October 2010 Issue Neighbors Magazine

ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO Sweet Potato Growers Hope For More ’Taters On Table Macon County’s Morris Eyes Top Farmer Contest

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At Alfa Insurance®, our customers aren’t just numbers … they’re our friends and neighbors.

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Neighbors A Publication of the Alabama Farmers Federation

VOLUME 35, NUMBER 10

OCTOBER 2010

One Potato, Two Potato

Alabama sweet potato farmers are hoping that a new ConAgra processing plant in Louisiana will mean more ‘taters on the table this harvest season. • 16

Top Farmer

Macon County’s Shep Morris will be competing for the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year title this month. • 5

Sunbelt Time

Farm families looking for a break from harvest time will find plenty to do at this year’s Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Ga. • 6

Outstanding In The Field

ON THE COVER Tater Time — Brian Kress of Kress Farm in Cullman is hoping for a better-thanusual sweet potato harvest this season, thanks to good weather and the opening of a new sweet potato french fry processing plant in Louisiana.

— Photo by Darryal Ray NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Two young DeKalb County families are profiled as Neighbors takes a look at the winners in the Poultry and Hay & Forage Divisions of the Outstanding Young Farm Family contest. • 20

Refuge Proposal

A plan by U.S. Fish & Wildlife to expand the Cahaba River Wildlife Refuge meets strong opposition from landowners. • 24 3

DEPARTMENTS 4

President’s Message

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Federation Digest

26

Alabama Gardener

28

Country Kitchen

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Classifieds w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

President’s Message S

ince 1946, one of the strengths of Alfa Insurance has been outstanding personal service. As a company founded by farmers, we understand the value of a friendly smile, a firm handshake and people who keep their commitments.

That’s why our customers consistently rank Alfa among the best insurance companies in the country when it comes to handling claims.

It’s also why we have offices in all 67 counties, and why our employJerry Newby ees are active in the communities they serve.

At Alfa, our policyholders aren’t just numbers. They’re our friends and neighbors. We are part of the same civic clubs; we worship together; and we cheer for the same hometown teams.

But an increasing number of our customers not only want an Alfa office nearby, they also want to be able to do business over the Internet and even on their mobile phones.

So, in keeping with our commitment to provide exceptional customer service, last month we launched the My AlfaTM Web site feature on www.AlfaInsurance.com.

We also introduced a new mobile application for the iPhone.

With My Alfa, customers can now view policy information, request changes and print auto identification cards online. They also can make payments using electronic fund transfer (EFT) or their credit card, with no fee. In addition, Alfa’s call center is now staffed seven days a week, 6 a.m. to midnight, at 1-800-964-2532.

Alfa2Go, the new iPhone app, includes an agent locator, accident checklist, tow service locator, glass claim report and a list of member w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

benefits. Additional functions are being developed for the second release of Alfa2Go, and applications also are in the works for other smartphone devices.

Meanwhile, the Alabama Farmers Federation also has unveiled a new Web site that is designed to improve service to members. It features a members-only area that includes participation codes for member benefit programs, as well as frequently used forms, information about legislative issues, access to the DTN commodity markets page and instructions for selling items using the Trade ‘N Post online classified listing.

The latest version of www.AlfaFarmers.org also features a Member Spotlight area and new pages where counties can showcase their activities and events. There are also quick links to the Alfa Farmers’ Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages as well as a new page-turn viewer for Neighbors and Friend & Family magazines.

I have to admit, much of this new technology is over my head.

Like many of you, I prefer doing business face-to-face, and at Alfa, you’ll always have that option. But we also understand that claims don’t always happen during office hours, and that providing great customer service means we’re “Right there with you,” whether you’re visiting a hometown office or logging in from across the country.

It’s all about making it easier to do business with Alfa and the Alabama Farmers Federation. After all, our number-one job is taking care of our members and customers. n

VOLUME 35, NUMBER 10

________________________________________ Darryal Ray, Editor Debra Davis, Associate Editor Mike Moody, Graphic Designer ALABAMA FARMERS FEDERATION Paul Pinyan, Executive Director Jeff Helms, Director of Communications FEDERATION OFFICERS Jerry Newby, President, Athens Hal Lee, Vice President/North, Hartselle Dean Wysner, Vice President/Central, Woodland Ricky Wiggins, Vice President/Southeast, Andalusia Jake Harper, Vice President/Southwest, Camden Steve Dunn, Secretary-Treasurer, Evergreen DIRECTORS Joe Dickerson, Lexington Steve Tate, Huntsville Donnie Garrett, Centre Darrel Haynes, Cullman John E. Walker III, Berry Marshall Prickett, Wellington Richard Edgar, Deatsville Pat Buck, Emelle Garry Henry, Hope Hull Carl Sanders, Brundidge David Bitto, Elberta Sammy Williams, Columbia Gloria Jeffcoat, Gordon Jeff Maze, Horton Neighbors (ISSN 0162-3974) is published monthly by the Alabama Farmers Federation, 2108 East South Boulevard, Montgomery, Alabama 36116. For information about member benefits of the Alabama Farmers Federation, visit the Web site www.AlfaFarmers.org. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Alabama, and additional mailing offices.

Printed in the U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Neighbors, P.O. Box 11000, Montgomery, Alabama 36191-0001.

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE: Paul Hurst, Hurst & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 6011, Vernon Hills, IL 60061. Phone: 800397-8908; Fax: (847) 438-8105. Classified ad and editorial inquiries should be directed to the editor at (334) 613-4410.

ADVERTISING DISCLAIMER: Ad­vertise­­­­­­­ ments contained in Neighbors do not represent an endorsement by the magazine or the Alabama Farmers Federation.

EDITORIAL MATTER from sources outside of the Alabama Farmers Federation is sometimes presented for the information and interest of our members. Such material may, or may not, coincide with official Alabama Farmers Federation policies. Publication of material does not necessarily imply its endorsement by the Alabama Farmers Federation.

ADDRESS editorial, advertising and change of address correspondence to Neighbors, P.O. Box 11000, Montgomery, Alabama 361910001. www.AlfaFarmers.org A member of American Farm Bureau Federation

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NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Morris To Compete For 2010 Farmer Of Year

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grower of conventional cotton application business to farm full soil from the top of the bed so I can varieties, Roy “Shep” Mortime, but does his own flying. plant into moisture,” he explains. ris of Shorter uses a stripper “Crop rotation is one reason for “If spring conditions are wet, I machine for harvesting, chicken our yields,” he says. “We grow no plant on top of the bed.” litter for fertilizer, ridge tillage for cotton where cotton grew the previMorris volunteers his time and planting and corn as both a rotation ous year. We use chicken litter to talents to a number of organizacrop and cover crop. He has raised build soil organic matter. We also tions, including chairmanship of soil organic matter levels and prouse an implement called a One-Trip the Wheat and Feed Grains Comduced excellent dryland yields.

Plow behind our corn combine. It mittee of the Alabama Farmers As a result of his success as a buries the stalks, builds a raised Federation. row crop farmer, Morris’ farming bed, and leaves a good place for His wife, Marguerite “Rite” operation was selected last Februgrowing cotton.”

Morris, is the daughter of a cotary as Alabama’s Farm of ton farmer. They married in Distinction winner, a title 1979. She helps out on the that qualified him to reprefarm by scouting cotton for sent Alabama in the Swisher insects during the summer Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southand hauling boll buggies dureastern Farmer of the Year ing the fall. competition in Moultrie, Ga., They have three adult this month. children. Their oldest, Shep, He now joins nine other Jr., is a first lieutenant in state winners from the the Alabama Army National Southeast as finalists for the Guard and is serving as a award. The overall winner Chinook helicopter pilot in will be announced on TuesAfghanistan. He will return day, Oct. 19, at the Sunbelt to the farm when his deployAg Expo farm show. ment ends.

A full-time farmer for Their son, J. W., is in the 25 years, he currently farms Marine Corps Reserves and 3,450 acres with 2,600 acres has served two tours in Iraq. of rented land and 850 acres He is a student at Auburn of owned land. His crop mix University at Montgomery includes cotton on 1,500 and works for an engineering acres yielding 800 pounds per firm. acre, corn on 850 acres yieldTheir daughter, Beverly, ing 145 bushels per acre, and lives on the farm and is a soybeans on 600 acres yieldregistered nurse employed ing 40 bushels per acre. He

by Baptist Hospital East in also raises timber on about Montgomery.

Morris will represent Alabama in Sunbelt Ag Expo.

500 acres and has about 100 As the Alabama state acres in pecan production.

He says his crop planting winner, Morris is now eligible for “My grandfather was a farmer, method is a version of ridge tillage. the $15,000 prize that will go to and my father was an aerial applica- “Corn is our cover crop for cotton,” the overall winner. Other prizes for tor,” he recalls. “I wanted to farm he adds. The One Trip Plow incorthe overall winner include the use from an early age. My grandfather porates corn seed missed by the of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a started farming in 1913 and grew combine. This seed germinates and year from Massey Ferguson North his last crop in 1978.” provides a growing cover until it is America, a custom-made CanvasMorris bought a tractor and killed by frost. back gun safe from Misty Morn used his grandfather’s equipment He farms both river bottomland Safe Co., $500 gift certificate from during his early years in farming. and black prairie soils that hold the Southern States cooperative, a He grew his first crop of cotton at moisture well. Planting on raised Williamson-Dickie jacket, $500 gift age 18, and then followed his dad beds helps his crops escape damage certificate and $500 in cash to the by becoming an aerial applicator. from too much water. “If it is dry overall winner. n Eventually, he gave up the aerial in the spring, I shave two inches of

N NE E II G GH HB BO OR RS S •• O OC CT TO OB BE ER R 2 20 01 10 0

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arm families looking to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the busy fall harvest season will soon get that chance at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show Oct. 19-21 near Moultrie, Ga. “The Sunbelt Expo is an annual extravaganza of agricultural technology,” says Chip Blalock, the farm show’s director. “Now in its 33rd year, the Expo has become North America’s Premier Farm ShowTM. Our goal is to bring together more than 1,200 exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors in our 100-acre exhibit area.

During three days in the middle of the week, we provide a convenient venue that allows everyone to exchange ideas and see what’s new in the business of providing safe supplies of food, fiber and shelter for American consumers.”

The Expo also gained a reputation for Southern hospitality in welcoming exhibitors from throughout the U.S. and the world.

“Most of our exhibitors come back year after year,” says Blalock.

Blalock says the Expo is distinct among agricultural trade shows because it gives farmers a chance to get up-close to check out new machinery working in the crop fields of a 600-acre research farm.

Crops on the farm include cotton, peanuts, corn, soybeans and hay.

The Expo offers rides on covered shuttle wagons to carry visitors to the fields where they’ll see a wide selection of equipment taking part in the harvesting and tillage demonstrations. Visitors will also be w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

able to drive some of the tractors, especially those equipped with automated steering and other precision farming technology.

This year, Blalock is excited about the newly constructed Dairy Pavilion. “Dairy is a sector of our show which has seen continued growth each year. This new pavilion will provide a permanent home for those educational and commercial exhibits as well as seminars and demos targeted specifically towards the dairy industry.

“We will have seminar presentations and special exhibit sections on beef cattle, horses, sheep and goats, alpacas, poultry, show pigs and fish ponds,” says Blalock.

“Anyone interested in raising animals would benefit from a trip to Expo. New in our educational seminars series is our partnership with the Irrigation Association. The association has worked with several of their members to provide a half day of seminars on topics relating to irrigation and water management issues.”

One group of exhibits will feature portable sawmills and equipment used in forestry. Other exhibits will showcase irrigation equipment, livestock equipment, new pickups and all-terrain vehicles. Software and hardware that allows for crop yield monitoring, automated tractor steering and variable-rate application of farm chemicals will also be featured in precision farming exhibits at the show.

While most of the exhibits are 6

geared to the interests of commercial farmers, the Expo also provides family entertainment with events such as stock dog trials and antique tractor parades. The show’s hunting and fishing exhibitors will return with tips on bringing in wild game and catching trophy-size fish.

Family Living exhibits will offer a variety of cooking demonstrations, artwork by artist Jack DeLoney, a variety of food items, cookbooks and informational booths on travel and leisure. The Family Living Building will also be the new home of the Backyard Gardening Section.

The popular section offers seminars geared to backyard gardening and covers topics such as organic production, raised bed vegetable culture, fertilization and soil management.

The farm show has also partnered with agricultural colleges and universities from throughout the Southeast to provide information from the latest agricultural research that could benefit farmers in the region.

The Expo is on Georgia Highway 133, southeast of Moultrie.

Gates open at 8:30 a.m. daily.

Admission at the gate is $10 per person with children under age 12 admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Advance tickets are $8, but must be ordered by Oct. 7. A three-day pass is available for $20.

For more information, visit www.sunbeltexpo.com or call (229) 985-1968. n

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Federation Digest Cotton Festival Scheduled Oct. 9

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otton’s heydays have passed Eclectic by, but the Elmore County town will again celebrate its heritage during the Alabama Cotton Festival on Oct. 9, 8 a.m.-11:30 p.m.

The festival, originally called the Eclectic Cotton Festival when it began 18 years ago, will include a fun run, Rook tournament, antique car show, children’s activities, pet parade, puppet shows, Miss Alabama Cotton Pageant, games and the Stars of Alabama Artist Showcase competition featuring Alabama musicians.

For more information, call Tony Buenger at (334) 580-0155, email info@starsofalabama.org or visit www.StarsofAlabama.org. n

Ag Deans Meet Deans of Alabama’s three land grant universities met at the Alabama Farmers Federation headquarters in Montgomery recently where they discussed research projects and funding. From left are Alabama Farmers Federation Executive Director Paul Pinyan, Auburn Ag Dean Dr. William Batchelor, Alabama A&M University Ag Dean Dr. Robert W. Taylor , Federation President Jerry Newby and Tuskegee University Ag Dean Dr. Walter Hill.

Obituaries Perryman Fluker Mobley Jr., 88, of Shorterville, died Aug. 18 at his home.

A lifelong resident of Henry County, Mr. Mobley was engaged in farming most of his life, and was a lifetime member of the Alabama Farmers Federation. He was also a member of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.

Mr. Mobley served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He was an active member of the Haleburg United Methodist Church and a former member of the Henry County Hospital Board.

Survivors include his wife, Rose Ezzell Mobley; a daughter, Marlene Mobley Arnold and husband, w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Dr. Ray Arnold; a son, Dr. Perry F. Mobley III and wife, Charlotte Hayes Mobley; a sister, Effie Leta Mobley, all of Shorterville; two grandchildren, Perryman Fluker Mobley IV and wife Dr. Jennifer Ingram Mobley of Verbena and Paige Mobley Watson and husband, Brandon Watson of Troy; three great-grandchildren, Hayes Watson, Harlan Mobley and Ellie Grace Mobley.

William Klindt Klingler of Shopton and Auburn, vice-president and board member of the Bullock County Farmers Federation, died Aug. 26 after a lengthy illness. He was 59.

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Klingler, a cattle rancher and pecan producer, graduated Union Springs High School, attended Marion Military Institute and was an Auburn University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

He was also a member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church.

Survivors include: wife, Sandra Elizabeth Klingler; two daughters, McLaurine Elizabeth Klingler and Mary Ashton Klingler of Auburn; two brothers, Harold Henri (Janet) Klingler, Jr., of Jesup, Ga., and James Edward (Jane) Klingler of Shopton; and numerous nieces and nephews. n NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

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New ‘Right There With You’ Ad Campaign Debuts Alfa’s Dedicated Field Force Highlighted In New Commercials

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n Alfa agent consoles a policyholder whose teenage daughter has been in a car accident, then works into the evening making sure the paperwork is in order.

A customer service representative helps a mother and her sons save money on their car insurance by identifying discounts. An Alfa claims adjuster changes his weekend plans to help a policyholder in need. And an agent and his wife interact with their neighbors and customers at a fall festival.

These are the kind of real-world situations portrayed in Alfa’s new television commercials, which hit the airwaves Aug. 23. Director of Public Relations and Communications Jeff Helms said the new campaign’s honest depiction of Alfa’s extraordinary customer service is a refreshing approach to advertising.

“At Alfa, we don’t have to use elaborate special effects or cartoon characters to tell our story,” Helms said. “Our employees’ commitment to service speaks for itself. In fact, the scenarios depicted in the ‘Right there with you’ advertising campaign were inspired by testimonials from Alfa agents. As we sought to align the advertising message with Alfa’s vision for being the leader in personal service, it seemed natural to focus on the company’s strongest brand attributes.”

Research conducted prior to production of the new television spots revealed four hallmarks of the Alfa brand: agent relationships, claims service, community connection and financial value. These strengths provided the foundation for the new campaign.

“I am really excited about these new commercials because they showcase the strengths of our company and dedicated field force,” said Senior Vice President of Marketing Services Carol Golsan. “Every day our agents, adjusters and CSRs are providing remarkable customer service in ways similar to the situations in these commerw w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

cials. It’s important to remind both existing and potential customers of this service so they fully understand the value of being a part of the Alfa family. These commercials do just that.”

One of two commercials that began airing in August is called “Get Well Soon.” It builds on the relationships Alfa agents have with policyholders by showing an Alfa employee working late at night and comforting a family whose child is in the hospital. His last bit of paperwork is a get well soon card to the teenage driver.

Also airing this fall is “County Fair.” Its focus is the connection Alfa personnel have with their communities.

Set at a carnival, the advertisement shows an agent and his wife interacting with friends and neighbors — who just happen to be customers. The genuine interest the agent shows in his policyholders is typical of the way Alfa employees are involved in the communities they serve.

In January, the “Right there with you” tagline will take on deeper meaning with the debut of two more commercials, “Car Wash” and “Twins.”

“Car Wash” capitalizes on Alfa’s reputation for toprated claims service by showing an adjuster taking a break from washing his car to help a farmer who’s had a wreck.

The spot uses warm, compelling photography to tell the story in a humorous way while driving home the point that Alfa is there for its policyholders when they need it most.

Finally, “Twins” focuses on the competitive pricing and value of Alfa automobile insurance by highlighting several discounts available to drivers. The commercial takes advantage of a natural, good-hearted sibling rivalry to emphasize that no matter your situation, Alfa has a policy that’s priced just right.

In all four commercials, Alfa personnel are portrayed as responsive, helpful, knowledgeable and neighborly.

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NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Alfa’s partner for the television campaign is Luckie and Company of Birmingham. Luckie won the account through a competitive bid process that started with about 20 Southeastern advertising agencies and concluded with three agencies presenting creative concepts to the Advertising Governance Committee. The director for the television spots was Charlie Cole, whose clients include Publix and Longhorn.

In addition to producing four television commercials that are more closely aligned with Alfa’s brand and corporate goals, the year-long advertising review also established benchmarks for marketing research and allowed the company to better utilize in-house creative and research capabilities. As a result, Alfa was able to substantially reduce production costs and shift those resources into television, radio, print and Internet placement.

Most importantly, the “Right there with you” campaign is true to the heritage, reputation and identity of Alfa. It elevates Alfa employees and celebrates their dedication in delivering the company’s promise. n

Prior to production, numerous advertising concepts were tested with focus groups in Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville. Each group included Alfa, Allstate and State Farm customers, as well as additional participants with either Geico, Progressive, Farmers or another competitor. Some concepts that showed agents going the extra mile to help policyholders were considered “unrealistic” by customers of other companies, but in every group, Alfa policyholders vouched that Alfa does indeed provide extraordinary personal service.

This is a testament to the Alfa employees whose commitment, hard work and compassion have shaped Alfa’s brand image. It’s these attributes that “Right there with you” celebrates.

To ensure the campaign message is communicated clearly and consistently, photos, phrases and music from the television commercials are being used in print advertising, radio spots and Internet ads. Co-op advertising is also being developed based on the “Right there with you” campaign.

I want to thank the Farmers of Alabama for their support.

votejancook.org Post Office Box 124 Dozier, Alabama 36028

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

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My Alfa Enhances Customer Service On The Web ™

By Marc Pearson

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ecent enhancements to Alfa’s Web site with the release of My Alfa™ mark the biggest evolution of the site to date and allow customers more online capabilities than ever before.

The addition marks the second major Web site update in the last year and is one of the many ways Alfa is working to make doing business with the company even easier.

The project involved nearly every department in the company, along with business partners including Cognizant, Oracle, Gartner and others.

This new release enhances the “My Alfa” customer service by adding the ability for customers to securely log-on to Alfa’s Web site, register and view policy information, request changes, make payments, view their agent’s info and print auto insurance ID cards. This is just the beginning of a rapidly expanding project coinciding with a renewed company vision.

“One of our largest competitors commented in its most recent annual report that over 50 percent of new customers initial contact is through the Web,” said Steve Rutledge, executive vice president of business development. “The need for a robust Web site is not only driven by the pressure to service customers, but also for initial

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awareness or exposure to our company. This is especially important, as the current generation prefers everything be done online or with a handheld device.”

Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer John Jung said the new Web site marks a dramatic shift in the way Alfa communicates and conducts business online.

“Giving our customers the ability to actually communicate with Alfa is the first step in a direction that will allow us to eventually quote, sell and service our customers who choose to do business with us over the Internet,” Jung said.

“We have to acknowledge however that the effort is not really a traditional project; rather, it is the start of an entirely new way for us to provide sales and service functions for our customers. Customers who choose to do business with us over the Web will have ever-changing expectations and demands of Alfa.

This channel will not remain static; our customers, our competition and emerging technologies will constantly be redefining the landscape of Web-delivered services.”

To begin, customers should go to www.alfains.com and click on the “Register Now” link located under the My Alfa log-in box on the home page. Policy and member numbers are required to get started.

Required information for auto, property and other insurance poli12

cies (except life) can be found on policy declarations, billing notices, automobile ID cards or evidence of insurance forms. My Alfa registration information needed for life insurance policies can be found on policy contract pages and the annual letter. Loan customers can find required information on their loan payment coupon. Customers have to register each policy and will receive a confirmation letter in the mail as an added security measure.

“The process of policy registration is primarily designed to make sure that our customers’ private information is protected,” said Chris McCorkle, I.S. project manager. “This is always a paramount concern for us in everything we do.

We know it will take a few minutes up front to register their policies but once that process is completed, they will have one log-on that they use to access all their information going forward.”

With the addition of new Web site features, additional support from the Marketing Resource Center (MRC) is critical. The MRC (1-800-964-2532) is now staffed to handle calls seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight (central time).

Since customers using My Alfa will likely first call the toll-free number if there is a problem, the department has been heavily involved in testing and training and has the best tools available to assist customers.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

“The MRC is here to help our customers with this new functionality,” said Susan Adcock, vice president of marketing resources. “As customers are setting up their accounts we do anticipate an increase in call volume. The new features are just a part of an ongoing plan to improve the Web site and add value for Alfa’s customers, agents and CSRs.” For Alfa’s field force, McCorkle said the changes should be welcome support for assisting customers with their insurance needs.

“I believe that as we enable customers to do many of these kinds of routine self-service tasks online, it will free up agents and CSRs to focus on sales and helping people with more complex issues,” McCorkle said. “I also believe that SOA_7.5x5Ad_2MANE0X_Layout 1 9/1/10

the agent, call center and Internet channels will complement each other providing options for customers to do business with Alfa in the way that is convenient for them.”

Rutledge says the future includes improved pricing for the best customers along with better billing and communications. In addition, the company plans in the future, to allow payments with 10:36 near AM Page 1

credit/debit card anywhere, anytime without a fee.

Paying online or by phone can now also be done for free. Effective Sept. 1, the $3.50 convenience fee previously charged was removed.

This is another important change in response to customers and their needs.

“When you consider an enhancement to customer service, you must first consider what it is that customers want,” Rutledge said. “It is clear that customers want to buy and service policies online (especially the younger age groups). As we consider improvements in customer service, we must consider all portals that customers want to use (Web, service center, home office and call center) and create the best environment possible.” n

2MANE0X NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

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Alfa Introduces First App For Apple iPhone

Users Now Have Access To Several Useful Tools While On The Go

By Marc Pearson

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lfa continues to rapidly adapt to the way customers want to do business today, deploying its first ever iPhone application, Alfa2Go, last month.

The free app, now available through Apple’s iTunes app store, was the culmination of work between a cross-department team at Alfa and a partnership with students at the University of Alabama’s Capstone program. Key features in version 1.0 include: • Find an Alfa Agent – Use this feature to find an agent nearby.

• Accident Checklist – Helps users with specific steps to follow after an auto accident.

• Review customer member benefits — View membership benefits with links to providers’ web sites.

• Easy Access to Alfa’s Call Center — Quickly connect to Alfa’s toll free call center.

• Locate a Tow Service — Use this feature to locate the nearest towing service.

• Report an Auto Glass Claim ­— Report a glass claim to Alfa using this feature.

“Alfa2Go was primarily the vision of Jody Carroll, a senior IT business analyst who is leading this part of the Internet strategy,” said John Jung, senior vice president and chief information officer. “Jody, along with a cross-functional team made up of the demographic who use this technology daily, Alfa’s Web Team and with IT students from the Capstone Program at the University of Alabama, created a series of small applications for our customers.

Nothing we develop will remain static. Our customers, our competition and the technology itself will continue to place demands on us w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

that will be unprecedented and will require us to continue to invest in this distribution channel.”

Carroll said the project is important because Alfa must be ready to service customers who choose to do business via mobile devices.

He stressed that the new app is

the first phase with more features already on the drawing board.

He added that the team realizes the iPhone is not the only smart phone in use and that as we move forward we must include other devices like Blackberry and the Android. Future plans are to purchase software that allows Alfa to develop once and deploy it to these various smart phones.

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A key to this work was the cross functional team.

“In December of 2009, we formed this team of Alfa employees that meets the demographics of mobile device users,” said Carroll. The goal of this group was to outline Alfa’s response to this growing technology and develop a strategic roadmap for Alfa’s mobile technology initiative.

Though this roadmap is still in the development stage, the group did complete Phase One of this strategy and oversaw the initial development of Alfa’s mobile app (Alfa2Go).”

Walter Overby, vice president of corporate Internet and e-business, has been tasked with overseeing the Web efforts at Alfa, including the smart phone applications. He said it’s critical to be proactive in this rapidly evolving area of Web development.

“The one constant is the world is change,” said Overby.

“Beyond our Agent/CSR, Call Center and Web channels, more and more business is being conducted via smart phones. We have committed to meet our competition in this space. Our plans are to offer the same features on these smart phones as we offer through our Web site. As Jody mentioned, our initial approach was to establish a cross functional team of Alfa employees who understand and use these devices, learn as we go and that’s why we have started with the iPhone. Our plans are ultimately to develop and deliver the same Web site functionality to the same devices as our competition.”

Further updates to the app will be coming, but for now, be sure to go to iTunes, search for Alfa Insurance in the app store and download the Alfa2Go app on your iPhone today! n NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

By Debra Davis

F

or Sally Leavelle, the rolling hills of west Tuscaloosa County where she and her husband Clyde raise soybeans, hay and cattle are a long way from her home state of New Jersey. But after years of living on the farm, the former “city girl” feels more prepared than ever to share agriculture’s story with city folks.

The tools to do just that were handed out in heaping portions during the American Farm Bureau’s Women’s Communications Boot Camp, July 27-30 at AFBF headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Tuscaloosa County Farmers Federation sponsored her trip. Only 16 applicants from throughout the country were accepted for this year’s camp, and Leavelle said she was honored to attend.

“We covered a lot of ground in a short period of time,” Leavelle said. “We learned how to give speeches, work with the media and how to use social media to help tell agriculture’s story. We also learned about the importance of being politically active, such as running for office or encouraging qualified candidates to seek public office, and we learned about giving testimony about legislation that affects farmers.”

Leavelle first learned of the boot camp when she attended the AFBF annual meeting in New Orleans a few years ago. She said it sounded interesting and when the Tuscaloosa County Farmers Federation agreed to sponsor her application, she decided to apply.

Leavelle, who had been interviewed by print and broadcast reporters in the past, said what she learned at the camp will help make her more prepared for future interviews.

“I learned things to help me approach the media about a story, not just waiting for a story to react to something,” she said. “I also learned some of the pitfalls to beware of when dealing with the media. I know now how important it is to collect your thoughts before you do an interview.”

The camp helped Leavelle hone her skills in other areas as well. As the wife of a retired Army colonel, she’s given many speeches over the years, mainly when troops were NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Sally Leavelle of Tuscaloosa County, center, accepts her certificate of recognition for attending the boot camp from AFBF President Bob Stallman and AFBF Women’s Leadership Committee Chairman Terry Gilbert.

being deployed, offering support for the families. But the speeches she was asked to make at the boot camp were a bit more challenging.

“At the boot camp, we were given several topics with information based on Farm Bureau’s policy,” Leavelle said. “We chose a subject and had to prepare a 2-3 minute speech. My topic was climate change.

We were videotaped and then we had a oneon-one critique by the Farm Bureau staff.

That made it very personal.”

Similar training sessions were held with print and radio media settings, she said. “ I would highly recommend the boot camp to anyone interested in agriculture,” she said. “We’ve got to do a better job of telling our story.”

Leavelle said she plans to put the training she received to good use.

Tuscaloosa County Farmers Federation Women’s Leadership Committee Chairman Peggy Walker said her entire county is pleased Leavelle was chosen to participate in the program.

“I know this will benefit all of us as she shares what’s she learned,” Walker said. n 15

w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

By Darryal Ray

T

here’s nothing that’ll bring folks to their knees like sweet potatoes.

Even at 5 a.m., before a merciless late August sun began beating down, no less than a half dozen workers were digging in the dirt with flashlights

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at Kress Farm in search of Cullman County’s favorite ’tater.

Of course, sweet potatoes aren’t hard to find in Cullman County — this nine-acre field alone will yield about 108,000 pounds of potatoes before season’s end. But even that is only a fraction of what brothers Kerry and Brian Kress expect to harvest this year.

“We average about 300 40-pound boxes per acre,” said Brian. “This year, I think we’ll do more than that. It’s been hot, but we’ve had moisture. Conditions have not been

16

perfect, but they never are. But I’ll take this year. I believe we’re going to have a good year.”

Another reason for that optimism is the demand for sweet potatoes continues to climb. High in fiber and packed with beta carotene, Vitamin A and other nutrients, sweet potato consumption has grown by 21 percent over the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It’s a demand that hasn’t gone unnoticed by ConAgra Foods, Inc. The company’s Lamb Weston Division is to open the nation’s only sweet potato processing plant in Delhi, La., this month, turning out more than 20 frozen sweet potato products —

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

most of them variations of french fries.

The $210 million facility with more than 240 workers can process 25 tons of sweet potatoes per hour, but it was built with expansion in mind. The company expects to double its workforce to 500 within five years.

“This plant will need about 22,000 acres of sweet potatoes,” said Arnold Caylor, director of the North Alabama Horticulture Research Center in Cullman, a substation of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. “And that’s in addition to what’s already being grown. That’s probably one reason you are seeing a bump in acreage; some growers may have planted a little extra, thinking that they will be able to provide some of that.”

While his farm is 300 miles away from the plant, Brian Kress was aware of its plans when he boosted his sweet potato acreage this year to 100 acres, about 20 more than he’s ever planted. “This fall crop will be the first potatoes they’ll buy,” he said. “That’s a new market for us, and it’s going to help keep the price up.

“Sweet potatoes are our money crop,” Brian added. “We grow other things — corn, soybeans, wheat and Irish potatoes — but sweet potatoes are where we make our living.”

He said that Cullman County’s rolling farmland and loose, sandy soil make sweet potatoes a logical alternative to row crops like corn and soybeans. “Sometimes, it’s aggravating doing these old hillsides,” he said. “But it’s got its advantages — like last year when it was so wet, Louisiana and Mississippi couldn’t get their potatoes out of the field. We were getting stuck, but we were wallowing through it.”

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Kress Farm uses local laborers to harvest their sweet potato crop.

This year, the Kress brothers began in late August digging just enough potatoes to fill orders, whether for Walmart or a roadside stand. “No order is too big or too small. You want one box or one ’tater, I’ll sell it to you,” said Brian.

“Or, if you want a trailer load, we’ll do that too.”

Sweet potatoes have long been a mainstay for Cullman County farmers. For years, it was the state’s top producer but has since taken a backseat to Baldwin County, which will produce about 1,500 acres this season.

Baldwin is also where grower Leonard Kichler, who serves as president of both the Alabama Sweet Potato Association and the United States Sweet Potato Council, farms about 90 acres in Elberta.

About 75 percent of his crop will go to Walmart.

Kichler, who has been farming sweet potatoes for four decades, says Baldwin County growers are also excited about the Louisiana plant. “A lot of guys are interested

17

in it, but it depends on what they’ll pay,” said Kichler. “The plant only wants potatoes that are two inches or larger in diameter — the bigger the better. We’ll have to see how that will affect the price.”

Even so, Kichler doesn’t see the state’s yearly production changing much. “I think it’s probably going to stay about the same because these new Good Agricultural Practices regulations are scaring everybody to death. It’s a good thing, but it’s a nightmare with all the recordkeeping.”

Caylor says the state’s production currently hovers around 3,500 acres, placing it fifth in the nation behind North Carolina (45,00050,000 acres), California (20,000), Mississippi (18,000-20,000) and Louisiana (12,000-15,000).

“There’s no telling how many growers we used to have,” said Brian. “But every time one has quit or died, nobody has taken their place. Every time we lose one that’s just one lost. There’s nobody getting into it.”

w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

The reasons for that, he said, are labor and other input costs. “You can’t do it by yourself like soybeans or corn or cotton,” he said. “You can’t pick these up by yourself, and you can’t set them out by yourself.

It takes a lot of labor to do it.”

At the peak of the harvest, the Kresses will employ about 25 workers, mostly local folks — retirees, housewives and others — who come back year after year. In February, they help bed the potatoes. From mid-May until mid-June, they help pull the plants and set them out.

At harvest time, they pick up the potatoes, placing them in buckets or baskets that are then carefully emptied into wooden bins and taken to the packing shed for washing, Kerry and Brian Kress expect good year. sorting and boxing.

“This is pretty much my regular my plants and set them out. I like crew,” said Brian as he looked across to keep something for them to do his field. “When I’m setting plants instead of bringing in other people.” and pulling plants, this is pretty Of course, there are mechanical much the ones I work year round. harvesters that can dig and pick up When start digging every8/30/10 day, thePM potatoes, 9WB422we 4.75x4.75:9UR401 2:53 Page 1he said, but that’s not then I bring in the seasonal help. But practical for his operation. this is the bunch that helps me pull “Yes, it would be easier, but it’s ci Min rc t ul at ed

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harder on the potato,” said Brian.

“We’re not as big as Mississippi, North Carolina or Louisiana where a ‘little’ farmer is one with 500 acres.

They can do so much more than we can, but we can beat them on quality.”

It’s quality — defined as a “No. 1” by grading standards — that the Kresses strive for in their “fresh market” potatoes.

“When you go into a grocery store and you see them setting out there, that’s the market we shoot for,” he said. “I’ve got one place in Birmingham that supplies restaurants, small grocery stores and schools. The rest usually go to grocery stores. We shoot for the fresh market. That pays more, and you’ve got to have a little better quality, do a little better job, than if you’re selling to some of these other places.”

Still, he says, sweet potato farmers only get two chances to make the sales that’ll make the season worthwhile.

“If you are going to grow sweet potatoes, you need to load ’em up on Thanksgiving and Christmas. People will eat sweet potatoes on those two days and never eat them again until the next Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said. “Thanksgiving is our biggest day — you need to sell every potato you can. After that, it’s Christmas. Easter will pick up a little bit, and from then on out it’s just whatever you can do to get rid of them.”

But with baked sweet potatoes on more and more menus and the new Louisiana processing plant cranking out 25 tons of frozen sweet potato fries an hour, there are signs that America is ready for a ’tater love affair far beyond the golden arches. n ____________________________________ The Alabama Sweet Potato Association will host the 49th Annual United States Sweet Potato Convention on Jan. 23–25, 2011, at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach.

For more information, contact Arnold Caylor at cayloaw@auburn.edu or (256) 734-5820.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Let your lens do the talking — and show us how Alabama’s farm families care in these categories ...

...For Our Animals ...For Our Land ...For Our Food

Win Cash Prizes In EACH Category

$300 — First Place $200 — Second Place $100 — Third Place

RULES • Prizes for each “We Care...” category - For Our Animals, For Our Land, For Our Food - are: 1st Place, $300; 2nd Place, $200; 3rd Place, $100.

• All photos must have been taken in Alabama.

• Each photographer is limited to three entries per category.

• Prints must be 8” by 10” and should be packaged to prevent bending.

• The entrant must include his or her name, address, phone number, title of photo, name of category and Federation membership number on a 4” by 5” card. Any persons in the photo must be identified on the card as well.

• Entries must be received by Nov. 1, 2010.

• Ship entries to: “We Care…” Photo Contest, Neighbors Magazine, 2108 E. South Blvd., Montgomery, AL 36116. The Federation is not responsible for any lost or misdirected materials.

ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN NOV. 1, 2010 SEND YOUR ENTRIES TO: ‘WE CARE...’ PHOTO CONTEST, Neighbors Magazine 2108 E. South Blvd.

Montgomery, AL 36116 • Competition is open to amateur photographers living in Alabama who are members of Alabama Farmers Federation.

• Employees of the Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance and their immediate families are not eligible.

• All entries must be original photography taken between Nov. 1, 2008 and Nov. 1, 2010.

• No retouching of photos or digital manipulation of images is permitted.

• Entrant acknowledges entry constitutes permission to publish the photo and has the right to grant permission for publication of photo as well as permission of any person or persons depicted in the photograph.

• Photos become the property of Neighbors magazine and the Alabama Farmers Federation and will not be returned.

• Decision of the judges is final.

Sponsored each year by the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Outstanding Young Farm Family Awards Program recognizes young farmers between the ages of 17 and 35 who do an outstanding job in farm, home and community activities. Division winners representing 10 commodities were selected in February. Of those, six finalists will compete for the title of overall Outstanding Young Farm Family for 2010. The winner, who will be named at the Federation’s 89th Annual Meeting in December, will receive a John Deere Gator, courtesy of Alabama Ag Credit, a personal computer package courtesy of ValCom/ CCS Wireless, $500 cash from Dodge, use of a new vehicle and other prizes. The winner also will go on to compete at the national level for a new Dodge Ram 3500. This month, Neighbors profiles the winners of the Poultry and the Hay & Forage Divisions.

Turner Family

Poultry

Ex-Ag Teacher Took Young Turner Under His Wing

By Darryal Ray

Today, he has 30 head of brood cows and helps his father-in-law with another 200 head in addition to cutting about 1,300 round bales of hay a year. “From the end of April until the first of June, we’re wide open in the hay field, getting out fertilizer and spraying weeds.

I haven’t seen the end of spring, but the good Lord has blessed me on what I’ve been able to do here,” he said.

Farming, however, wasn’t exactly what his grandfather and great uncle had in mind when they made Josh the offer to lease their two poultry houses. “When I was a senior in high school, they came to me and wanted to know if I’d be interested in leasing the houses to help pay my way through college,” Josh recalled. “I’d been in those houses all my life, working around them. So I said, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good deal.’

“My daddy raised me that as soon as I was able to have chores, I worked,” Josh added. “I fussed about it when I was a kid, but I can see in life that it meant a lot now ... Daddy always raised me to be hard-working — anything worth doing is worth doing right.”

Within two years, however, his work ethic drew

J

osh Turner says he “started from scratch,” as a 17-year-old “first-generation poultry farmer” who would slip away from school during lunch to check on his two houses of chickens.

“My mama was a secretary at the school. So if my principal ever caught me, I would just call and tell Mama to check me out real quick,” he says with a laugh. “But the principal understood. He knew what I was doing — I wasn’t just off playing hooky.”

Those two broiler houses, leased from his grandfather and his greatuncle, were only the start for Turner, who today has six houses and is the Poultry Division winner in the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Outstanding Young Farm Family contest, along with wife Jessica, daughter Harlee (6) and sons Griffin (4) and Jake (2).

“My daddy worked hard and gave me all he could when I was a kid, but I always wanted to farm,” Josh said. “While a lot of kids wanted toys and four-wheelers, I wanted land and cows.”

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NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

the attention of Jerry Holcomb, a retired Section High School agriscience teacher who wanted to hire the young man as fulltime manager of his eight poultry houses.

“I wouldn’t take any less money than I was making. For 18 years old, I was doing pretty good with two houses, and my uncle and granddad weren’t charging hardly anything on the lease,” said Josh. “So, I figured up what I’d have to have, and he paid me $20 over, and he did it just as a salary.”

Perhaps, more important, were the lessons Turner learned from Holcomb, who has since passed away.

“Every day was a day in ag class with him,” Josh recalled with a smile. “If you could remember your old ag teacher back in school … picky — ‘Don’t hammer with that! That’s not what it’s made for!’ — that’s what it was like. It would drive me nuts sometimes, but I really enjoyed working with him because he gave me the mentality that if somebody else can fix it, I can fix it myself. I owe a lot to him.”

Holcomb’s poultry houses were a classroom in another way, too. It was there that Holcomb’s wife, Joan, taught young Turner how to operate the houses’ computerized controls and monitor everything from heating to ventilation and water usage — a far cry from the older houses he had leased.

After three years, though, Josh figured it was time to build poultry houses of his own — and Holcomb was there to help. With a bit of help from Holcomb’s father-in-law who was on the board at the bank, he was able to build four 42-by-500-foot houses in 2003. Four years later, they added two 43-foot by 510-foot houses.

“When I built my houses, I put in the same controllers that Jerry and Joan had because we were always on

top, always had good chickens,” said Josh. “I was able to just walk right in — it was just like stepping from one house into another. I didn’t have to learn all new controllers.”

Still, he says, the older houses were also a training ground.

“In those old conventional houses, you had to do a lot of judging on looks,” he said. “I had one thermometer hanging in the middle of the house that told me the temperature, but I could look at those chickens and tell you if they were too hot, if they were cold, if they were comfortable. I catch myself doing that now. Even if I walked in and didn’t look at my controllers, I could tell you if they were too hot or if they were getting too much air. In those old houses, you learned to diagnose chickens by looks instead of going by the controller. It really helped me.”

Another help is Jessica. While her parents raised chickens when she was too young to help, she didn’t flinch at spending many dates with Josh working in the Holcombs’ houses.

“She’s one of a kind,” said Josh with a big smile, adding that she is his “farm manager.”

“I’ve pretty much done it all,” said Jessica. “I put out feed lids, rake hay, put out feed, pick up chickens when he needs to go deer hunting. Plus, I’m the Roundup girl – I love spraying Roundup around the place.”

“She can put out 50 gallons of Roundup in an hour,” Josh said jokingly. “I’m telling you: If you want something dead, she can kill it!”

“Even the flowers,” she added. “I’m not much of a green thumb.” n

Josh and Jessica Turner enjoy raising their children — Griffin, Harlee and Jake — in the country.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

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Whitaker

Hay & Forage

’Round Midnight, Whitaker Keeps Cuttin’

By Darryal Ray

But the rains didn’t last — and when they did come, they were scattered.

“Everybody made hay last year, and we carried over a bunch of it,” Jeff said. “But this year, we can’t make enough. We get two or three phone calls a week from people wanting to know if we’ve got any.”

started out, there are guys who got with me, and they’re first on my list every year. About February of hen the days grow long and next year, we’ll start down our list the nights even longer, Jeff again.”

Whitaker dials up his buddy, He’s careful, however, to make Michael Brewer, to bale him out. sure he’s not causing any ill will “We’ll mow hay a lot of mornbefore he takes on a new customer. ings until 1 and 2 o’clock,” Jeff “Anybody who calls me, I find out explained. “When we start getting who was baling their hay to sleepy, we’ll just get out make sure there are no hard our cell phones and talk to feelings,” he said. “I might each other to keep ourselves even call the person that was awake and motivated. We’ll baling it before to make sure talk about anything as long nothing had happened that as it keeps us awake. We might make me not want to have mowed hay as late as do it. But everybody I bale for 2:10 a.m., but most times, I know pretty well.” we’ll quit ’round midnight.

Another thing he won’t If it’s not been a good day, do, Jeff said, is square bales. we’ll truck on. But if I’m “I prefer round bales nearly out of fuel, that’s where you sit in an airprobably a good time to quit conditioned tractor, you load rather than calling my wife ‘em on a truck and you go at 11:30 and saying, ‘Bring home at the end of the day me some fuel right quick’ and you aren’t give out,” and having her get two little said Jeff. “Now, my buddy boys up.”

Michael square bales and Make hay while you can makes his own cattle feed.

— that’s the lesson Whitaker We’re about to do a Bermuda has learned quickly. It was field of his, and I told him, ‘I only three years ago that he sure do dread it.’ We borgot into the hay business in rowed a square baler, and I the DeKalb County comtold him, ‘I’m going to square munity of Henagar, but now bale it, but when I get done, he’s baling for the public I’m going to the house. Good and expects to reach 2,700 luck getting it loaded!’ rolls this year. It’s a quick “It’s a job getting square rise that enabled Whitaker, bales on a truck,” he added. along with wife Randi and Jeff and Randi Whitaker with sons Aiden and Keegan.

“Michael’s lucky, though. sons Aiden (7) and Keegan (5) He knows a bunch of high to capture the Hay & Forage With 200 acres of their own and school kids who play football and Division of the Outstanding Young another 50 rented acres, the Whita- they’ll load the hay to work out, Farm Family competition. kers grow only fescue and orchard and that makes it easier. They’ll “This year was a battle with grass for area cattle farmers. By get out there and bow up on each the rain. It slowed us down a lot,” mid-August, they had sold 900 other, and Michael and I will say, Jeff said. “We sat for probably round bales and baled another 900 ‘Wait ’til they get 15 more years on two weeks waiting on the right rolls for his seven word-of-mouth them — they’ll figure it out.’ We weather conditions. If you haven’t customers, all of whom he deals did.” n got the weather for it, you can’t do with on a “handshake” basis. it. And I’m one who doesn’t like “I have a list that I go by every to start too early. We usually don’t start cutting until the end of May.” year,” Jeff explained. “When I first

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22

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Good yields take time.

T

E

F

O

W

A

L

S

S

he roads and highways in Alabama connect us to where we need to go.

They may take us to the beach for a well-earned vacation; or to the local supermarket for tonight’s dinner. But some roads and highways take us to where we work. Most of us drive cars, trucks and SUVs, but some choose a different vehicle. They are farmers.

The many farmers of Alabama legally use the roads and highways to get from barn to field with their tractors, harvesters and combines. Typically, these vehicles travel well below the speed limit. This is where the sign comes in.

On vehicles that can legally share the road but cannot keep up with the flow of traffic, you will find an orange-and-red triangle called a “Slow-Moving Vehicle” sign. This tells you from a distance that the vehicle ahead of you is traveling at a slow rate of speed.

Please beScareful you see this sign on a vehicle. Many accidents and U R Vwhen IVE even deaths have occurred as a result of a fast-moving vehicle meeting a farmer tryingAtoSign get to work.

Watch out for farmers. Good yields take time.

Of Progress

Farmer At Work

A Sign Of Progress

Farmer At Work

A message from the Alabama Department of Public Safety, the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Farmers Federation.

Refuge Plan Meets Opposition From Landowners

By Debra Davis

U

.S. Fish and Wildlife officials who have proposed expanding a wildlife refuge in central Alabama by acquiring thousands of acres of private land got an earful from property owners who attended a public hearing in Brent on Sept. 2.

The overflow crowd attended the public hearing as part of a comment period about the proposal made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to expand the Cahaba River Wildlife Refuge from 3,600 acres to 106,415 acres. The service also wants to establish an additional 173,380-acre conservation area adjacent to the refuge by purchasing conservation easements and leases.

Seventy-eight people requested to speak at the hearing and, by far, the majority spoke against the proposal. Among them was Chilton County Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell who spoke

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w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Chilton County Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell tells officials that there is “no evidence that the federal government can manage (land within the proposed refuge) better than these private landowners.”

on behalf of the Alabama Farmers Federation and as a landowner and logger.

“I am here tonight representing the Alabama Farmers Federation, the state’s largest farmer organization with more than 400,000 members,” Parnell said. “We are opposed to this proposal and intend to use every means we have to stop it.”

The crowd interrupted Parnell with applause on three occasions as he spoke, and his remarks were entered into official testimony of the hearing. Parnell, who owns property within the proposed area, said if the goal of the service was to protect the proposed area, no evidence had been presented to indicate private landowners were not already doing a good job of that.

“And there is no evidence that the federal government can manage it better than these private landowners,” Parnell said. Many there, including Parnell, questioned why an economic and environmental impact study was not conducted before the proposal got this far.

Service officials at the meeting said it could be part of the plan once the public comment period was complete.

24

Fish and Wildlife Service officials repeatedly told the crowd their goal is to acquire land from “willing sellers” and protect the area’s natural resources. However, they did concede that the proposal contains the government’s right to acquire property through the use of eminent domain. That portion of the plan seemed to draw the most ire from landowners, who repeatedly criticized the service for not properly notifying area landowners of the proposal.

One angry landowner asked, “How can we trust the government to do what it says when it can’t even handle properly notifying the landowners about the proposal?”

The comment period that had been set to expire Sept. 7 has been extended to Dec. 6. After the comment period, the service will either draft a new proposal or move forward with the conservation and preservation plan in place. n

____________________________________ For a copy of the plan, visit www.fws. gov/cahabariver. Comments may be submitted to: Ms. Kimberly Eldridge, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 420, Atlanta, GA 30345.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

DeLoney Paints Tribute To ‘America’s Cotton Heritage’

By Darryal Ray

I

t begins more than 150 years ago with planting cotton by hand, and ends with a scene of round roles and square bales of cotton sitting outside a modern gin.

America’s Cotton Heritage is the most complex watercolor Jack DeLoney has ever painted, but the Ozark artist says it’s also a “true labor of love” that he hopes will become a collector’s item.

“A lot of energy went into this one,” said DeLoney. “It took a long time to come together, but it’s a gorgeous piece of work, one of my very best I think. I would hope that it’s going to be a collector’s item. I feel like it will be.”

The work will certainly be one that will be hard to come by — it’s a limited edition with only 950 signed and numbered prints and 100 artist’s prints.

Like A Journey Through Time which told the story of peanut farming in America through a colorful tri-panel of historical scenes, America’s Cotton Heritage follows the progression of the cotton industry through multiple rows of individual DeLoney scenes.

However, unlike A Journey Through Time, which was commissioned by the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation in observance of its 10th anniversary, America’s Cotton Heritage was not commissioned by anyone but DeLoney himself.

“I was brainstorming about what to do for the upcoming cotton season, but it had taken me so long to put my ideas together that I only had a preliminary sketch when I went to the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis,” said DeLoney.

“I had been entertaining ideas about who may want to commis-

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

DeLoney’s ‘America’s Cotton Heritage’ is limited to 950 prints, 100 artist proofs.

sion the piece, but on the way to Memphis I decided to release it on my own.”

As he began researching his subject, he was directed to Herb Wilcutt, an agricultural engineer with Mississippi State University who is considered an authority on the development of the cotton picker and other farm machinery.

“He said, ‘I’ll be glad to help you, but I want you to know, I’m not an artist — this is all from the point of an engineer.’ He really knew the sequence, the progression of the cotton picker.”

Soon, however, DeLoney began to realize that the history of the cotton industry would involve much more than a cotton picker. “I got so carried away in my research and what Herb provided led to other things, and I thought, ‘Oooh, Jack! It’s going to be so complex!’ I wanted to include as many facets of the cotton industry as I could but still do justice to the making of the cotton picker,” he said.

“This piece took way longer than I anticipated,” he added. “I would make layout after layout trying to get this thing to flow, but even with Herb’s help, it took two months of research and four months of water colors. It took 25

over a month to draw it. I finally decided, ‘Okay, you’ve got a rough idea. You’ve got it sketched out.

You know it’s going to be in a visual, follow-through sequence.

So I just had to finally make myself put the paint down, I started on the painting instead of waiting on the drawing. I didn’t know where it was going for awhile, and I didn’t know how it would be received but I knew I had the passion to attend to it.

“I have really been blessed with the cotton industry and the chemical companies and the seed producers – they’ve kept Jack DeLoney alive,” DeLoney said. “I get asked all the time if I consider myself as documenting history – I will never say yes to that. I just paint from what I remember, and if it turns out to be historical, I’ll be happy to have the credit.” n

____________________________________ For more about DeLoney or ‘America’s Cotton Heritage,’ email jdeloney@ jackdeloney.com, visit www. jackdeloney.com or stop by at his art gallery at 209 North U.S. Highway 231, Ozark. Phone 1-800-239-4177 or (334)774-6877. Alabama Farmers Federation members receive a 10 percent discount on everything in DeLoney’s gallery.

w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Alabama Gardener

By Lois Chaplin

W

hile we usually associate citrus with South Alabama and Florida, there is a way to grow it farther north: Choose cold hardy types suited to pots and protect them in winter. One of the most common is calamondin, a hybrid of sour mandarin and kumquat. Its sour juice is used like lemon. The tree takes temperatures down into the 20s, so you can leave it on the patio for many months.

Here are a few others: Satsuma is a pretty tree that bears sweet, seedless fruit in fall and early winter. The fruits peel and section easily, which is why most canned “mandarin oranges” are actually Satsuma.

Kumquats ripen from November to January. Meiwa is sweet, while Nagami has very tart flesh. To experience a kumquat properly, eat the peel and all. It is surprisingly sweet.

Meyer lemon is a lemon and orange hybrid; it’s larger than a lemon and turns a rich deep yelloworange. Prized for seasoning and drinks, the flavor is tart but a little sweeter than lemon. It bears in fall, winter and spring.

Unlike most fruits that shrivel or fall to the ground soon after they ripen, citrus can hang for three to four months.

Starting Citrus in Pots Use at least a 10-gallon container; as plants get bigger, they will yield more if you step them up to a bigger pot. A Satsuma in a 25-gal-

One of the great things about citrus — such as this calamondin — is that the fruit keeps on the tree for weeks without losing quality.

lon container can produce up to a bushel a year. If you buy a 3-gallon tree, start it directly in a 15- to 25-gallon container. It will fill the pot in three to four years.

After a year or two, transfer the plant to a larger container. Citrus has very fine feeder roots (visible at the top of the root ball) that acclimate to a small space.

You should use professional quality potting mix that drains well. The pot must drain well, too.

The number one killer of citrus in containers is over watering. It needs very good, fast drainage.

GET GROWING AT THE CO-OP. w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

For fertilizer, use a specialty citrus food with iron and other micronutrients.

When the temperature is above freezing, the south side of the house or porch protected by an overhang will offer the best winter protection. In freezing weather, move it to a greenhouse, indoors or cover it outdoors with a heavy frost blanket.

Most fruit is damaged at 28 degrees and a tree needs protection from freezing weather even if the plant itself is hardy into the 20s or low teens. Cold tolerance also depends on whether or not the plant has been gradually accustomed, or “hardened off.”

During the winter, put your tree by a window in a warm room (65 degrees or higher), not a chilly one such as an unheated garage. The sun shines through the glass and warms the leaves, but the soil in the pot is cold (roots stop working a 55 degrees). Then, the roots can’t get moisture up to the tree and the leaves drop, a big problem with indoor citrus.

For some online help, try this forum (http://citrus.forumup.org) for a great community of passionate hobbyists and experts. n ____________________________________ Lois Chaplin is an accomplished gardener and author. Her work appears here courtesy of Alabama Farmers Cooperative.

WWW.ALAFARM.COM 26

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Wellborn’s Griffin Named Alfa Teacher of Month

By Melissa Martin

B

randed across televisions, throughout magazines and on thousands of billboards and bumper stickers, the Army has challenged soldiers and civilians alike to “Be All You Can Be” for more than 25 years. For scientist, soldier and teacher John Griffin, this charge was more than a suggestion – it has served as a guiding principle in his daily life.

Faced with the challenge of teaching in a public school located in a high-poverty area, Griffin consistently battles the elements resulting from such an atmosphere. Since 1993, Griffin has witnessed Wellborn High School students grappling with the “accompanying ills of absenteeism; lack of role models; living with single parents, grandparents, friends, relatives or in group homes; drugs; gangs; violence; pregnancy; and hunger.” Though many teachers would struggle to reach students in such

a difficult environment, Griffin has become the right man for this job.

“He never has any difficulty in motivating or teaching these students,” explains Mary Jones, Science Department Chair at Wellborn. “He meets each student, each day and each subject with enthusiasm and high expectations.”

It’s for his ability to find solutions to a multitude of Griffin problems that Griffin earned the designation as Alfa’s Teacher of the Month for October. As October’s honoree, he will receive $1,000 from Alfa Insurance.

His school, a division of Calhoun County Schools, will receive a matching award from the Alabama Farmers Federation.

After building a strong foundation of leadership as an Army officer for 24 years, Griffin has expanded his leadership activities to include

co-chair of Wellborn High School’s budget committee and chair of the Math Department. He is also the lead math teacher for the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI).

Griffin received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his master’s degree in mathematics education from Jacksonville State University. A member of the Alabama Education Association, he earned his educational specialist degree from the University of Alabama in 1995.

During 2010, Alfa Insurance and the Alabama Farmers Federation are honoring one outstanding teacher from each of Alabama’s eight state board districts, two principals and two private school teachers.

Application information is available under Ag Links in the Agricultural Resources section of AlfaFarmers. org. n

Applications Sought For Alfa’s Teacher Of Month Program

T

he Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance have partnered with the Alabama Department of Education to reward some of Alabama’s top educators with the Alfa Teacher of the Month Award. This year, the program will honor one outstanding teacher from each of Alabama’s eight state board districts, two principals and two private school teachers with $1,000 cash awards. Matching awards of $1,000 will be given to each of their schools.

Applications for teachers in State School Board Districts 6, 7 and 8 should be submitted to the State Department of Education office by October 19. The winner from District 8 will receive his/ her cash award in January, while winners in Districts 7 and 6 will receive their awards in February and March, respectively. Details of the application process and dead-

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

lines for other school board districts are available by clicking on “Ag Links” in the Agricultural Resources section of www.AlfaFarmers. org. Teachers also may contact Ann Starks with the Alabama Department of Education at (334) 2429700 or AStarks@alsde.edu for more information.

State School Board District 8 includes the following school systems: Athens City, Attalla City, DeKalb County, Etowah County, Fort Payne City, Gadsden City, Huntsville City, Jackson County, Limestone County and Madison County.

State School Board District 7 includes the following school systems: Colbert County, Fayette County, Florence City, Franklin County, Haleyville City, Jasper City, Lamar County, Lauderdale County, Lawrence County, Marion County, Muscle Shoals City, Rus27

sellville City, Sheffield City, Tuscaloosa City and Tuscaloosa County, Tuscumbia City, Walker County, Winfield City and Winston County.

State School Board District 6 includes the following school systems: Albertville City, Arab City, Blount County, Cullman City and Cullman County, Decatur City, Guntersville City, Hartselle City, Hoover City (shared with District 4), Jefferson County (shared with District 4), Marshall County, Morgan County, Mountain Brook City, Oneonta City, Pell City, St. Clair County (shared with District 3), Vestavia Hills City, Leeds City and Trussville City.

Since the program’s inception in 1998, the Alfa Teacher of the Month program has awarded more than $296,000 to deserving educators and their schools. The Department of Education coordinates the application process. n w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Country Kitchen

interest in cooking. Parents Rick and Christy previously owned a restaurant and still cater occasionally.

“I saw my mom and dad cooking and liked it, and they would let me help sometimes,” he said.

Cartwright is not old enough for statewide competition, but he’s looking forward to state 4-H Competitive Events Day in the future.

In the meantime, you can find Gordie’s Sweet Potato Cornbread below, followed by several other recipes from the United States Sweet Potato Council.

By Janet McCoy

G

ordie Cartwright has earned a slice of national fame, cornbread slice that is.

The 10-year- old Alabama 4-H’er won this spring’s 2010 4-H Cornbread Cook-Off, a competition that is part of the National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

For Cartwright, from the small town of Gantt near Andalusia, it was the first big contest he ever entered, and as a first-year 4-H’er, he set his sights high.

He created his winning recipe, sweet potato cornbread, after watching his mom eat a sweet potato. “I’d never made cornbread before, but I got to thinking about it and thought I’d give it a try,” he said.

“The first couple of times, it didn’t taste right, but we worked on it and came up with a recipe we liked,” added Cartwright, who is president of his 4-H club.

Cartwright learned about the contest from 4-H Agent Assistant Tanya Bales, who leads clubs of fourth-graders at Straughn Elementary School. Bales told the youngsters about the national contest and worked with them on the specific rules of the competition. “The rules are strict, and Gordie did a good job doing exactly as instructed,” she said.

Only 10 finalists were selected nationally from about 200 who submitted recipes in the annual 4-H cook-off, open only to fourth-graders. “The national cornbread committee, which consists of cornbread and cooking professionals, as well as Tennessee state 4-H staff, judges the recipes and narrows them down w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Gordie Cartwright now calls himself a ‘cast iron chef.’

to the top 10,” Bales said.

Once selected, Cartwright, Bales and others worked to raise money for him to attend the contest in Tennessee. To help pay for the trip, Gordie, Bales and others spent several Saturdays at the Tractor Supply Company store in Andalusia raising money, offering slices of his cornbread for a donation.

Once there, Cartwright and the other contestants had to cook in front of the judges as well as talk to them about his recipe. “I wasn’t too nervous when I was cooking,” he said. “But the judges came up to my table, and I had to tell them what I was doing and mainly why my recipe was original.”

For his efforts, Cartwright won a $400 cash prize and a gift bag filled with Lodge cast iron and Martha White products.

Cartwright has become a local celebrity – the Covington County Commission has honored him, and plans are being made for other recognitions in the community.

The Cartwright family has an 28

GORDIE CARTWRIGHT’S SWEET POTATO CORNBREAD 1 (7-ounce) package Martha White Sweet Yellow Cornbread Mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup milk 1 cup mashed cooked (in microwave) sweet potatoes 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup melted butter 1 large egg 1 pinch nutmeg

Mix all ingredients in order.

Pour into a greased cast iron skillet, and bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done (light brown).

SWEET POTATO PARTY PUNCH 1 quart cooked sweet potatoes, pureed 2 quart orange sherbet 2 quart cold ginger ale 1 (46-ounce) can apricot nectar 1 (46-ounce) pineapple juice 1 (16-ounce) 7-Up

Combine sweet potato puree and apricot nectar, mixing well.

Chill everything. Just before serving, combine sherbet, sweet potatoes and apricot nectar mixture in punch bowl. Gently stir in other ingredients. Makes 2 gallons.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

GARLIC MASHED SWEET POTATOES 2 pounds fresh sweet potatoes quartered 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 6 tablespoons butter, divided 1/2 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon salt 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Cook unpeeled sweet potatoes, covered, in boiling salted water, 20 to 30 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, sauté garlic in 1 tablespoon butter for 2 minutes. When potatoes are fully cooked, drain thoroughly. Peel and dice and return to pan. Add sautéed garlic, remaining butter, sour cream and salt.

Mash thoroughly. Fold in cilantro.

Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with additional cilantro, if desired.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

SWEET POTATO PINWHEELS 4 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 4 cups sugar, divided 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 2 cups chopped nuts 1 cup shortening 3 eggs, well beaten 4 cups self-rising flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Yellow and red food coloring (optional)

In saucepan, combine sweet potatoes, 2 cups sugar and spice, mix well. Cook over low heat until thick, about 10 minutes. Add nuts, cool. Cream shortening and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, continue mixing until well blended. Add flour, salt and baking soda, mix well. If desired, add 8 drops yellow and 4 drops red food coloring, mixing until well blended.

Divide dough into 3 parts. On lightly floured foil, roll each into an 8-inch by 12-inch rectangle, spread with 1/3 of filling mixture. Starting from wide end, roll as for jellyroll.

Wrap in foil. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Place in freezer several hours or overnight. To bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Unwrap rolls, cut with sharp knife into 1/4-inch slices. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 7 to 8 dozen cookies.

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

SWEET POTATO CHEESE BALL DIP 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 2 cups cold mashed sweet potatoes 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper 1 teaspoon seasoned salt 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce 1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce 1/4 cup chopped pecans Assorted crackers, breadsticks or raw vegetables

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sweet potatoes until smooth. Add the next seven ingredients; mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm. Roll in chopped pecans (optional). Serve with crackers, breadsticks or vegetables. Makes about 3 cups.

Note: When cutting or seeding hot peppers, use rubber or plastic gloves to protect your hands. Avoid touching your face.

NORTH CAROLINA’S FAVORITE SWEET POTATO PIE

2 1/4 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup packaged French vanilla instant pudding 3/4 cup evaporated milk 2 large eggs, room temperature 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract 1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients and beat at medium speed until well blended. Spread evenly into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 4 minutes longer or until set. Cool on wire rack.

If desired, garnish with whipped cream, raspberries and mint leaves.

Makes 8 servings. n

SWEET POTATO BON-BON CANDY 1 pound dried apricots or peaches, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups cooked, sweet potato puree 4 cups coconut 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 2 cups chopped pecans, toasted 2 pounds powdered sugar

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Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Chill 2 hours or until firm enough to shape into 1-inch balls. 2.25w.1h4C8.21.10.Farmers.indd These can be served with a pecan on top or dipped in white chocolate to coat. Store tightly covered in refrigerator.

1

8/21/10 1:08:40 PM

Editor’s Note: Recipes published in the “Country Kitchen” are not kitchen-tested prior to publication.

Look for more “Country Kitchen” recipes online at www.AlfaFarmers. org. Janet McCoy is a program coordinator with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s Alabama 4-H. 29

w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

Neighbors Classifieds Classifieds Facts For just $2 per word, your classified ad in Neighbors reaches more than 95,000 subscribers.

Ads must be received by the first day of the month prior to publication. NO changes after closing. PRE-PAYMENT REQUIRED FOR ALL ADS. Minimum 10 words per ad. No fax, phone orders or credit cards accepted. For questions, call Paula Culver at (334) 613-4410.

Send your ad with payment, payable to Alabama Farmers Federation, to: Neighbors Classifieds P.O. Box 11000 Montgomery, AL 36191-0001

MISCELLANEOUS ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW — Oct. 30, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Oct. 31, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., at Hadji Shrine Center, 800 West Nine Mile Road, Pensacola, FL 32534.

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Call for free color catalog 800-733-0324 www.isons.com w w w. A l f a F a r m e r s . o r g

30

NEIGHBORS • OCTOBER 2010

Announcing Something For The Whole Family

Alfa has dental.

Did you know Alfa has dental insurance? All Alabama Farmers Federation members qualify for this dental plan. Alfa dental is underwritten by Delta Dental Insurance Company, a member of the nation’s largest dental insurance organization. For detailed benefits or quick and easy on-line enrollment, go to Convenient Monthly Rates Single Family alfadentalins.com. Or contact your local Alfa office $33.22 $75.72 or call 1-800-392-5705.