Young Farmer's persevere despite drought
by Jennifer Whittaker

The Lanes: (front row L-R) Natalie Grace, Halleigh & Garrett (back row) Kim and Ashley

Berrien County - Like most South Georgia row crop farmers, Ashley Lane was delayed in planting his crops this spring due to the lack of soil moisture.

“I didn’t start out on time. We had a rain on part of our farm, May 14, and I started planting peanuts and cotton the next day. I planted 250 acres in four days,” Ashley recalled. “But, we had to irrigate some land to plant it.”
The Lanes grow 450 acres of cotton and 215 acres of peanuts in a rotation with 105 acres of corn. This year they wouldn’t have made a corn crop if not for irrigation.
“Our corn did fair this year. We just have too much money in irrigation costs,” Ashley explained.
He also had to irrigate his hay fields to make a crop. Despite record-breaking temperatures in August, Ashley is optimistic about his peanut and cotton yields.
“Our peanuts are above average. We’re looking at about a ton and a half an acre. You don’t ever know about cotton yields until you get your basket loaded, but I don’t expect less than a bale an acre. On the hundred acres of irrigated cotton we expect to yield more than two bales an acre.”

In addition to farming, Ashley is also a crop duster. He started his crop dusting business in 1998 and now has about 100 customers in seven counties.
“Years ago I got interested in flying for pleasure and being a farmer it didn’t take long to figure out that I wanted to get into spraying,” Ashley said. “When it rains, and you can’t get into a field on the ground to spray, we can cover a lot of acres.”
Ashley grew up helping his dad row crop. He started his own farm as he attended ABAC. Today, he and his father, Jimmy, still work together, helping harvest each other’s crops and buying equipment on halves.
Ashley has served as a Berrien County Farm Bureau director since 2004 and is the current Young Farmer Committee chairman.
“I think Farm Bureau does well in representing farmers and coming up with policies to help us,” Ashley said. “All of our equipment is insured through Farm Bureau. If it weren’t for blanket coverage we wouldn’t be able to afford insurance. It would be worse than land taxes.”
The Lanes’ children, Garret, 9, Halleigh, 6, and Natalie Grace, 4, love living on a farm. The oldest two are already showing hogs and learning the responsibility of taking care of animals. Kim, who teaches part time at a local preschool, takes every opportunity to educate her students about farming. The Lanes have also hosted school groups to their farm to tour their cotton fields.
“I’m surprised that kids growing up in a rural area don’t know more about agriculture. I take farm magazines and pictures into the classroom, and the kids are interested in the pictures of cotton and harvesters.”

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The Lords: Lora, Cody and Mac

Laurens County - Cody Lord’s operation usually consists of wheat, soybeans, corn, cotton and hay. However, due to the drought, he only planted soybeans.

“It was so dry this year that I couldn’t plant until the first part of June,” Cody explained. “I didn’t really want to plant cotton that late, so I planted all of my acreage in soybeans. The weather has been critical. We’ve just barely had enough rain to keep the beans alive.”
All of Cody’s row crops are dry land so he has been completely at the mercy of Mother Nature.
“Being dry land the weather is the main challenge. I’d like to be able to put some center pivots in.”
But overcoming adversity isn’t new to him. He comes from a long line of farmers dating back to his great grandfather. Although his family got out of farming in the 1980s, he always dreamed of farming one day.
“Farming is hard. People will tell you that you can’t do it, but I’m kind of hard headed, and I feel I’m carrying on a family tradition.”
Cody started farming five years ago with the help of another farmer who let him borrow his equipment to harvest his wheat. He says good yields during the past five years have allowed him to expand his farming acreage to about 480 acres of cropland and almost 200 acres of pasture and hay. He supplements his farm income by driving a truck and doing custom harvest work for other farmers.
To save time, fuel and tillage expenses, Cody plants his crops using conservation tillage.
“When I first started out I used traditional tillage, but now I no-till everything. With the money, time and labor it saves, it’s crazy not to no-till.”
Although crop prices are up this year, rising production costs are eating up profits.
“Everybody was all excited about five and six dollar wheat, but I’m in the same boat as if I were growing three dollar wheat because of increased input costs,” Cody said. “The first year I farmed it cost fifty-five dollars an acre for fertilizer. This year fertilizer is costing $110 to $120 an acre.”
Cody is a Laurens County Farm Bureau director and has served as chairman of the Young Farmer Committee for the past two years. He also serves on the GFB Soybean Advisory Board.
“Farm Bureau is one of the few organizations that gives us a voice on issues to help us out. The organization represents our interests on the water issue and what’s going on in Washington,” Cody said.
Cody and his wife, Lora, have a son, Mac, 1. Although Lora didn’t grow up on a farm, she loves the lifestyle.
“I think it’s great to be out here. You don’t have to worry about the neighbors because it’s wide and open. I think Mac will grow up knowing what it means to work. Cody is always outside and taking Mac with him.”

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The Sanders: (L-R) Nancie, Breanna, Charlie and Brooke

Greene County - As dairy farmers, Charlie and Nancie Sanders have felt the impact of the drought in different ways from row crop producers.

Lack of rain has prevented them from growing an adequate hay supply, forcing them to buy alfalfa hay from Oklahoma. They also lost several head of cattle, and milk production dropped when temperatures hovered around 103 degrees for several days in August.
“Anywhere we can find a little hay we’ve been trying to buy it,” Charlie said. At the end of September, he estimated the farm had enough to get by through December.
Despite the challenges and 80-hour weeks, the Sanders feel lucky to have the opportunity to farm. Nancie is especially excited to be raising her two daughters, Brooke, 3, and Breanna, 1, on the farm where she grew up.
“My family has been farming for over two hundred years and in the dairy business since 1950,” Nancie said. “It’s been a phenomenal opportunity to get back on the farm. The girls get to see the circle of life and get to see things that other children just see on t.v. or in books.”
The couple began farming full-time with Nancie’s family three years ago. The family’s 420-head dairy farm, the R.A. Moore Dairy, Inc., includes her grandfather, R.A. Moore, her parents, Barry and Teresa Churchwell, her brother Dustin and his wife Amanda.
For Charlie, moving back to the farm was a dream come true.
“My grandfather grew beef cattle, and I’ve always wanted to farm,” Charlie said. “I like working outside. It’s never the same thing. There’s always something different going on, and you never get bored.”
As the farm’s heifer manager, Charlie is responsible for raising the herd’s replacement heifers from the time they are born until they are bred. This includes tagging each heifer calf with an i.d. tag the day they are born and maintaining pedigrees on each calf. He vaccinates the calves when they are one and two weeks old. The calves are bottle fed until they’re about two and a half months old and then weaned onto feed. When the calves reach 500 pounds they begin grazing. Charlie is also responsible for artificially inseminating the heifers and cows.
Nancie contributes to the farm by doing computer research on equipment, supplies and the weather. Last year, the couple began a hay harvesting service for other farms. They split the production yield with the landowner, taking 60% and leaving 40%.   The Sanders have been active members of the Greene County Young Farmer Committee since 2003. They’ve also participated in many GFB Young Farmer activities.
“As a farmer, Farm Bureau is with us hand in hand making our business grow,” Nancie said. “Farm Bureau brings the interests of the farmer to the forefront.”