OF the Year award is given to an individual, but the award reflects the innumerable contributions made by the farmer’s family and employees to ensure the success of the honoree. These annual awards also highlight each farmer’s long and distinguished career in agricultural production, marketing, business management, applied research, environmental innovations, community service, and contributions to industry-related organizations.

Swisher International, through its Swisher Sweets cigar brand, and the Sunbelt Ag Expo are sponsoring the Southeastern Farmer of the Year awards for the thirtieth consecutive year. At the conclusion of this year’s Expo, a total of thirty outstanding farmers will have been recognized as overall winners of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Ag Expo SE Farmer of the Year awards, and 266 farmers from ten states will have been recognized as state winners.

Nominees for state awards are nominated by local county Extension agents in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Farm Bureau Federation area organization directors, field representatives or county presidents nominate the winners in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, and North Carolina. The rules, however, allow anyone to nominate a potential Farmer of the Year as long as they go through the local County Extension agent or Farm Bureau representative. Some state winners have been nominated by fellow farmers and even by family members.

Nominators are an important component in the overall success of the awards, especially as they provide ground transportation for the judging team and help state winners plan what to show the judges when they visit the farm. They can also act as shepherds in the initial application process that requires a considerable amount of accurate technical and yield information, a listing of business achievements, goals summaries, environmental and economic challenges and solutions, and personal reflections on each individual’s farming experience.

To ensure fairness in the selection process, judges are limited to three hours per farm visit. It is up to the state winners and the nominators to decide what to showcase during the limited time the judges are on site at each farm.

Since the awards began, three state winners have been women. Several years ago the program recognized the first fulltime beekeeper as a Farmer of the Year state winner. This year there are three new types of farming represented: conventional and organic herbs (Florida), poinsettias (Alabama), and Christmas trees (North Carolina). It’s the most diverse representation in the thirty-year history of the program.

One of the top commodities grown on farms in the southeast is beef cattle. This year there are three representatives of that side of farming among the state winners: Tennessee, Virginia, and Mississippi, all with varying operations, two involving stocker cattle and another one purebred Angus cows, heifers, and bulls.

Fruits, vegetables, and herbs — specialty,
conventional, and organic — are grown by
the Farmers of the Year in Florida and South
Carolina. The Kentucky Farmer of the Year
specializes in white food-grade corn, soybeans,
wheat, and dark tobacco. The Arkansas Farmer
of the year grows long grain, sake, and sushi
rice varieties, and the Alabama Farmer of the
Year has a greenhouse/nursery operation
featuring poinsettias, mums, caladiums, calla
lilies, and ferns. Georgia’s state Farmer of the
Year grows peaches, strawberries, pecans,
and timber. And the North Carolina Farmer
of the Year has an evergreen business with a
product line of Christmas trees, pumpkins, and
greenery products. Two of the Farmers of the
Year, South Carolina and Georgia, have state
legislative experience, either past or present.

This year’s judging tour took place during the week of August 5 to 9. Judges included Cary Lightsey, Lake Wales, Florida, who was the overall winner of the award in 2009; John McKissick, long-time University of Georgia agricultural economist at Athens, Georgia; and David Wildy, Manila, Arkansas, the overall winner of the award in 2016.

Judges typically serve for three years before rotating off the team. Cary Lightsey is in his third and final year of his term. John McKissick is in his second year of his second three-year term, and David Wildy is in his first year of his three-year term.

Each state winner of the Swisher Sweets/ Sunbelt Expo award receives $2,500 in cash and an expense-paid trip to Sunbelt Ag Expo from Swisher International of Jacksonville, Florida. Other prizes awarded to state winners include a $500 gift certificate from Southern States cooperative and a Columbia vest from Ivey’s Outdoor and Farm Supply.