Delta Ag Journal Vol. 2 No. 3 | July 2019

Delta Ag Journal The Farm Lifestyle Magazine of the Mississippi Delta

FARM TO SCHOOL Female Farmers River Flooding

Delta & Pine Land: A Look Back

Volume 2 • Number 3 • JULY 2019

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JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 1

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Contents

features 44 GROWING A PROGRAM From Farm to School

50 MISSISSIPPI SOYBEAN PROMOTION BOARD

Farmers Helping Farmers

52 FARMING FEMALE STYLE

Actively Involved from Planting to Harvest

58 OL' MAN RIVER JUST KEEPS ROLLING

40

Residents Keep Rowing

departments 14 FARMER Q & A Winn House

16 EXTENSION AGENT SPOTLIGHT Preston Aust

20 AG BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Mississippi Land Bank

14

on the cover

26 FARM HEADQUARTERS Riven Oaks

32 FARM FAMILIES

Branton Farms, Southern Planting Company, Adolph Roja Molina and Frankel Farms

58

Delta Ag Journal The Farm Lifestyle Magazine of the Mississippi Delta

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64 HISTORY

Delta & Pine Land Company

72 RECIPES

FARM TO SCHOOL Female Farmers

Summertime Delights

River Flooding

Volume 2 • Number 3 • JULY 2019

Karen Giesbrecht photographed

by Austin Britt at Buckshot Planting Company in Sunflower. Giesbrecht is one of our female farmers featured on page 52.

Delta & Pine Land: A Look Back

78 OUT & ABOUT 26

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 3

Scott Coopwood, PUBLISHER

Delta Ag Journal Publisher: J. Scott Coopwood Editors: Kristy Kitchings, Pam Parker Graphic Designers: Cailee Conrad, Maggi Mosco, Isabella Horne

Stirring Up the Dust

Turning off of Highway 32 east of minutes later we stopped at another tenant my hometown of Shelby, the gravel road house and the same scenario unfolded. We immediately stirred up a tornado-like dust must have stopped at ten homes that day. cloud as we headed to our farm. I was twelve Riding around on the farm was the only years old and riding with my grandfather, quality time I spent with my grandfather.

Scott Morrison. He never drove around Whenever we rode, we talked about the farm in a truck. It was always in a Ford everything. Back at home though, Scott was Galaxie 500 with what seemed to be a 25 foot quiet and barely participated in the family’s whip antenna attached to the back bumper. conversations around the dinner table.

“Roll down your window,” he barked at Later that day he dropped me off at my me as he rolled his down. For some reason, home just as the sun was setting. We said our whenever we rode around the goodbyes and for some reason farm, he turned off the air I stood there and watched him condition and down came the drive away. Two days later he windows. I suppose Scott liked was dead. At 81 years old his to breathe the air from the rice heart had given out. The farm fields that always had a certain was rented to someone from smell to them. Or, maybe it was Arkansas and a year later my the aroma of the DDT from the grandmother and great-uncle cotton fields. I actually liked the sold it. smell of DDT as well.

Growing up, I often On one particular trip, Scott Morrison wondered what he had handed Scott pulled into the yard of a the workers. I suspected it must worker and instead of getting out of the car have been payroll checks. Then, 38 years later, and walking to the front door of the tenant my father and I were discussing the past and house, he blew his car horn several times. A I told him about that day and the envelopes. mother appeared with what seemed to be ten He knew exactly what I was talking about. children.

“Scott had a habit of saving money and “Where’s so and so,” he asked peering putting it in a lock box at the gin,” my father through his prescription sunglasses that were told me. “Because he lived through the as thick as the end of an old Coca Cola bottle. Depression, Scott didn’t keep much of his “He’s in the field,” she shouted back from the money in the banks. And when he thought he porch. was saving too much, he would take some of My grandfather reached in his pocket and it and hand it out to the wives of the workers pulled out an envelope. on the farm. He never gave it to the husbands “Here, take this and don’t tell your because he was afraid they would blow it.” husband I gave it to you.”

Two Sundays ago, I drove out to the old The women and her small army trotted farm. I hadn’t been there in twenty years. to the car. “Now, don’t tell him I gave this All of it has been erased by time. The only to you,” my grandfather said once more, this evidence that remained of the past were pieces time peering over the top of his sunglasses of bricks from the tenant house chimneys with a stern look. and small shards of glass from the windows “Yes sir,” she responded with no expression. scattered in the fields.

We then took off flying down the gravel However, the memories remain. And for road at what felt like 90 miles an hour. A few that, I am truly grateful.

WRITERS Charlotte Buchanan, Hank Burdine, Aimee Robinette, Angela Rogalski, Greta Sharp, Mark H. Stowers PHOTOGRAPHY Austin Britt, Rory Doyle CIRCULATION Holly Tharp ACCOUNTING MANAGER Emma Jean Thompson ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Kristy Kitchings, Ann Nestler, Wendy Mize, Janice Fullen, Jamie Lyn Hairston POSTMASTER Send all address changes to: Delta Ag Journal P.O. Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732 ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (662) 843-2700 Fax (662) 843-0505 Delta Ag Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials and in general does not return them to sender. Manuscripts and photographs submitted for publication are welcomed by Delta Ag Journal, but no responsibility can be taken for them while in transit or in the office of publication.

All editorial and advertising information is taken from sources considered to be authoritative, but the publication cannot guarantee their accuracy. Neither that information nor any opinion expressed on the pages of Delta Ag Journal in any way constitutes a solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities mentioned. No material in the Delta Ag Journal can be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher.

Delta Ag Journal is published by Coopwood Publishing Group, Inc. EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE ADDRESSES Mailing Address: Post Office Box 117 Cleveland, Mississippi 38732 Shipping Address: 125 South Court Street Cleveland, Mississippi 38732 Phone (662) 843-2700 Fax (662) 843-0505 E-mail: publisher@deltaagjournal.com

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JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 5

Letters Thank you for promoting our Grain Bin Simulator and Rescue Training both on the online and print version of the publication. The online version helped us get our information out to so many more of your readers and the print version of the magazine featuring our photos from the event was greatly appreciated. It takes an entire network working together to ensure the safety of our farmers and you stepped up and helped us get the word out. We look forward to hosting the event again in the future. We all enjoy reading a local magazine about Delta farmers. Keep up the good work.

Matt McNutt Ruleville Fire Department

I wanted to extend thanks to the Delta Ag Journal for its great coverage of DeWitt Auction Company in the April 2019 issue. As you tagged us a valuable resource for agricultural equipment, I can personally say the same about your publication. It truly is a valuable resource for everyone in the ag industry. Even though we are located in Sikeston, MO, we do provide auction sales for many Delta farmers with the auction in Webb being our biggest in your coverage area.

The photography was great and your writer did an excellent job of portraying our company in a way that the farmers could understand exactly what we do at DeWitt Auction Company. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of Delta Ag Journal both in the editorial content and as an advertiser. We look forward to many more publications with you guys!

Coley DeWitt Sikeston, MO

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT EDITION OF DELTA AG JOURNAL visit www.deltaagjournal.com or call (662) 843-2700

6 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Letters I wanted to take the time to thank you for getting in touch with me about being featured in the Delta Ag Journal as the Farmer Q&A. This publication is the talk of the farming community.

Everyone loves to read about how young farmers got their start, seeing the farm headquarters from around the Delta, the great photography, history of farming in the Mississippi Delta. My mom and future wife also enjoy the recipes. The opportunity to be featured was fun and exciting and I received numerous comments from friends and family about the article. Thank you for considering a young farmer like me to be a part of this great publication. I am always willing to lend a hand if you ever need me as a resource. I would also like to thank everyone involved in the accepting my mother, Janice Fullen, as an account executive with the magazine! Farming runs deep in our blood and I know she will be a huge asset to your publication.

Jacob Fullen Cleveland

I want to thank the Delta Ag Journal in advance for my feature in this edition of your publication. Being a young farmer and going out on my own is very scary and especially since the one person, my grandfather Jimmy House, I have relied on for knowledge in this industry is no longer available for me to consult with.

I enjoy the magazine and all it has to offer Delta farmers.

Winn House Beulah

SEND COMMENTS AND LETTERS TO publisher@deltaagjournal.com or Delta Ag Journal P.O. Box 117 Cleveland, MS 38732 JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 7

AG NEWS

Continued Flooding Issues In South Delta Much Farmland Remains Out of Production

By Bonnie Coblentz MSU Extension Service

Although numbers on paper look about right for Mississippi row crops, the reality is actually quite grim in places.

Flooding in areas along the Mississippi River and its tributaries is affecting hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland nationally.

In Mississippi, the south Delta is hardest hit, with an estimated 200,000 acres impacted by flooding in late June.

Josh Maples, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said farmland still under water likely won’t be planted at all this year. Another significant chunk of acreage has only recently been planted. Other fields had total losses after initial plantings and have been replanted.

“It is still too early to know the full economic impact because we don’t yet know the planting totals or the potential yield impacts,” Maples said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture gives a weekly update on the crop status in the state. As of June 16, USDA showed corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, sorghum and soybeans either completely planted or only slightly behind the five-year average planting rate.

But these numbers don’t take into account the acreage that will not be planted in 2019.

Curt Lacy, an agricultural economist and Delta region Extension coordinator located at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, provided some perspective on lost acreage.

Sharkey and Issaquena counties in the south Delta are the hardest hit by flooding.

USDA indicated in March that farmers in Sharkey County intended to plant 126,200 acres of corn, cotton and soybeans. Issaquena County farmers intended to plant 84,900 acres of these three crops. Last year, these counties actually harvested 125,200 and 82,800 acres, respectively, of corn, cotton and soybeans.

Persistent flooding since those planting intentions were stated changed everything.

“Estimates are that between forty percent and sixty percent of the farmland in Sharkey County and sixty percent and seventy-five percent of the farmland in Issaquena County 8 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

The south Delta has been flooded for months, and relief is still weeks away once the flood gates are opened. This pivot irrigation system stands in floodwater in Issaquena County in this April 5 photo. (Photo by MSU Extension Service/Michaela Parker)

won’t be planted at all this year because it is still under water,” Lacy said.

In all, Mississippi plants about 3.3 million acres of corn, cotton and soybeans each year.

Soybeans have the distinction of being the crop with the best chance of a good performance even when planted late. With more than 2 million acres planted annually in Mississippi, soybean is a significant crop for the state.

Trent Irby, Extension soybean specialist, said the number of soybean acres will be down this year. It is too soon to speculate on outcomes.

“Late-planted soybeans often face major challenges from hot, dry summer weather patterns as well as late-season insect and disease pressure when compared to earlier planting dates,” Irby said. “A specific concern for this year is the possibility for increased management inputs for redbanded stink bug.”

Although Mississippians recognize that this spring was one of the wettest on record, rainfall was only a small part of the current disaster. The problem is Mississippi River flooding -- caused by snow melt and massive rainfall upriver -- that triggered closure of levees that typically drain Mississippi farmland.

Tom Ball, an Extension emergency coordinating officer, said there are 540,000 acres of Mississippi cropland behind the

Flooding is visible June 19 on both sides of this road about one mile east of the Steele Bayou Control Structure in Warren County, Mississippi.

On the left is backwater flooding, while on the right is Mississippi River water. (Photo by Warren County EMA/John Elfer)

closed gates of the Steele Bayou Control Structure in Warren County. Much of this land is flooded, but opening the gates would make things worse.

John Elfer, Warren County Emergency Management Agency director, said the Mississippi River/Yazoo River side is higher than the backwater.

“If you open the gates, then the water would go the wrong way,” Elfer said. “Until the river falls enough below the backwater stage, the gates cannot open.”

At about noon June 19, the river was a miniscule .04 foot higher than the backwater, and Elfer predicted the level would drop enough for the gates to open before the week is over.

Relief, however, won’t come quickly.

“You’re going to see a difference in about a month,” he said. “We’re at almost ninetyeight feet on the backwater, and to get it to ninety feet will take a month.”

AG NEWS

Wet Spring Resulted in Rice Planting Delay

By Nathan Gregory MSU Extension Service

The third week of March is usually the beginning of rice planting season in Mississippi, but fields were not dry enough to hold tractors until May in most locations.

Many growers were still scrambling to get rice in the ground by early June due to unusually high rain amounts in the first quarter of 2019. While more than ninety percent of the crop had been planted as of June 3, only seventy-four percent had emerged, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is well behind the fiveyear average of ninety-two percent emerged by this date.

By June 10, rice emergence improved to 90 percent.

“Rice production has been affected more in north Mississippi by weather events than the Bolivar County/Highway 82 corridor,” said Bobby Golden, rice specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension service. “Tunica County growers planted the bulk of their rice in the latter half of the planting window and were still planting in early June. Unseasonably hot and dry weather in May allowed for some lost planting time to be made up.”

Just after growers got those last acres in

the ground, consecutive rainy days returned to most of the state, dumping several inches of water in some locations.

“The rain we received at the end of the first week of June was a welcome blessing to some trying to flush recently planted rice up and incorporate herbicides,” Golden said, “but it created an issue for those needing to apply preflood fertilizer to dry ground on the acres getting ready to go to flood.”

Initial projections from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March were for growers to plant 150,000 acres of rice this year, which would be about a 10,000acre increase from 2018, but delays have decreased the amount of time growers had to plant. Acreage may wind up lagging behind last year’s total.

“I would be pleased if we got to 110,000 acres,” Golden said.

What growers were able to plant is in decent shape so far. As of June 10, The USDA estimated that fifty-seven percent of the crop was in good condition, with six percent in excellent condition. Thirty-four percent was in fair condition.

Prices are also down from last year.

September rice futures are trading for $11.80 per hundredweight, down about forty cents from a year ago.

Last year, Mississippi produced 10.2

This rice variety trial at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi, is the second planting of rice in this field. The first planting was terminated due to inadequate stand. (Photo by MSU Extension Service/Bobby Golden)

million hundredweight of rice on 139,000 acres. The U.S. produced 224.2 million hundredweight last year and is forecast to produce 218.2 million hundredweight this year.

“While total U.S. acreage will likely be lower, large beginning stocks are contributing to an expected increase in total rice supplies,” Extension agricultural economist Josh Maples said. “This was one reason that USDA is forecasting a lower price in 2019 than in 2018.”

MSU’s Delta Center Names Interim Head

By Nathan Gregory MSU Extension Service

A former leader of Mississippi State University’s largest agricultural research center will soon return to that role on an interim basis.

Steve Martin will became interim head of the Delta Research and Extension Center July 1. He will also continue in his current role as associate director of the MSU Extension Service. Jeff Johnson, who served since 2013 as head of the Stonevillebased center, has accepted a full-time faculty position on the MSU main campus in Starkville.

Before being named Extension associate director in 2015, Martin served as head of the Delta R&E Center from 2008 until 2012, when he became head of the North Mississippi R&E Center in Verona.

Martin has three degrees from MSU, including a bachelor’s in agriculture and extension education, a master’s in business administration and a doctorate in agricultural economics.

One job of the Stoneville center’s leader is to oversee the nineteen-county Delta region of MSU Extension.

“Extension’s mission is delivering research-proven Martin information and education to better the lives of all Mississippians,” said MSU Extension Director Gary Jackson. “The connections Dr. Martin has built in the Mississippi Delta and familiarity with the Delta center are invaluable in carrying that mission forward.”

Faculty from Extension and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry

Experiment Station are based the 4,700-square-foot facility.

Their main focus is on row crop and catfish production.

“Commercial agriculture and aquacultural producers throughout Mississippi depend on research conducted at this facility every year to improve production and efficiency on their farms,” said Experiment Station Director George Hopper. “Dr. Martin’s administrative experience ensures leadership continuity for the research station as it continues to address the needs of our clients in the Delta area and beyond.”

The Delta Branch Experiment Station, based at the center, is one of sixteen Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station branch units statewide.

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THROUGH THE YEARS

REMEMBERING HILLHOUSE

A few miles west of Clarksdale next to Highway 1, the community of Hillhouse is located. Long ago, the fields around that area were used as an experimental cooperative farm that was established in 1936. It was initiated by the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union. Dozens of farm families who had been kicked off of plantations in Arkansas moved to Hillhouse and worked there for years.

While the community of Hillhouse somewhat still remains, the land has changed hands and the experimental cooperative farm is only a footnote to the Delta's history.

Photos from the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

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FARMER Q&A

WINN HOUSE Beulah, Mississippi

House with Abby Bond and their dogs Case and Chester

Biggest Influence

Describe What You Do In Your Job

My grandfather, Jimmy House. He worked his entire life to provide for his family and taught me all about farming.

I manage all aspects of my farm on a daily basis and I also write crop insurance.

Best Advice You Have Received

What Do You Like About Farming?

Any and everything my grandfather told me. He gave the best advice on many topics, not just farming.

Definitely harvest season. I can’t wait to see the outcome of all my hard work I put into the crops.

First Job

What Do You Like Least About Farming?

Working on the family farm.

Stressing about the prices and keeping a check on them daily. The weather is another thing I don’t like to have to deal with and this season has been a challenge.

Education

I graduated high school from Bayou Academy and continued my education at Mississippi Delta Community College in agriculture.

Family

My family is very important to me. My father is Will House and my mother is Celeste Millbrand. I am engaged to Abby Bond and she provides encouragement in everything I do.

Current Job Position

Owner/Operator of James Windham House Farms and a crop insurance agent at Delta Risk Solutions in Cleveland.

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Best Decision You Have Ever Made

Keeping the family farming operation.

Worst Decision You Have Ever Made

Not using my time and resources to make the farm better, sooner.

Mississippi Delta

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EXTENSION AGENT

FIELD OF DREAMS Preston Aust Helps Farmers Stay on Track

By Aimee Robinette

Preston Aust may not have dreamed of being a Mississippi State University Extension Service agent, but he has cultivated a career that he finds both challenging and rewarding. Born and raised in Belzoni, Aust grew up in a farming family.

“My family farmed catfish and both of my grandfathers had row crop farms. So, I pretty much grew up in a farming environment. I graduated from Humphreys Academy and Mississippi Delta Community College prior to going to Mississippi State University to get my B.S. in Ag Engineering Technology and Business,” says Preston. “Before MSU Extension, I worked for nine years as a farm manager. During that time, I began farming a few hundred acres of my own, picking up a few acres here and there. I later went back to MSU for 16 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

graduate school and received a M.S. in Ag Information Science.

“I did not grow up with dreams of becoming an extension agent. It was just one of those opportunities that came along, and it seemed to fit. The retiring extension agent, Eddie Harris, called me one day and told me that he was getting ready to retire and thought that I would be a good fit for the job. He was my 4-H Agent when I participated in 4-H Livestock as a youth,” says Aust. “So, after giving it a little thought, I applied for the job a few months later, and in July 20ll, I was hired as the MSU Extension County coordinator/ag and natural resource agent for Humphreys County.”

Aust’s main responsibilities are ag and natural resources, 4-H, and economic community resource development. “The most rewarding things I do are working

with local row crop producers and our 4-H Livestock Program. I enjoy the challenges they both bring. It is always something new to keep you on your toes with both of them,” says Aust. “Currently I am also working Sharkey and Issaquena counties as their ANR Agent. I like helping people; that is what I love about my job.”

The extension service helps farmers in many ways. “I offer annual Worker Protection and Private Applicator classes for producers and their employees. We work with them on irrigation plans using Pipe Planner. We use traps to monitor the South Western Corn Borer Moth flight and communicate with producers on when to make applications. One of my favorites is the Soybean, Corn and Cotton Variety Demonstration Plots,” he adds. “We coordinate with

Aust surveying the harvest

Aust with his sons Preston, Jr. and Leo, wife Emily, and daughter Neeli

extension specialists and producers to plant, monitor and harvest for yield large demonstration plots. This data allows producers to have years of data available to help them pick proven varieties to use on their farm for upcoming seasons.

“We help producers by using researchbased science to diagnose problems like replant decisions, nutrient deficiencies, insect pests (treatment), soil fertility, and economics. And sometimes it is just calibrating a sprayer,” says Aust.

This field is mostly dictated by mother nature, which means farming continues to be a gamble, but it’s one most farmers are willing to take. “The best way to describe the 2018 crop is they were good, but not great. Soybeans were our number one planted commodity. Yields were good, but we ran into seed quality issues due to high moisture environment late in the season. Corn was definitely our most issue-free crop last year,” he says.

“Yields were respectable, and we made it through harvest with very few problems.

Cotton yields were down a bit, but still respectable. However, an early winter made conditions for harvest very trying

and many producers across the state were still picking cotton in December. In spite of all the problems, yields across the board were good. However, producers struggled with marketing a crop in a time of low prices.”

As for 2019, Aust says the year has started off being a wash to say the least. “It has been the most trying planting season I have ever witnessed. I saw somewhere that it was the wettest spring on record.

All of our corn was basically planted in three to four days around March 20. And then much of that was replanted due to heavy rains and cooler than normal temperatures. And just when it looked like we were going to catch a break, heavy rains returned in early May,” he says. “So, we are below our intentions on corn acres and many of them are off to a rough start.

The majority of our soybeans and cotton are being planted four to six weeks past our prime planting window.”

Also in 2019, flooding from the Mississippi River and its backwater and the price volatility due to the absence of a trade deal with China are two major challenges facing producers.

“Based on commodity prices, we needed to have a record year yield wise to cash flow at prices coming into planting. And we have had one of the roughest starts that I can remember, which will make it almost impossible to reach those yield goals we desperately need,” says Aust. “On a positive note, flooding across the mid-west currently has their crop planting delayed and now they have pretty much missed their prime planting window. Many of my producers in Issaquena County will not be able to plant anything this year due to flooding.

There are also producers in Sharkey, Yazoo, Humphreys and Holmes Counties that share this same fate due to the duration of flooding this year. And many are flooded out of their homes as well. By the time the water goes down, they will have missed a crop.

Aust notes that farmers are the most resilient people he knows.

“This year has been hard on everyone.

Remember to help others every chance you get.”

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AG BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

MISSISSIPPI LAND BANK

Cleveland Branch Serving Bolivar and Sunflower Counties

By Angela Rogalski 20 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Rob Taylor, Vice President and Branch Manager of the Cleveland location of Mississippi Land Bank and Brandy Pugh, Loan Administrator

M

ississippi Land Bank, ACA has been serving communities in Northern Mississippi for over 100 years. As part of the Farm Credit System, Mississippi Land Bank, ACA has been providing agriculture and rural America with consistent, reliable credit and related financial services for generations.

Rob Taylor is Vice President and Branch Manager of the Cleveland location. Taylor says what makes Mississippi Land Bank different from other lending institutions is that the bank is owned by its borrowers.

“We are a true cooperative,” says Taylor “When you get a loan with Mississippi Land Bank, you purchase stock in the company, which that stock is capped at a $1,000 maximum, so no one buys more than $1,000 worth of stock. You become part owner of the cooperative. That being said, we share our profits with our owners.

So, we pay a patronage dividend annually to our customers. And it works as a direct reduction of the customer’s interest rate; we don’t hold the money or roll it over, pay a portion one year, it accrues based upon the average daily balance of the loan just like the interest would and we write a check back annually. And that acts

as a reduction of the loan’s interest rate.”

And Taylor says that Mississippi Land Bank is all about the rural landowner and the farmer and his or her needs when it comes to being successful.

“We do loans for everything that a farmer could need for their business,” he says. “From equipment to production loans to land loans, rural home loans, and even improvement loans on property.”

Mississippi Land Bank, ACA has a long history based on helping the agricultural community, farmers and rural landowners, obtain the money needed to help their endeavors come to fruition.

“We were created by an act of Congress,” says Taylor. “To help rural landowners have long-term financing and to aid farmers in receiving long-term financing, which was not available in the early 1900s. So, because of that fact, we were termed at one time as a JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 21

Taylor

Federal Land Bank, but we are not a federal institution, even though we were created by an act of Congress, we’re owned by our borrowers. We’ve been in the business a long time doing land loans, production loans, equipment loans, and whatever the farmer needs.”

Another aspect that makes Mississippi Land Bank different, according to Taylor, is that when people want to buy a piece of property, the odds are good that bank representatives have already seen the property or know about that piece of property.

“We may have already appraised that property; we may can help with some history about it,” he says. “We’ve just been doing this for so long. And another important thing is if someone comes in to get a loan, with most other typical banks, the customer will have to pay for an appraisal on land, but with us we do our appraisals in-house, so that’s part of our fees and less cost to the individual getting that loan. And we’ve also started a referral system for our customers. If you’re an existing customer with us and you refer a new customer, we have a program that will pay you a referral fee.”

Taylor is in his thirteenth year with Mississippi Land Bank, ACA. He received his master’s from Mississippi State in Agronomy and started his career as a salesman for United Agri Products. His 22 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Pugh

background in agriculture has been very important in his present career he says.

“When I was hired thirteen years ago here at the bank, one of the things they said to me was they could teach me to lend money, but they needed someone who understood the farming community and farming in particular, which is a little bit different from your standard bank, because Mississippi Land Bank is committed to the farming community and rural America.”

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FARM HEADQUARTERS

RIVEN OAKS Headquarters Includes a Farm Shop that Was Formerly a Gin

By Mark H. Stowers • Photography by Austin Britt

26 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Bob Hairston, Tish Hairston, Andrew Hairston, Camille Hairston Rodgers, William Hairston, Thomas Hairston are all actively involved in the farming operation. Right, Thomas Hairston with the circa 1954 cotton picker he purchased and restored and actually used one year during harvest.

A

bout a mile or so off the main thoroughfare between Silver City and Midnight sits the Hairston Farm Headquarters and shop. At first glance, the structure resembles an old gin. That’s because it actually is.The former gin was picked up and moved more than a half century ago and has been renovated and remodeled for the Hairston’s more than 4,200-acre farm needs that includes 600 acres of catfish ponds as well.

Thomas Hairston, along with his father, Bob, brother Andrew and their sister, Camille who keeps up with the payroll and the farm’s bookkeeping, are all part of the family farm – Riven Oaks.

“There’s a 2,500 acre block where the shop sits and it consists of the shop, a large equipment shed, two pole barns,

and old mule barn that we kept mules in until the 1960s and we’ve also have a Quonset hut that we made out of a grain bin,” says Hairston.

But, it was Hairston’s grandfather who bought the gin that was formerly located in Belzoni in the 1950s and re-assembled on the property.

“When my father came back to farm, he helped extend the awning to double the size of the shop,” says Hairston.

“Our shop is like half of a gin and one big awning that you can fit combines and cotton pickers in. The man who assembled it said the gin was probably out of the World War II era due to the

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 27

Camille Hairston Rodgers in the farm office headquarters. Right, most of the day to day equipment on Riven Oaks Farm is of the green variety.

28 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Left, the Hairston Farm Headquarters shop is a former gin that was moved to its current location more than half a century ago. Above, Bob Hairston, Tish Hairston, Andrew Hairston, Camille Hairston Rodgers, William Hairston, and Thomas Hairston in front of Bob Hairston's parents' home, the late Peter and Lucille Hairston. The home is now used as their farm office headquarters.

iron they used.”

Moving inside the shop, there is an antique cotton trailer that has been reformatted and used for storage.

“It’s on stilts and we have a parts room underneath it,” he says.

The Hairstons conduct normal type of maintenance and repair work with welding equipment, torches, chain lifts and other basic farm shop equipment.

The shop itself measures around 50-feet by 50-feet inside and the exterior extends to 120-feet by 70-feet as estimated by Hairston. And they continue to upgrade the shop.

“This past winter we installed LED lights and that was a huge help. In the winter, we rebuild cotton pickers.

Our lighting is a lot better now. The LED lights are worth the money,” says Hairston. “It’s an old gin and we have 24-25-foot ceilings. We had to have a scissor lift to install them. It was quite a project.”

The Hairstons don’t do a lot of cooking in the shop, but they do use it as a place to skin deer.

“We have water and electricity and a hoist in the shop which allows us to clean and prepare the deer for processing" All of the Hairstons enjoy collecting antique farm machinery that is scattered throughout the shop area.

“I personally collect antique cotton pickers. I have some that are from the 1950s and 1960s,” he says. “I have an old one-row cotton picker that I actually used to pick cotton a few years ago. It ran nearly as well as a brand new machine.

The others are just a project waiting for my attention, but I haven’t had any time to work on them. We have plenty of remnants from the past that we still use in our farming operation.”

The former 1950s cotton gin continues to thrive in its new life, and the Hairstons continue to find ways to incorporate its size and shape to fit their needs.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 29

30 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 31

FARM FAMILIES

BRANTON FARMS

A Century of Farming in the Delta

By Mark H. Stowers

32 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

N

early one hundred years before he started farming at the age of twelve, Will Branton’s family had worked the Delta land before him. Each ancestor helped plow the way for the next generation to grow, harvest and continue to build on their hard work and legacy.

“We’re ten minutes from the Mississippi River and father has a membership in the refuge,” he says. “It’s like having 12,000 acres of hunting ground. But my big hobby is duck hunting. We have 300 acres in Tribbett that’s our duck hole.”

One of the family’s favorite hobbies includes an annual drive to South Dakota to hunt pheasant.

“Three generations will drive, myself, Carson and my father, it’s about a seventeen hour drive so you get a lot of time to talk which is nice. I’ve been hunting on that same farm for twenty-seven years and father probably ten years more. We’ve gotten to know the generations of farmers there and we stay in the same

Carson, Kelli, Will and William Branton

“In addition to the corn, soybean and cotton, we also farmed about 600 acres of catfish for about twenty-five years,” says Branton. “We were really trying to get into a much larger catfish operation, but that industry went south and we got out completely.”

Located between Leland and Arcola off of old Highway 61, Branton notes that his grandfather started with a smaller farm, but then grew to the 3,000 plus acres it is today.

Branton works with his father, Dan. His mother, Shelia, does the bookkeeping while his wife, Kelli, works as a second grade teacher at Washington School. He’s bringing along the next generation in his sons William and Carson.

Through the years, the acres have included some peanuts, wheat and milo. The Brantons keep a close eye on the Delta aquifer as every Delta farmer does, but have a small plan in place to help. The one fish pond he kept now helps irrigate crops and it collects rain water from ditches. The storage water then irrigates without tapping into the aquifer.

“We’d like to build more, but its costly,” he says. “Of our ninety-five percent of irrigated land, we are one hundred percent in compliance with the new groundwater measurements. We have soil moisture meters, surge valves that control the water flow so there’s minimum water waste going into the ditch.”

Branton is not one to sit still and actually has a side job of setting up pools locally.

He also enjoys hunting and fishing on the Mississippi River as well as being active in his church with his family and the youth program.

cabin each year.”

Branton’s other hobbies include gardening and just about anything he can do outside.

“In my garden I have tomatoes, sweet corn, strawberries, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, you name it and its’ in there,” he says.

And in keeping with his love of the outdoors and always into something, Branton ran in a marathon in Arkansas that he entered on a whim.

“I did not train for it. My friends and family thought I was crazy. I told everybody the way I would train is that I would pick up everybody’s dead ducks while we were duck hunting.

So anytime someone killed a duck, I picked it up. When the marathon came around in February, I entered it. That was on Saturday and on Sunday when I went to church, I had to use a cane. I got the medal and I got the t-shirt and I hung my shoes up. I haven’t entered a race since, but I’m getting the itch again.”

Keeping the Branton farm life going since 1899, Will Branton continues to enjoy the outdoor life and fun the family farm provides.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 33

FARM FAMILIES

SOUTHERN PLANTING COMPANY

Burns with his wife Julie, son Luke, daughter Heidi and their dog Duke

Rhett Burns Keeps the Family Farm Going

By Mark H. Stowers

34 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Above, evidence that a successful soybean crop is underway. Right, Duke is Burns' constant companion on the farm.

L

ike generations of Delta boys before him, Rhett Burns got his hands dirty early in life. At the age of nine he was driving a tractor and was drilling rice by eleven. It was a life he was destined for and he has enjoyed every moment.

“One day on my fathers farm he was shorthanded and he told me to get on the rice planter” he says. “All my life I had watched my father do it, but I was a nervous wreck! He said 'make sure you keep it straight son,' but it ended up looking like a snake crawling on the ground, but the field got planted.”

“As I got a little older, around fifteen, my father gave me a few hundred acres. It was his, but I was the workhorse to see if I would sink or swim. He had me flooding up rice, something simple for him, but not for me as it was something I had never done it before.”

Burns spent days setting levees and it was enough to show his grit and determination. When he turned eighteen, his father gave him sixty acres to own and work by himself.

“I used his equipment, but there was a cost to it. Nothing was free. I would get a paycheck every now and then. But those sixty acres worked out well and I got enough rain and sunshine and thought, 'well, this is easy.’”

But then his sophomore year as a farmer had a different spin.

“I tried to pick up another couple hundred acres of fish ponds,” he says. “Then we got a big rain and the ponds flooded out and I figured it’s not so easy. I had to learn the hard way a few times. Once you sink, you learn how to swim.”

Burns now oversees more than 5,000 acres of cotton (but not this season), corn and soybeans.

“It keeps you busy and you don’t get much sleep, but you have the whole winter to sleep,” he says. “I wanted to name my farm “will he make it,” but my father said with that name I might have a problem trying to get a bank loan.”

By the time Burns was twenty-one, his father, Del Burns, had pushed him out of the nest and he was farming entirely on his own.

“I used his equipment until I was about twenty-five and then I started buying my own,” he says. “Every year, I’d bring the crop

in and buy a little more and try to put back what I could. The worst thing you can do is spend your whole paycheck. It only takes one year to knock you out. You’ve got to put back as much as you possibly can for that one bad year because it will come.”

Southern Shade Company has a crew of five to six full-time workers, but Burns also uses the H2A program to import labor from South Africa that are quite dedicated to getting the job done.

“I’m thirty-three years old and I’ve been farming my whole life and I have put in a lot of hard work and long hours. But the workers with the H2A program have an incredible work ethic.

They will stay in the field to midnight every night if you let them,” he says.

When Burns does get a break from farming, he enjoys hunting and especially fishing.

“I like to put my boat in and jug fish all night,” he says.

“I have been doing it all my life and the biggest catfish I have caught was probably close to forty pounds.”

His grandfather, Bud ‘Pop’ Short, taught him important life lessons. Mainly how to turn a bad situation into a good one and how to jug fish.

“My Pop once caught a fish that would have been a state record. He caught a yellow cat that was eighty-five pounds. We told him he should have it verified with a game warden, but he said ‘no, I’m just ready to eat it!’ He was really good at turning a negative into a positive. He caught that big fish when he set a trotline over his flooded out bean field,” Still working the turn row he first set foot on at a young age, Rhett Burns is living and loving every aspect of the farm life.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 35

FARM FAMILIES FAMILIES FARM

ALOLPHO ROJA MOLINA Manager for W.P. Rawl and Sons

By Charlotte Buchanan

A

dolpho Rojas Molina is not your typical Delta farmer. He is a native of Mexico who came to the United States when he was a boy and was fortunate enough to work for a company called W.P. Rawl and Sons out of Pelion, South Carolina. Once a field worker, he is now manager of 700 acres of land near Arcola for the company.

While Molina may not be typical in many ways, he is very much like Delta farmers in others. As he drives his pickup truck across turn rows, he talks with pride about the farming operation, what grows best on which acres, harvest yields, and yes, the weather. His company is known as one of the largest wholesalers in leafy green vegetables in the United States. In one field there were forty to fifty workers cutting sweet corn by hand with a machete. “We do everything the old

36 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

fashioned way, by hand and hard work,” Molina says.

A lot of the workers are from Mexico.

His company brings them to the United States to work during peak planting and harvesting time. Molina quickly pointed out that all the workers are in the United States legally. “My company believes in doing things the right way, they all have work visas. W.P. Rawl bought an apartment complex in Indianola so they would have a place to live while here.

We have large vans that transport them back and forth to the farming operation.

It’s very hot working in the fields, but we make sure that they have an abundance of water and drinks like Gatorade. We are also proud of the fact they are well paid, some can clear up to $500 or $600 per week to help their families back home,” he says.

As Molina gave his passengers a guided tour, he pointed out fields of turnip greens, collards, kale and other vegetables. “The climate here in Mississippi is one that allows farmers to harvest one crop and to plant another right behind it,” he says.

In addition to the leased farming operation near Arcola, W. P. Rawl owns and operates a distribution center near Holly Ridge.

“It is important that we get our vegetables to the distribution center quickly so as to ensure freshness,” says Molina.

Molina will proudly tell you that he is a native of Mexico, but is a citizen of the United States. “My family and I love it here, we purchased a home in Indianola and I am privileged to live in the United States and to work for a fine company,” he says.

Molina

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 37

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FARM FAMILIES

FRANKEL FARMS

Father/Son Duo Continuing a Family Tradition

By Charlotte Buchanan

L

ee Frankel and his son Martin operate a successful farming operation between Leland and Shaw. They are not the first Frankels to be involved with farming. Lee’s father Leo and his father before him farmed for decades in the Steiner Community in Sunflower County before the family purchased land in Washington County.

40 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Left, Lee Frankel, Greyson Breedlove, Martin and John Martin Frankel. Above, the Frankels constant companion, JD.

“For many years, we planted cotton and grain crops,” says Frankel. “However, we haven’t planted cotton since 2006. Now we just plant grain crops and this year it is all soybeans.”

Soybeans are now listed by the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service as being the top row crop for farmers. Back in the 1990s, a farmer was pleased with twenty-five to thirty bushels an acre. With new technology and seeds, expected yield is much higher today.

As a reminder of his heritage in farming, there is an antique farm bell displayed near his headquarters.

“My father brought this from Steiner when they moved to the farm in Washington

County,” says Frankel. “It stayed in the shop for years, but I am proud of it so we got it out where we could see it every day.”

In his early teen years, Frankel started helping his father on the farm. “It was back in the 1980s and then I was in partnership with my dad until he passed away. We are so blessed to have our son Martin now in a farm partnership with me. Between the two of us we handle all the day to day operations and hire a few extra people during planting and harvesting,” he says.

“Though the farm has irrigation over about eighty percent of it, good soaking rains are always appreciated,” he says.

After graduating from high school, Frankel received a Farm Management

Degree from Mississippi Delta Community College. His son Martin received a welding degree from East Mississippi Community College. The farming father/son duo works well together since they have expertise in farming, management, and repairs.

Frankel believes in giving back to his community. He and his wife Hardie, who is originally from Midnight, are active leaders in the First Presbyterian Church of Leland.

Frankel has served as President of the Leland Lions Club and has been President of the Washington County Farm Bureau. He has also served on the Water Drainage Board and is a member of Delta Council and Leland Chamber of Commerce.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 41

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Elementary students working in their school garden

GROWING A

PROGRAM From Farm to School

By Aimee Robinette

O

besity, diabetes and other illnesses run rampant in the South, and while healthcare can provide medicinal aid, many would like to see a more natural shift in diets. Mississippi, and particularly the Delta, has been in a fight for years to bring healthy, locally grown vegetables and produce to school children, and in turn, their families, making their efforts more proactive than reactive.

That is where the Mississippi Farm to School Network comes in. “Farm to School programs connect schools (ECE-12) and local farms to bring healthy meals to school cafeterias, improve student nutrition, create nutrition awareness, and support local farmers.

It does this by including local products in schools and preschools — not just in breakfast and lunch, but in after-school snacks,

44 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

classroom activities, and anywhere food is involved,” says Dorothy Grady-Scarbrough, co-director of the program. “A good program also supports food-related curriculum development and learning opportunities such as school gardens, farm tours and farmers in the classroom. Children benefit from fresh, nutritious food that establishes good eating habits, a gift they will carry through life.

They acquire an understanding of the connection between the food they eat and their health, agriculture, and the environment.”

Grady-Scarbrough’s and Sunny Baker’s (also a director) responsibilities are to work to build a strong state network from early childhood education and kindergarten through twelfth grade with school gardens and nutrition education statewide.

“Mississippi is a large state and that makes it difficult to cover,” saysGrady-Scarbrough. The two find challenges in funding, making collections in the schools for gardening, nutrition education, farmers, and procurement. “I need help getting the word out to all eighty-two counties in Mississippi.”

Baker says Mississippi has the richest soil in the whole country

and yet a majority of the crops grown in the state are not edible.

“We import ninety percent of the food we eat, an $8.5 billion loss each year to our economy,” she explains. “Our children crave delicious, wholesome foods - and our schools should be able to provide that for them. Across the state, the farm to school movement is growing, but we need to now come up with bigger solutions to our bigger problems like transportation of food, processing, and labor needs. Our food system favors commodity crops, like soy, corn, and cotton, and our tax-payer dollars are invested in those products. We need more investments in smallscale fruit and vegetable production.”

While they continue to find ways to grow the program, the co-directors have made great headway and strides. “This summer we are launching the first ever Mississippi Farm to School Institute.

Three school districts from across the state will participate in a yearlong process of learning about farm to school and creating action plans for implementing things like local food in the cafeteria and school gardens,” says Baker. “One of the largest districts in the state

is participating and with their buying power—I’m hoping we will see new systems set up and local food more accessible for all.”

They also had incredible participation in their 2018 Mississippi Farm to School Week Challenge. “Just about 74,000 students from forty-five school districts participated and pledged to buy local and hold cooking classes with produce from the school garden,” Baker notes. “It was a great intro to farm to school and we were so excited at that level of participation.”

Grady-Scarbrough adds that over the past five years, she has worked with twenty-eight counties, eighty schools, and 50,000

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 45

Dorothy Grady-Scarbrough and Sunny Baker are co-directors of MS Farm to School, MECA Mississippians Engaged in Greener Agriculture. The program connects schools and local farms to bring healthy meals to school cafeterias, improve nutrition awareness and support local farmers.

46 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

students to implement school gardens. “I’m working with about forty farmers to scale up to meet sale needs to school and school districts,” she says.

The changes in the views of students about farming and gardening are occurring. “I have seen school gardens be viewed and used as part of their course work, not as a task. The gardens are growing beyond schools into our homes and community gardens,” says Grady-Scarbrough. “My ultimate goal is to create a healthier Mississippi through what our children will eat.”

Baker sayss the biggest change she has seen is more Mississippi children eating more fresh fruit and vegetables.

“As you know, we are amid a preventable health crisis—and the CDC now predicts this may be the first generation of children to die at a younger age than their parents. This is all related back to what we eat. For so long we have blamed these problems on the individual - promoting diet craze after diet craze, saying ‘calories in and calories out’ is the problem and encouraging people to exercise.

We’re saying that individuals need support to make these changes and transforming the food system is what we need to do just that.

“Delicious, local foods should be supported and readily available, in both schools and communities. School gardens should be integrated into curriculum so that students learn how to feed themselves in addition to math and science. Farm to school is a known improvement to the health of our children and the health of our economy. We need to take these dollars we are investing in other states and other countries and work with our local farmers to fill the pantry needs,” Baker adds. “Our ultimate goal is to see every school buying local food regularly, for there to be systems in place to make this doable for both the farmer and the school. We dream of a garden for every school and good food education for every classroom. And Mississippi is the perfect place to do it all.”

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48 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

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MISSISSIPPI SOYBEAN

PROMOTION BOARD Farmers Helping Farmers

By Mark H. Stowers

D

elta farmers have always been known as a helpful generous group. The Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board barters on that generosity to help each and every soybean farmer across the state. The MSPB’s goal is to improve Mississippi soybean farmer’s profit potential by funding research grants covering a plethora of areas. The MSPB is funded by each soybean farmer who pays a portion from each bushel harvested.

50 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Heatherly

Dr. Larry Heatherly, coordinator of research and technology transfer, has been with the organization for the past decade.

“The Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board was created by the Check Off Legislation that was passed in the early 1990s,” he says.

“That allowed producers to choose to contribute a certain small percentage of the soybeans they harvested to the promotion board.

The MSPB is their arm for supporting research and extension activities that will benefit Mississippi Soybean farmers.”

Dr. Heatherly notes that each state has some sort of promotion board and that most crops also have a promotion board. In addition to research, the board funds information technology activities like their website, www.mssoy.org.

The MSPB funds research on a yearly basis so naturally when the crop yields and prices along with acreage are high, there are more funds to work with. With the flooding in the south Delta and several replanting by other farmers hit with heavy rains, acreage will be down. Bill Ryan Tabb of Cleveland recently planted his twentyfourth soybean crop and serves as chairman of MSPB this year.

“I have heard up to 600,000 soybean acres in the state will be lost due to flooding,” says Tabb. “We average about 2.2 million acres. When the price is low that’s a deterrent. We were going to lose some acres to cotton, rice and corn anyway. We’ll have to revise our budget at the summer meeting because we were expecting up to two million acres. Our budget is based on speculation, we have to guess on the price and acreage, but we take a conservative

Tabb

approach. We weren’t expecting a half a million acres wouldn’t be in production. That’s a lot of money lost that would have gone into research and into soybeans.”

The MSBP continually works to help soybean farmers in every imaginable way.

“It’s everything from insect control, disease control, weed and pest management. All research from the Smart Program that started in the nineties looks at irrigation research and soybean variety trials,” says Tabb. “We’ve been looking at sustainable irrigation.

But much more so than the money from a farming perspective, we’re doing everything we can to find ways to preserve the aquifer.”

One upcoming research project is looking into soybean quality.

“Our varieties are yielding more, but we’ve had a lot more damage in soybeans this year than ever before,” says Tabb. “We need varieties with disease packages that can maintain a higher yield with less damage.”

In addition to the budgeting done at the February meeting, the board decides on each research project as well.

“We decide which proposals presented by MS State scientist and ARS scientist to fund for the coming project year. We only fund one year at a time because we work with money that comes each year from the harvested crop and there’s no way to know what’s coming next year. We fund the projects that we feel like will give the greatest return for Mississippi soybean farmer,” says Tabb.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 51

52 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

Lisa Barker, above and pictured left, on her first official day on the job. Barker leases farmland in Madison County.

FARMING

FEMALE-STYLE

Actively Involved from Planting to Harvest

By Angela Rogalski

W

omen have been an important part of agricultural history since America’s early days.

From bookkeeping to tending to the family garden, the contributions that women made to the business were vitally important to the family operations and the family food supply.

But since the growth of the women’s movement in the 1960s–1980s, women have become an even more integral part of the farming operation. According to the United States Department of Agriculture

in the 2017 Census of data collected; while the number of male producers declined 1.7 percent, the number of female producers increased nearly twenty-seven percent, underscoring the effectiveness of the attempt to better represent all people involved in farm decision making. And while many female producers were most involved in day-to-day decisions and record keeping and/or financial management, the Census also showed that land use and/ or crop decisions made by females was significant.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 53

PHOTO BY AUSTIN BRITT

Karen Giesbrecht of Buckshot Planting Company in Sunflower.

Karen Giesbrecht and her husband Anthony own Buckshot Planting Company in Sunflower. Giesbrecht’s husband has been farming for twelve years and she joined him as a full-fledged partner three years ago.

“We farm 3,400 acres of soybeans,” says Giesbrecht. “I’m a primary operator, which means I am actually a farmer. I’m a farmer’s wife, but I’m also a farmer. I plant the beans and then cultivate to get ready for irrigation.”

Giesbrecht adds that her husband Anthony gets the credit for teaching her how to operate the tractors and other equipment that is used almost daily in their work.

“I punch holes in the poly-pipe right alongside my husband to get irrigation started,” she says. “It’s sometimes a push to get through the planting season and then it’s a push to get all the poly-pipe rolled out to start the irrigation process. Harvest is always my favorite time, because you get to hopefully see all of your hard work pay off.”

Giesbrecht says there are many facets to farming, and it all has to come together with perfect timing and weather cooperation.

“But when the combines pull in and 54 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

the trucks line up, it’s an exciting time,” she adds. “I look forward to that each year.

Anthony and I are both involved with the marketing, but keeping up with plant/ emerge dates, records of soybean varieties is all part of my job too. During harvest I handle all of the tickets for the truck drivers to make sure everything is accurate.”

Giesbrecht offers this advice to other women who might be thinking about getting into the farming way of life; “Just try to do something that is outside of the box. If there is something that you want to try your hand at, do it. Women today want to find that one thing that makes them feel empowered and this is it for me.”

Candy Davis grew up on her family’s farm in Shaw and remembers the days when she used to do it all, from driving the tractors to the actual planting of the crops.

Today, it’s her husband and her children taking care of the farming business, with Candy handling the marketing and paperwork for the rice and soybeans that they produce.

“I was twelve years old when I first started driving tractors,” says Davis. “So, I had a job every summer when I was out of school. When I was in college, my

dad planted wheat. So if I helped plant it and cut it, that was my college money. I majored in Agriculture at Mississippi State, and I loved it. It was what I knew and loved. Being outside was important to me.”

And even today, Davis says she feels the same way about farming. “It’s a wonderful life, especially when it’s family involved.

You work really, really hard during the farming season and then when you’re off, you can really enjoy your family. It’s still a wonderful lifestyle even with its challenges.”

Davis offers this advice to any woman thinking about the farming life for themselves, “If she’s doing it herself, she’s probably going to meet a lot of adversity, because it can be a ‘man’s world.’ But if she hangs with it and uses the resources that are out there, she’ll be fine. If she’s married to a farmer and helping him, be sure to try and understand what he’s doing every day, in case she ever has to handle it on her own.

From the terminology used to the actual job of farming, work side-by-side with him and learn.”

In Boyle, Frances Garner and her husband, Charles, farmed 640 acres together for thirty-eight years, hand-inhand, just the two of them. The Garner’s

Candy Davis grew up on a family farm and started driving tractors at age twelve. She currently handles all the marketing a paperwork for their rice and soybean crops.

grew rice and soybeans and began their farming lifestyle in 1965.

Garner says that over the years, she helped her husband run Garner Farms enthusiastically. “I drove the tractor; I did all of our planting; I also drove the grain truck; if it was farm equipment, I got on it.”

As a child, Garner was always outdoors and rode with her father on his tractor.

“I grew up on the farm and I loved to be outside. I loved the farming life.”

Since retiring about fifteen years ago, Garner says she still misses the days where she was outdoors constantly and an active part of the growing process.

“I really miss being out there and watching the dirt being turned over. I loved working in the fields. I guess that’s unusual for a woman, but I enjoyed it as much as my husband did.”

The Garners have been married sixtythree years and Mrs. Garner offers this advice to women who may be thinking about starting the farm life, “There’s no better life than this one. Go for it.”

Lisa Barker leases her farmland in Madison County. Barker has grown soybeans, corn, wheat and currently is trying her hand at her first-ever corn crop.

Frances Garner and her husband Charles started their farming lifestyle in 1965 and farmed hand-in-hand for thirty-eight years.

This is her eleventh year farming. Barker is on dry land, so she doesn’t irrigate, but she does handle everything else when it comes to her farms.

“As a single woman doing this, I love it,” she says. “And my father does help me a lot. Growing up, we would go from Texas to Montana on the wheat harvests during summers and then come back to the Delta to do corn and soybeans. I left for about ten years after college and got into commercial real estate in Washington D.C. and Charleston, South Carolina. But in 2008, I moved back home, which is Yazoo County, and started with 250 acres and today I have about 1,100 acres in Madison County.”

Barker has seen the ups and downs over the years as a farmer, but she is nothing if not determined and continued on, taking advantage of an opportunity.

“When the Recession hit, real estate took a nosedive,” she says. “My father had some farming equipment and I saw an opportunity and I knew that I needed just a couple more tractors, so I got them. And I knew that I could do this. I’ve been around it all of my life and over the years I have learned so much.”

Barker feels satisfaction with what she does and loves the outdoors. “I would work on a real estate deal for years and have it fall through. But with farming, I can look behind at what I’ve done and see what I have accomplished. It’s a great feeling.

Unfortunately, with the weather and other challenges, sometimes it doesn’t work out, but sometimes it does. And that’s when it’s great. Putting a hard kernel seed in the ground and watching it grow is amazing to me. But I could not make this work without the help of my dad in the field and the encouragement of my mom and grandmother to keep persevering in spite of the obstacles.”

Barker offers this piece of advice to any women out there thinking about joining the farm life, “Dig your heels in and get ready to work harder than you’ve ever worked before. And persevere through the madness, because there are times when it’s very frustrating. You need patience, for sure. And don’t listen to the noise you might hear from others, that you can’t do it.

That’s just noise and you can’t pay attention to it.”

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 55

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JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 57

Ol’ Man River Just Keeps Rolling Residents Keep Rowing

By Aimee Robinette

R

esidents in the Delta who live or have property located up and down the Mississippi River continue to look for solutions to the biggest case of water woes in the country.

The Mississippi River and backwater swirling causes immense flooding each year and those affected want these flooding problems to be addressed.

58 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

“Flooding on the Mississippi River occurs because of rainfall falling within the entire Mississippi River Basin—which is forty-one percent of the continental United States and includes all or parts of thirty-one states,” says Peter Nimrod, chief engineer of the Mississippi Levee Board based in Greenville.

Residents and property owners on Eagle Lake have been battling the high water now for several months.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 59

The Mississippi Levee Board and Corps of Engineers work hand in hand to build protective levees and sandbag rings.

“When the Mississippi River gets high, the Steele Bayou Drainage Structure gates are closed to prevent the Mississippi River from backing up into the South Delta. Backwater flooding occurs when the gates are closed, and it rains in the Mississippi Delta. This is a 4,093 square mile drainage basin which starts north of Clarksdale and extends south 140 miles and is fifty miles wide.”

This year, the backwater crested at 97.2 feet on April 1 which inundated 512,000 acres in the Mississippi Delta including 208,000 acres of cropland.

“Every flood is different and affects a different number of people,” says Nimrod. “This year’s backwater flood is affecting thousands of people in the South Delta. We have had six major floods on the Mississippi River above fifty-four feet on the Greenville Gauge in the past twelve years including the past four years in a row. When the Mississippi River is predicted to rise above flood stage (forty-eight feet on the Greenville Gauge) we start getting organized. We work with the Corps of Engineers in getting Corps employees to inspect the levee and we activate our Levee Board crew to get ready to flood fight problem areas.”

Nimrod notes that inspectors look for sand boils and the Levee Board crew implements a temporary solution to stop a sand boil from moving any material under the levee. The crew installs barrels or builds sandbag rings around sand boils.

“Our goal is to permanently fix problem areas,” says Nimrod.

60 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

“The Corps builds earthen land side seepage berms and installs relief wells. If the Corps cannot permanently fix the problem, the Levee Board installs flash board riser pipes and build earthen rings around problem areas, so they will be easy to activate in future high-water events.”

The Steele Bayou Drainage structure was closed on February 15 to prevent the Mississippi River from backing into the Delta.

The gates remained closed for six weeks until they were opened on April 1. Nimrod says due to extensive April rainfall the backwaters have been extremely slow to drop.

Everyone acknowledges what the solution is to the backwater woes and how to achieve it.

“To prevent future backwater floods, the Yazoo Backwater Pumps need to be installed,” says Nimrod. “If the pumps were in place this year, instead of the Backwater cresting at 97.2 feet and flooding 512,000 acres, the pumps would have kept the crest down to 92.3 feet and flooded 347,000 acres. The pumps would have kept water out of homes and would have kept highways and major roads from being flooded in the South Mississippi Delta. Unfortunately, the pumps were vetoed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2008 even though the Yazoo Backwater Project would have resulted in significant gains in every environmental resource category. The 2019 Backwater Flood shows the need to build the pumps.”

The Backwater Flood affected 512,000 acres including 208,000 acres of cropland. Many residents have been displaced, as well as a multitude of wildlife.

This has been a catastrophic event that will take years for the South Delta to recover from.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 61

62 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 63

HISTORY

DELTA & PINE LAND COMPANY Largest Cotton Plantation in America that Almost Went Under

By Hank Burdine

64 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

FORTUNE MAGAZINE BY EISENSTAEDT-PIX

Oscar Johnson (left) was a small town Mississippi lawyer and banker, and was President of Delta & Pine Land. With him is his Delta & Pine Land Secretary Archibald F. Toler.

I

n 1910, the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers’ Association of Manchester, England, was a big English syndicate consisting of over fifty cotton milling companies that depended on long staple cotton from Egypt to supply their mills for their production of thread, yarn and cloth that was shipped worldwide. It soon became apparent

that Egypt was about to run through a string of slim years and the huge conglomerate began to look around for other sources of the specific cotton that they needed for their mills. Soon their eyes were set on the Mississippi Delta. The boll weevil hadn’t yet reached our Delta, but there were fears that the invasion was eminent and land prices began to fall. It wasn’t long before a contingent of directors from the F. S. A. came over to look and see what opportunities were here to assure them a steady and secure source of long staple cotton.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 65

FORTUNE MAGAZINE BY EISENSTAEDT-PIX

Mr. Johnson meets with his officers and the managers of the twelve units of the plantation. On the right hand of Mr. Johnston (with the open book) is General Manager Jesse W. Fox, and then Bookkeeper Davenport, Treasurer W. F. Stout, Unit Managers Gray, S. T. Kimbrough, Harris, Jackson, Redditt, Sugg, Leftwich, Cartledge, Edwards, E.A. Kimbrough, and Secretary Tyler.

According to a March, 1937 article in Fortune Magazine, a Michigan land promoter named Lant K. Salsbury had options on thousands of acres of good Delta dirt from Rosedale banker and planter, Charles Scott. During the winter of 1911, the two took the Englishmen goose hunting on the Mississippi River and showed them around the Delta, especially the vast acreage that Scott had accumulated around Scott, Mississippi at a great bend in the River. The headwaters of Deer Creek came out of an old meander bend in an oxbow known as Lake Bolivar. The land was fertile beyond belief.

“With sport and salesmanship” leading the push, the majority of the Englishmen were impressed. Herbert W. Lee, who became President of F.S.A., wasn’t impressed and later stated “they dug some goose pits and we fell into them!” At the end of the day, however, the Fine Spinners Association paid $3,000,000 (averaging $95 per acre) and later an additional $1,500,000 for more land, clearing and draining it and building tenant cabins on 38,000 acres of the most fertile dirt on earth. Included in this total acreage was a 4,500 acre farm on Deer Creek at Estill, Mississippi.

66 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

The deal consisted of several land holding companies and an operating company. Because of a Mississippi State law prohibiting any agricultural operation to consist of over 10,000 acres, unless the corporation had been chartered between 1886 and 1889, a legally chartered land speculation company called Delta & Pine Land Company, incorporated in 1886, was bought and the three operating companies merged into it. Mr. Salsbury, the original deal promoter, was put in charge of the entire operation and cotton planting began in earnest. However, before the best ground could be planted that first year, the Mississippi River rose and seeped under the levees eventually overtaking them on the 20 mile stretch of the western boundary of the farm. The first year’s crop was a disaster producing only 2,800 bales of cotton.

And then, the boll weevil struck. Between the boll weevil and periodic flooding, the Englishmen did indeed begin to believe that they had “fallen into some goose pits!”

Through diligence, crops were planted and picked and the largest cotton plantation in America continued to barely survive.

In 1919, with a bumper crop picked, the

price of cotton soared to 85 cents a pound and Mr. Salsbury cleared his accounts with his sharecropping tenants and with the steadily rising price of cotton, decided to hold on to his share of the cotton before selling in hopes of making a “fabulous killing”. Mr. Salsbury was still holding D&PL’s share of the crop in the spring of 1920 when the price began to drop down to 15 cents a pound. The great crop of 1919 was later sold at 6 cents a pound bringing a potential $3,000,000 profit down to a $1,000,000 loss. From 1912-1927 the British ownership had invested $4,500,000 initially and plowed another $3,000,000 into the dirt and received a dividend only in 1920. “They had taken a large segment of the Mississippi Delta and were stuck with it.” Goose pit, indeed!

The group of Englishmen comprising the Fine Spinners Association was as conservative a bunch of business chaps as could sit around a board table. Fifteen years of the Mississippi River flooding their land and the invasive boll weevil gnawing on their cotton crop was just about all they could take. Destiny, however, was soon to come knocking in an around about

A load of cotton coming from the field to the gin.

Some of the finest mules in America were eventually replaced by tractor power.

way. Possibly looking for a way out of the “goose pit” he now found himself in, Mr. Salsbury put together his largest promotion ever which “dwarfed D&PL and included it (if it could be bought).” One of the bankers involved in promoting the massive venture was a Mississippi banker named Oscar Johnston. Mr. Johnston went to England to trade for options to buy D&PL and was successful. The Englishmen were finally seeing a way out of their deepening dilemma. “On the very day in October, 1926, when the new super plantation deal was to be floated, the cotton market broke and the promoters decided to wait awhile.”

And they were still waiting in the spring of 1927 when the Mississippi River broke through the levee at Mounds Landing, two miles from the D&PL headquarters at Scott starting the worst flood disaster ever to hit the United States. Every acre D&PL owned was inundated. But by this time, Mr. Salsbury, with even greater and grander schemes in mind, had already resigned his presidency at D&PL. FSA had been so impressed with Mr. Oscar Johnston and his abilities; they had hired him to take over the operation.

However, no crop could be planted in 1927, and the goose pit seemed to be caving in on the Englishmen’s heads. The plantation lost 1,250 acres to erosion and the necessity of relocating the levees. Several thousand acres were covered with sand and unfit for a cotton crop. Over 100 homes were destroyed and 100 mules drowned.

Flood damage was estimated at over $500,000. However, the black clouds had a silver lining, indeed. The new president/ banker Oscar Johnston foresaw a flood season shortage of cotton and began playing the cotton market making $200,000 towards the rehabilitation of D&PL. In the following 9 years of operating D&PL, Oscar Johnston produced a six-year total profit of $1,745,000 as opposed to a threeyear loss of $595,000. The Englishmen were out of the goose pit even though it was the middle of the Depression.

Oscar Johnston was able to produce this remarkable turnaround by expert management skills on some of the best land in the world. One of the first things he did as president of D&PL was to get all of his sharecroppers on a half share. The cropper supplies his labor and nothing JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 67

Plowing cotton with mule and man power.

else. D&PL supplies him with a good cabin, cottonseed, mules and his tools. At the company store, the cropper had an account where he charged his food, clothing and other necessities. The cropper was also responsible for half of the cost of fertilizing and boll weevil poisoning. At the end of the year, when the cotton was picked, the accounts were settled and the books cleared.

D&PL kept their half and the cropper kept whatever was left over after his debt at the

company store was taken out and his half share of poisoning and fertilizing. He also kept half of the corn crop he had planted.

A typical sharecropper plot consisted of about 15-28 acres, including a one-acre house site, garden and 2-5 acres for corn and the rest planted in cotton. He cuts company timber for firewood to heat his house and cook with in his wood stove.

Farming about 125 days a year, a cropper spends his working day from “can ‘til can’t”

Early spraying of the boll weevils on Delta & Pine Land.

68 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

busting ground, rowing, planting, chopping and picking cotton. On good dirt and in a good year, a D&PL cropper could pick almost 20-30 bales of cotton from his plot.

A typical tenant at settlement time could make around $1,000 a year, $480 in credit at the company store and $520 in cash on settlement day.

Oscar Johnston knew that to have a successful operation he had to have the best of everything. He already had the best land money could buy (I remember an old saying that “The Lord could have made better dirt than Deer Creek, but He figured He just didn’t need to.”) He had the best livestock, 1,000 fine and strong mules scattered in ten barns where they returned home to fresh water, good hay and grain. These mules were cared for by special hostlers under the direct supervision of Mr. Mac McClure “an elderly Scot who has money of his own, but likes to work on the biggest mule farm in the Cotton Belt simply because he likes mules.” The mules are picked up each morning and delivered back each night and are constantly cared for. And he had the best tenants farming his land. With a turnover rate of only 10-12% a year, a sharecropper position at D&PL was sought after and was indicative of the satisfaction of the labor. One study prepared on farm labor in the South gave Mr. Johnston credit for “administering his contracts better than any other planter studied.”

The model plantation was run through

the expert supervision of twelve separate unit managers who met four times a year in a round table meeting to discuss their farming operations, needs and changes.

Each manager supervised about 100 sharecropper families on 1,000-1,200 acres of cotton land with the tenant cabins about a half mile apart. Carson, Dixon, Belmont, Fox, Triumph, Lake Vista, Isole, Salsbury, Nugent, Young and Lee were all located around Scott, with Empire almost 30 miles away at Estill. The managers spent their days on horseback riding their respective units and visiting with as many of the croppers as possible, directing the cotton growing techniques and persuading them to do their own gardening. Many of the sharecroppers also had hogs and cows and chickens to supplement their gardens.

In 1937, the cotton grown on D&PL was some of the finest in the South. Dr. Early C. Ewing was plant breeder at D&PL and was an expert in developing cotton seed that became famous worldwide.

Trained at Mississippi State College and Cornell before hiring on at Mississippi State Experiment Station at Stoneville, then moving to D&PL, Dr. Ewing developed a seed that matured early and gave a good staple but also gave a remarkably high lint to seed ratio. Delta and Pine Land sold more cotton seed to other planters than any other world agency. The cotton was ginned in three separate cotton gins and shipped out on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley

Railroad. D&PL’s cotton was marketed and sold through Staple Cotton Cooperative Association and the reputation so high that the cotton was contracted long before it was ever picked.

Because of the fact that the boll weevil would eat up a late maturing cotton crop, which produced the extra long staple cotton for which the Fine Spinners Association bought 38,000 acres of Delta land, not one bale of cotton was ever shipped overseas to

England. All Delta & Pine Land cotton stayed right here in America. Oscar Johntson had floated into Scott, Mississippi on the back of the 1927 flood, but within 10 years, through expert management techniques, dedicated labor, the best of mules and some of the finest dirt in the world, dug a bunch of disheartened Englishmen out of a deepening goose pit and gave them a very profitable cotton operation, right in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

Checking the staple on some of the finest cotton grown in America.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 69

70 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

POTPDelta ag journal July 2019 Final for Print.indd 1

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal6/25/19 • 712:13 PM

RECIPES CHICKEN SALAD 5 3 1 2 ¾ 2 1

slices bacon cups diced cooked chicken cup chopped fresh tomato stalks celery, thinly sliced cup mayonnaise tablespoons minced green onion tablespoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 dash Worcestershire sauce salt and pepper to taste 12 leaves romaine lettuce 1 large avocado sliced

Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels; crumble. Stir chicken, bacon, tomato, and celery together in a bowl. Whisk mayonnaise, parsley, green onions, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl until dressing is smooth.

Pour dressing over chicken mixture; toss to coat. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.

Stir chicken mixture and serve over romaine lettuce leaves; garnish with avocado slices.

SPICY GRILLED SHRIMP

MINT-CUCUMBER MOJITO 1 2 1 2 6 2 4

lime, quartered sprigs fresh mint leaves tablespoon white sugar slices cucumber cubes ice, or as needed ounces white rum fluid ounces club soda

Squeeze the lime quarters into a highball glass, and drop the limes into the glass.

Add the mint leaves and sugar. Muddle well with the back of a spoon or with a muddler. Place the cucumber slices into the glass, and fill with ice cubes. Pour in the rum, then top off with club soda. Stir gently and serve.

72 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

1 1 ½ 1 2 2 2 8

large clove garlic teaspoon coarse salt teaspoon cayenne pepper teaspoon paprika tablespoons olive oil teaspoons lemon juice pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined wedges lemon, for garnish

Preheat grill for medium heat. In a small bowl, crush the garlic with the salt.

Mix in cayenne pepper and paprika, and then stir in olive oil and lemon juice to form a paste. In a large bowl, toss shrimp with garlic paste until evenly coated.

Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque.

Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with lemon wedges, and serve.

GAZPACHO 4 large fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced ½ English cucumber, peeled and finely diced ½ cup finely diced red bell pepper ¼ cup minced green onion 1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 1 1 ¼ 1 1 1 2

pinch dried oregano pinch cayenne pepper, to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste pint cherry tomatoes cup extra-virgin olive oil lime, juiced tablespoon balsamic vinegar tablespoon Worcestershire sauce salt and pepper to taste tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Combine diced tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, green onion, jalapeno, and garlic in a large bowl. Stir in salt, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Place cherry tomatoes, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce in a blender. Cover and puree until smooth. Pour pureed mixture through a strainer into the tomato-cucumber mixture; stir to combine. Place 1/3 of the tomato mixture into the blender. Cover, turn blender on, and puree until smooth. Return pureed mixture to the remaining tomato-cucumber mixture. Stir to combine.

Cover and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours. Season cold soup with salt and black pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with basil.

GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS ½ cup soy sauce ½ cup Italian-style salad dressing 3 pounds chicken wings, cut apart at joints, wing tips discarded SAUCE ¼ cup butter 1 teaspoon soy sauce ¼ hot sauce, or to taste

Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, Italian dressing, and chicken wings in a large, zip-top bag. Close bag and refrigerate 4 hours to overnight. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the 1 teaspoon soy sauce and the hot pepper sauce. Turn off heat and reserve. Remove the chicken wings from the marinade and pat dry.

Cook the wings on the preheated grill, turning occasionally, until the chicken is well browned and no longer pink, 25 to 30 minutes. Place grilled wings in a large bowl. Pour butter sauce over wings; toss to mix well.

CHERRY SORBET 3 1 ⅓ ½ ½

cups pitted tart red cherries cup white sugar cup dry white wine teaspoon almond extract teaspoon salt

Place the cherries into the work bowl of a food processor, and process until pureed, about 1 minute. Add sugar, white wine, almond extract, and salt to the pureed cherries, and process again to mix well, about 30 seconds.

Pour the mixture into a 6-cup freezer container with a flat bottom. Cover the sorbet, and freeze until partially frozen, 3 to 4 hours. Stir and scrape the frozen sorbet into the soft part of the sorbet to mix well; cover and freeze 2 to 3 more hours. Repeat stirring and scraping, cover again, and freeze overnight.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 73

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4$055 1&530-&6. $03103"5*0/ "4, "#065 #&/&'*54 0' 5)& 4$055$"3%

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%*&4&- t ("40-*/& t 1301"/& t %*&4&- &9)"645 '-6*% +&5 " "7*"5*0/ '6&- t #6-, 0*-4 (3&"4& *33*("5*0/ &/(*/&4 t )063 "650."5&% '6&-*/( VISIT OR CALL YOUR NEAREST SCOTT PETROLEUM OFFICE TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN FUEL YOUR FARM! (3&&/800% t 5$)6-" t #&-;0/* t 36-&7*--& t 46./&3 t 4)&-#: (3&&/7*--& t #&/0*5 t :";00 $*5: t 30--*/( '03, t -",& 1307*%&/$& -"

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JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 77

DELTA COUNCIL DAY

Delta Council Annual Meeting at Delta State University in Cleveland on June 7 Photos by Rory Doyle, Mike McCall, Robin Britton, and attendee submissions

Tom Gresham, David Abney (Chairman and CEO of UPS), Michael Guest, Governor Phil Bryant, Philip Gunn, Bailey Runnels, Woods Eastland, Hal Parker, Jr. and Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves

Austin and Andy Jones enjoying the traditional catfish luncheon

Bill Allen and Steve Osso

Woods and Lynn Eastland with Louise and Tom Gresham

Lynn Cox with Hilda and Kirkham Povall

Anne Hall Brashier and Pete Hunter

Kirk and Bridget Satterfield

Les Torrans and Archie Tucker

Lynn Fitch, Delbert Hosemann, Gov. Phil Bryant, Bill LaForge and Errick Simmons

Orlando Paden, Eva Connell, Jen Waller and Kelli Connell

Suzette Matthews and Sam Britton

Tom Gresham, David Abney, Woods Eastland and Archie Tucker

78 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

AROUND THE FARM

Miller and Park Andrews run to their father's tractor as he comes home from a long day of planting.

Keith Jones surveys his first corn crop that is coming on strong!

It was all drivers on deck for dad Nat McKnight as he called for his twin boys, Reid and Rhett, to help get the crop into the fields.

Back in late April, Tyler Kitchings working on test plots for Nutrien Ag Solutions at the research station in Winterville.

Kash McNutt takes a nap while riding the tractor with father, Matt.

Bryce Chenault and Bindi ride around checking crops.

Stephanie Jones gets a first hand look at the flooding around the South Delta area in an afternoon ride in the Stearman with husband, Pete Jones.

Flooding at the Bunge grain terminal in Meyersville

Farmers in the South Delta can only look at their farm equipment this season due to flooding.

JULY 2019 • Delta Ag Journal • 79

80 • Delta Ag Journal • JULY 2019

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