Planting
the SEEDS
LANCE JACKSON REPRESENTS FLORIDA’S NEXT GENERATION OF FARMERS AND RANCHERS
THE AVERAGE AGE OF U.S. FARMERS may be in the late 50s, but a new crop of young farmers is taking the lead to move the industry forward. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture in 2017, 2,838 principal operators of Florida farms are between the ages of 25 and 34, and 331 are under the age of 25. One of those young farmers is Holmes County native Lance Jackson, a cotton, peanut and cattle farmer. “I grew up on a small family farm in Graceville, where my father had a small herd of cattle and worked with some produce to generate extra income,” Jackson says. “Being around the farm as I was growing up, I became more interested in making this my lifelong career so I could do my part in feeding and clothing society.” 10
Now 35, Jackson says his farming career took off at the young age of 15 when he grew his first few acres of peanuts. Today, he farms 500 acres in the Florida Panhandle, 250 each of cotton and peanuts. He also recently purchased a small herd of cattle. “My peanuts are sold through a broker to a candy company, and
FLORIDAGRICULTURE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
the cotton I produce is exported to China,” Jackson says. He says that although his family used the farm only for extra income, being surrounded by crops, livestock and the farming lifestyle led Jackson to his true passion: a career in agriculture. “My father still has a small herd of cattle today,” Jackson says.
COT TON, PE ANUTS: MICHAEL CONTI; COWS: JACKSON FAMILY
By Rachel Bertone
