An Orderly Transition: Assuring Continuity

AN ORDERLY TRANSITION:

assuring continuity

STORY BY AND PHOTOS BY NANCY L. SMITH | MANY FARM FAMILIES CAN BE PROUD OF A HERITAGE THAT STRETCHES BACK SEVERAL GENERATIONS—SOME EVEN ATTAIN THE COVETED CENTURY FARM DESIGNATION. BUT PAUL BOUNDS AND HIS SON, COARD, HAVE MOST OF THEM BEAT. PAUL’S ANCESTOR, JOHN BOUNDS, ARRIVED IN THE PRINCESS ANNE, MARYLAND AREA IN 1658.

Although Paul and Coard’s farm in Berlin, Maryland is not on land that John trod more than two hundred and fifty years ago, their Maryland legacy is strong.

“I’m the twelfth generation of continuous Bounds on the shore,” says Paul. “Coard is the thirteenth and he has three sons, so that’s 14 generations.”

“My grandfather was born in 1892 and he farmed, and his father farmed. My father was born in 1919 and he and his brother, who was born in 1932 or 1934, had Bounds Brothers farm operation and took over their father’s operation.

“Bounds Brothers was probably started in the late 50s,” Paul explains, noting that he is still farming some of the land his grandfather purchased around 1918.

“When my father turned 70 in 1989, my brother-in-law, Chris Mason, and I started Newark Grain,” adds Paul.

The corn and soybean operation now farms extensive owned and leased acreage in Worcester County.

At first, it did not appear that Coard would be joining his father and uncle in farming. Paul recalls, “Coard didn’t really show that much interest when he was growing up. I was just too busy working the last 20 or 25 years to think about how it would pan out.”

Coard received a degree in civil engineering from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He says, “I got my surveying license and started a surveying business.”

But in 2011, an orderly transition of

farm ownership began. Coard, his father and his uncle Chris signed an agreement by which he would be an employee of Newark Grain for two years and then begin to buy the company.

Business owners, including farmers, often are resistant to transitioning management and leadership to the next generation. “I think [refusal to cede control] is a big mistake,” says Paul. “If you’re going to do the work, I feel like you have to be in charge, too.”

“It’s only a problem if the next generation makes mistakes,” responds Coard.

But his father does not want to deny him the opportunity for his own learning experiences. “I feel like Coard isn’t going to make any more mistakes than I would if I would be making the decisions,” he says.

PAUL AND NANCY BOUNDS ARE PLEASED THAT SON COARD IS TAKING OVER NEWARK GRAIN IN AN ORDERLY TRANSITION. COARD, HIS WIFE JILL, AND THEIR THREE SONS ARE THE FUTURE OF A MARYLAND TRADITION THAT EXTENDS BACK MORE THAN 250 YEARS. COARD IS NOW HALF OWNER OF THE OPERATION AND IS STILL FARMING SOME OF THE LAND OWNED BY HIS ANCESTORS. HE IS EXPANDING THE OPERATION WITH THE RECENT PURCHASE OF ANOTHER FARM.

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Meanwhile, with his retirement funded by the agreement, Paul jokes, “The future looks so bright I’ve got to wear sun glasses… Having the freedom is so nice. It’s the only period in your life when you have enough money to do the stuff you want to do. When you’re a kid and you don’t have any money, you’ve got to work.”

Coard’s mother Nancy says, “I am pretty happy it’s going so smoothly. I think it’s satisfying to see Coard just going and doing it. There is not any tension in the family because of how things are being run. That’s certainly a bonus.”

“It would be hard to watch a child wanting to take more responsibility and not being allowed to. I think that would be hard because you would feel like you were torn between spouse and kid,” observes Nancy.

While Paul is no longer involved in every decision related to the farm, he is

not idle. He and Nancy have begun to travel more. Although they may have been able to leave the farm during the summer, “now we have the freedom to go fall and spring. Never had that option before. It’s nice to be able to set your own schedule,” Paul says.

“When you’re busy with the farm, you don’t have that. When it’s time to work with the seasons, you have to stay with the work,” he adds.

While Paul’s retirement is funded through the agreement, he considers the future with a wary eye. “I think as long as the chicken industry stays here [on the shore], the future looks great. But if the chicken industry tapers off, I don’t know what we’ll do.

“There would be tough times around here if they pull out and they could do it overnight, too,” he says.

Despite that uncertainty, Coard is looking to the future. He is continuing to expand the number of irrigated

acres and says, “I’m always looking for a different angle on things and am not happy with the status quo usually.

“I grew sunflowers one year but I didn’t find a market for them before I planted them, and then I harvested them, dried them down, got the test weight, and found it was too low.”

Paul supported this experiment. “We think about alternative crops. He was testing to see if it was going to be an alternative or not—we’re always wondering what’s going to be next.”

Coard is staking his future on the farm and is looking to the next generation. He and his wife Jill have three sons; Holden is five, Cooper is three and Beau is two and a half months.

He says, “I would like to have at least one of these boys be interested in farming. If they’re not, that’s all right, too. Right now, they are interested in anything that’s big and makes a lot of noise.”

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