June Dairy & Tennessee Greene 2019

JUNE DAIRY MONTH & TENNESSEE GREENE 2019

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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

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Friday, May 31, 2019

June Dairy Day Celebration Is Friday, June 7

I

n observance of June Dairy Month, the Greene County Partnership’s Agribusiness Committee will host the annual June Dairy Day Celebration Friday, June 7, at the Greene County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion from 6 to 8 p.m. to honor dairy farmers and their dedication to the nutritious milk they produce.

There will be contests for all ages, entertainment and plenty of free dairy products to sample as Greeneville and Greene County pay homage to dairy farmers, according to Betty Love, event chairman.

Contests will include a pedal-tractor race sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America, pin the tail on a cow, bowling games, a putt-putt contest, a milk chugging contest, ring toss for the milk bottle, a floating cow contest, a mooing contest, a milk mustache contest, ice cream eating contest sponsored by TCBY Yogurt, a bouncy cow for the smaller kids and much more.

Beginning Monday, June 3, through Saturday, June 8, June Dairy cows will appear throughout The Greeneville Sun classified ads. Count the June Dairy cows that are in the ads each day and return the total on the entry form to be eligible to win. All correct entries will be placed in a box for a drawing to be held Thursday, June 13.

A photo of winners will appear in the paper on Saturday, June 29. First prize will be announced later, second prize is a farm set

SUN FILE PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

From left, Arlin Bowers, Linnie Gillespie and Jeff Johnson make jokes and enjoy 2018’s June Dairy Days Celebration before the children’s pedal tractor race.

from the Co-Op and third prize is a farm toy from Broyles Feed Store.

The deadline for the entries is Thursday, June 13, at The Greeneville Sun. Free food to be sampled

by those attending during the evening will include ice cream provided by Mayfield and Ingles, milk provided by Peidmont, nachos with cheese sponsored by John Deere Pow-

er Products, and homemade butter provided by the Farm Bureau Women, who will be taking turns at the churn during the event, and members of the Greene County Livestock

Association will be in attendance. Sno-Biz of Greeneville will be selling fresh-squeezed lemonade and Sno-Biz shaved ice.

Parking for the celebration will be off of Fair-

grounds Road — follow the directional signs.

For more information on the celebration, call Lori Dowell at the Greene County Partnership, 423638-4111.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Cow croquet was a popular game at the June Dairy Days Celebration in 2017. Parker Powell, 3, and Alyssa Jennings, 7, enjoyed a round together.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Children enjoyed petting calves during the 2017 June Dairy Days Celebration event at the Greene County Fairgrounds.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

A calf suckles on 10-year-old Autumn Deal’s finger at the 2018 June Dairy Day Celebration. This year’s event will be Friday, June 7 at the Greene County Fairgrounds.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Martha Wiley, left, emerged victorious in the milk mustache contest at 2018’s June Dairy Days Celebration. Fay Mendenhall, right, joins the fun.

June Dairy Story Index June Dairy Day Celebration Is Friday, June 7 ................ 2 Dairy Farmers (And Cows) Have Devoted Advocate In ‘Miss Betty’ .................................... 3 Young Dairyman Weathering Sour Market .................... 6 Future Uncertain For Afton Dairy And Many Others ..... 9 Major Shift At UT Center Still ‘In Process’ ..................... 11 Former Tobacco Farmers Turning To Hemp .................. 13 Pick-Your-Own Farms Make Ag Fun ............................... 15

June Dairy Ad Index SUN FILE PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Blake Wilburn, 6, gets a ringer in a farm-themed game of ring toss at 2018’s June Dairy Days Celebration.

Bachman Bernard Chevrolet ...........................................16 Depot Street Farm Market ............................................... 6 Eastman Credit Union .....................................................8 Farm Bureau ....................................................................3 FFA ...................................................................................14 The Greeneville Sun .........................................................10 Jeffers Funeral & Cremation Service ..............................9 Kubota ..............................................................................13 Lynn Hope Towing ..........................................................11 McIntosh & Lee Insurance ..............................................4 Soil Conservation .............................................................12 Lisa Crum State Farm ......................................................7 West Hills Tractor ............................................................5

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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

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SUN FILE PHOTO

Helping oversee the 2011 June Dairy Day Milk Mustache contest was Betty Love, right, and Madison Moncier, that year’s Dairy Days Junior Chairman.

Dairy Farmers (And Cows) Have Devoted Advocate In ‘Miss Betty’

BY CAMERON JUDD SUN COLUMNIST

T

hat “Miss Betty” Love is a huge fan of dairies and dairy cattle is a long-standing rumor, and all it takes is a glance into her living room to verify it.

Cows. Cows everywhere.

On walls, shelves, garments, furniture.

Stuffed toy cows sit on a small, decorative bench, cow paintings and drawings are all around, with mantlepiece cow statuettes and toys, sofa throws bearing cow images.

There even is a white and black cow costume hanging from a coat rack.

“Even my Christmas tree has cows,” Betty will tell you.

So June is Miss Betty’s kind of month, being Dairy Month, a time when the dairy industry and its people (and cows) take center stage, particularly in Greene County, where dairy has been a major part of farm tradition for decades.

It’s a changing industry these days, with dairy herds and farms either declining, shifting partially or fully from dairy to beef or some other form of agriculture or livestock, and with dairy farmers who do carry on often struggling to make a living. Quite a few dairy farms have simply sold off herds and equipment and gone out of business.

Betty and her husband, Lanny Love, a lifelong Greene County dairyman, have reduced their own

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

Lanny Love used to milk upward of 40 cows, but these days he milks only two, just to provide milk for his household. The task has him in his milking house early every morning.

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

The likelihood of seeing these three at this year’s June Dairy Day celebration is very, very high. Here, Betty Love, who chairs the event, is seen in her living room with grandchildren Carmon and Cassie Hensley. Carmon displays a June Dairy Day T-shirt while Cassie has donned a Dairy Day cap. In the background is some of the dairy cow memorabilia Betty uses to decorate her home.

dairy herd from as many as 40 or more cattle in the good years to only two cows today. And those cows are used not for commercial dairying, but

to produce milk for family consumption.

So every morning as he has for years, Lanny has some breakfast then leaves the house, crosses Love

Hollow Road to the dairy barn and milking house, and there milks the cattle.

With only two to milk now, it is a much faster process than it used to be.

The Love clan drinks their milk the old-school way: raw, unprocessed.

And not just because they have a ready supply at hand every day, but because that’s the way they best like it.

Betty also has come to believe that milk consumed in its natural state can have healthful effects.

She makes no claim to be

a medical authority, but knows people who tell her particularly stomach problems have markedly improved for them after a switch to unprocessed cow’s milk. Betty theorizes that the natural milk boosts microorganisms needed in human digestion.

She sees no age limit SEE BETTY ON PAGE 4

Thank You...

I want to take this opportunity to thank all our local farmers for your contribution to our community.

It is your hard work & dedication that makes the heart & soul of our local agriculture industry.

Here to serve you!

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

The living room of Betty Love’s home is filled with cows and more cows, including these stuffed friends on a small bench inside her front door.

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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

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Friday, May 31, 2019

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

Lanny Love, shown here during a recent morning milking time in his small milking house beside Love Hollow Road, has been around the dairy farming industry all his life.

This cow seems a bit curious about why a camera is being stuck in her face when all she expected was the usual peaceful morning milking.

BETTY

stressful — industry.

Driven by the fact it was simply harder and harder to make a living in dairy, she and Lanny decided to back away from commercial dairying at about the same time other dairy farmers were either doing the same, or affiliating in a cooperative as a different approach to marketing.

“We’ve been told by some that we got out at the right time,” she said.

None of that takes away from her continued appreciation for dairy farming and dairy farmers, though. She remains stalwart in her support of dairy and her determination to promote it locally.

“I’m going to the Roby Center on June 26 to talk to those folks there,” she said.

Personal heritage plays a big part in her dairy devotion. Betty recalls girlhood days of rising very early in the morning on the dairy farm on which she was raised, going out to milk, and then on to school. After

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

to the benefits of milk, believing that “old people need this as much as the younger ones.”

Though some people accustomed to pasteurized, homogenized milk have difficulty, at least initially, in enjoying the taste of unprocessed milk, in the Love family even the young grandchildren strongly prefer their milk in its more raw form.

Grandson Carmon Hensley and his sister, Cassie, both present during their grandmother’s interview, like ice cream made from the milk of the Love dairy cows, as well as the baked goods and other foods Betty makes with their own dairy’s milk — and its cream — as an ingredient.

She was in the midst of making two fresh strawberry pies (homemade crusts, of course) when her Greeneville Sun interview began last week. She paused once in the conversation to send her grandson into the kitchen to give the bowl of strawberry-red pie filling a stir to ensure the sliced berries didn’t all sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Betty is pro-dairy farming, pro-cow and pro-milk through and through.

“Milk is still the best drink on the market,” she said. “There’s no denying I just love this whole dairy and cow thing, and I love promoting anything to do with June Dairy Month,” she said.

And almost every year for nearly three decades she has put that love into tangible form through involvement (usually chairmanship) in the annual June Dairy Day celebration led by the Greene County Partnership’s Agribusiness Committee.

Partnership personnel give high credit to the involvement of “Miss Betty.” Lori Dowell, membership director of the GCP, says it succinctly: “She’s the rock for June Dairy Day. She’s wonderful.”

One of Betty’s usual

SUN PHOTO BY CAMERON JUDD

Carmon Hensley, grandson of Betty and Lanny Love, is hiding behind this cow face, one more cow-related item in his grandmother’s extensive collection.

roles is to find a youth chairman for Dairy Month, but the effort hit a snag this year and no chairman is in place.

Betty holds lasting affection for the many past youth chairmen she has worked with, and these days treasures the times she encounters one of them and receives a greeting, maybe a hug, and a chance to hear herself called “Miss Betty” again.

“They always called me Miss Betty,” she said of her past youth chairmen.

This year, June Dairy Day will be Friday, June 7, at the Greene County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion from 6 to 8 p.m.

The celebration’s purpose is “to honor dairy farmers and their dedication to the nutritious milk they produce,” the GCP news release about the event states.

Betty noted that Dairy Day has been held at various locations over the years but sees the fairground location as advantageous due to the good livestock barns there

and the fact that the event is far less vulnerable to bad weather with a roof overhead.

Dairy Day, for Miss Betty, is not only for the benefit of dairy farmers and members of the agricultural community. It’s a fun family event, something that anyone can attend, learn from, and find something to enjoy.

That includes some free stuff, she noted. Dairy-related give-aways are a big part of the day, and alone are enough to make it worth a visit, in her view.

“Everything under the pavilion will be free,” she said.

She is hopeful that the Farm Bureau Women organization will be churning butter at the celebration, as in the past.

An opportunity for children to pet calves also has become traditional.

From her home front along Love Hollow Road, Betty watches the current local dairy situation with the same trepidation as most observers of that increasingly stressed — and

school it was time to come home and milk again, do whatever other chores and homework had to be completed, then head to bed to rest up for a tomorrow that would come all too early. And so on, day after day.

Lanny also has a lifelong dairy heritage, all of it lived out in the same part of Greene County where he still is. The Love Hollow Road name is associated with his own kin.

In recent times he has had physical challenges such as an ankle replacement. So grandson Carmon, a Doak Elementary School student who appears to have the same affection for farm life as his grandparents, helps out. He’s raising a Guernsey/Holstein cow of his own on the Love farm.

Her name is Alice.

The two cows currently being milked by Lanny are not named, Carmon said, but in past years the Loves did name at least some cattle. Betty said they gave calves names that had the same first

initial as the mother cow’s name. So a Martha might give rise to a Molly or a Maggie, or perhaps another Martha.

The now-grownup daughters of Lanny and Betty, named Emily, Michelle and Lindsay, took part in cattle shows when they were younger.

There are other things than dairying in Love family life. Betty is an avid gardener, and she and Lanny are members of the same church in which they met as youngsters, Cedar Grove United Methodist Church.

The Loves also raise a few beef cattle, and sometimes sell produce from their garden: watermelons, potatoes and the like.

Dairy, though, seems to define Betty and her family more deeply than anything else. And those who attend June Dairy Day this year likely will have an opportunity to talk with her about it. She’s one of those to whom the old phrase “never met a stranger” fully and happily applies.

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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

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Friday, May 31, 2019

‘That’s What I Was Put On This Earth To Do’

BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU EDITOR Much about Ben Seaton’s life and living has changed in the last two years.

Less than a year ago the 23-year-old married his high school sweetheart, Dana.

His brother Chris and his wife, Kristen, had a baby, making Ben an uncle.

Instead of selling the milk produced by the 60 cows he milks twice a day directly to a for-profit company, he now is part of a farmer-owned cooperative.

Two years ago, Ben Seaton and his family’s operation were one of about 35 dairies operating in Greene County. But since the cancellation of many milk contracts in the region and the formation of Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative, some longtime dairymen have called it quits. While exact figures weren’t available as of late May, a USDA representative estimated there being about 30 dairies in Greene County now. Others, such as longtime dairy advocate Betty Love, say the real number may be closer to 20 functioning dairies in Greene County.

Yet for all that change for Seaton, much has remained the same. He still rises at 4:30 a.m. to begin his day with the first milking at 5. He still spends upwards of 12 hours a day working his family’s Debusk farm — representing the fourth generation to do so.

His grandfather, Ray Seaton, 92, still comes to those twice-a-day milkings.

The price Ben and his father, Frankie, get for each 100 pounds of milk is about the same as it was two years ago: About $17.

That’s despite expenses for dairying going up.

One other thing hasn’t changed. Two years ago, Ben Seaton said in an interview with The Greeneville Sun that he planned to “stick it out” in dairy.

That’s still his plan.

“I plan on doing this as long as I can do it,” Seaton said, standing in the barn he milks his cows in everyday. “That’s what I was put on this earth to do.”

Though Seaton’s farm is one of a dwindling number in Greene County still producing milk, Seaton thinks at some point, with the departure of so many dairymen over the years, the market will bounce back for those still left. Five years ago, dairyman were getting $28 per 100 pounds of fluid milk.

“Milk’s got to get better … surely to God,” he said.

DIVERSIFYING OPERATIONS Greene County UT Extension Director Milton Orr said one reason the Seatons’ operation is able to forge ahead is diversification.

Ben Seaton said in addition to about 62 cows currently being milked — the most the farm has ever milked at one time — he also has 75 beef cows, plus five acres of tobacco and a small amount of corn. The Seatons also utilize pasture to produce hay and forage for their cattle.

In all, the farm has 300

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton holds a calf while surrounded by his family. From left: brother Bradley, wife Dana, father Frankie, grandfather Ray, sister-in-law Kristen and brother Chris, who is holding Ben’s niece, Reagan.

ers in Greene County are trying their hand at hemp production, and Seaton is interested in that too. Next year may be the year he does so, but he didn’t want to be one of the pioneers in the industry right now.

Too many unknowns make Seaton unsure if it would be worth the investment.

If needed, selling cows to beef producers is an option too. “You’ve always got cows you can sell too,” Seaton said. Many former dairymen sell their milk cows for beef. “They’re on to the next phase — they’re off to McDonald’s,” Seaton said, pointing out that’s usually the only option for liquidating dairy cattle.

The multiple operations can help buoy Seaton’s overall profits when one — or more — market he’s in suffers. “Most of the time there’s always something (going well),” he said.

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton feeds cows in late May. SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton steadies young tobacco plants that have just been set into a field.

head of cattle, which include heifers, calves, a few bulls for breeding when artificial breeding doesn’t take and dry milk cows.

“You can’t just make it off straight milk, hardly,” Seaton said.

With only himself, Dana, his dad and two of his brothers helping on the farm, Seaton wouldn’t want to go over 75 dairy cows needing to be milked at any time. Not only is hiring help expensive, Seaton says he would have a hard time trusting anyone besides family to handle his cows.

Walking through his pastures — some of which the family rents from other

landowners — Seaton can tell you specifics about many of his cattle just by looking at them. He has involved himself in the genetic research that goes into breeding cattle for the characteristics he and his dad want in them.

Despite the problems the tobacco market has also faced, planting and selling about 5 acres worth of tobacco helps. Seaton’s customer is Burley Stabilization Corporation, which has a warehouse in Greeneville.

On a recent afternoon, Seaton, wife Dana and brother Bradley worked with Dana’s grandfather

to plant row after row of young tobacco plants. Seaton gets about 8,000 plants to an acre. They set tobacco in the early evening, after finishing the day’s last milking.

Still, Greene County has yielded less and less tobacco over time and eking out profit in the fledgling industry can be hard. “Tobacco’s cheaper (in payoffs) than it was 30 years ago,” Seaton said.

“You gotta get a good yield

to make money.”

Seaton says he makes $1.70 per pound of burley tobacco he harvests.

That’s where having younger brothers and other family members helping out comes in handy — it lowers the overhead costs.

Otherwise Seaton would have to hire laborers for a product whose profit margins can easily take hits if bad weather or other problems arise.

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SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton says he often takes in the view overlooking his family’s farmland from one of his hay fields.

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‘IT’S A GOOD LIFE’ With more and more dairy farmers selling off their cattle and shuttering their operations, plenty of people question why Seaton stays in the business.

Even his dad — who is a 50/50 partner with Ben — isn’t optimistic. Frankie, who took over the farm from his dad, Ray, “pretty much lets me call all the shots,” Ben said.

“We run a non-profit SEE SEATON ON PAGE 7

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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

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SEATON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

farm,” Frankie quipped inside the milking barn recently. “I don’t see how anybody right now can make it.”

Dana, who got plenty of exposure to the dairy life while dating Ben, goes out to work the fields when she’s not carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. “I was gung-ho about it at first,” Dana said, acknowledging it takes a lot of work — and time — to keep the farm up.

Running the farm means making sure someone is there all the time to milk the cows, tend the fields and handle all the other business. Ben said when he and his siblings were kids, they never went on vacation with their father. He stayed home to work the farm while their mom took them on trips.

Ben’s hoping to for a getaway for his and Dana’s first anniversary in the fall — for two days to a farm show in Georgia. While driving down the Newport Highway to check on a rented pasture of cattle in Caney Branch, Ben said his and Dana’s weekly date is stopping to Ben Seaton inspects cows in a pasture on Poplar Springs Road he and his father rent. get hand-dipped ice cream from a gas station and lunch counter on Sunday nights.

“I’m married to the dairy,” he said. “Seven days a week I’m here.”

But Ben says he can’t imagine doing anything else.

“It’s a good life — working with your family,” he said.

“You can’t beat the lifestyle. You ain’t got nobody breathing down your neck.”

He is quick to point out he and his father aren’t looking to grow their operations. They don’t want to add on to the land Ray Seaton purchased or that his father before him purchased.

We’re just trying to survive,” Frankie said.

“I don’t want to get rich,” Ben added. “We take pride in our food. We produce a good, clean healthy product.”

Still, he knows running his dairy — and all the other operations he does — may Cows wait for their feeding. not last forever.

“I’d hate to quit — I might not be able to make it. I want to leave this land to my kids better than we got it,” he said. “If you love what you do, they say you SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU Bradley Seaton, left, and Dana Seaton plant tobacco plants while Dana’s grandfather, James don’t work a day in your Collins, drives. life.”

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton, center, is the fourth generation of his family to manage their farm. At left is grandfather Ray, and at right is Ben’s father, Frankie.

SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU

Ben Seaton inspects milk taken that day. A truck comes by every two days to collect the milk Seaton’s 62 cows produce.

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Future Uncertain For Afton Dairy And Many Others

BY MANSI BOEGEMANN SUN CONTRIBUTOR

W

ith neighbors few and far between, Sandy Hill Farm in Afton stands picturesque against the backdrop of the Unaka Mountains.

It is one of a dwindling number of dairy farms left in Greene County, owned by the Moncier family.

“Some pieces of our land have been around since my great-grandparents’ generation,” said Walker Moncier, 20.

His father, Bryon, began milking towards the end of his high school career in 1991. Back then, the farm’s milk was Grade C, rather than the Grade A it is now.

He built a new barn in 1995 and has raised his family to farm dairy ever since. The Monciers sell their product indirectly to Ingles, under the Laura Lynn brand.

Over time the family has accumulated over 250 acres of land, over half of which is leased out to other families.

“We’re still considered a small farm,” said Wendy Moncier, Bryon’s wife. “We try to keep 40 to 50 milking cows through the year.”

In total, Sandy Hill has 120 cows, counting heifers, dry cows and calves. The farm produces roughly 52,500 pounds of milk per month — about enough to fill one tanker truck.

“This past winter was rough though,” Wendy said. “Milk production was down because our headcount was down, and it didn’t help that milk prices were down, too.”

Lower headcounts weren’t the only concern.

Last spring, dairy supplier Dean Foods began dropping small farms and targeting larger operations.

The company provides the milk for Mayfield Dairy.

“Distributors like Dean Foods prefer picking up 10,000 gallons at a time from corporate businesses,” said Bryon. “When you work with small businesses like ours, you have to go to 10-plus farms to get a truckload.”

This change in approach has caused a major decline in production from small farms. While there were 32 dairy farms in Greene County last March, the Moncier family estimates that they are one of only 15 remaining, if that. Lisa Duncan, who runs the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, said recently that updated numbers aren’t yet available but estimated about 30 dairies left in Greene County. Some others have put the number at about 20.

Whatever the latest number of dairies operating in Greene County, farmers can name families and operations that have shut down since Dean Foods began canceling contracts in 2018.

“Big corporations have more overhead, but they’re more profitable than we are,” said Wendy. “It’s really the middle man

SUN PHOTO BY MANSI BOEGEMANN

Sandy Hill Farm produces roughly 52,000 pounds of milk each month for local Ingles grocery stores. From left are Wendy, Walker, Madison and Bryon Moncier.

that makes all the money, though.”

“Middle men” like Dean Foods also have the power to determine contracts and how much they will pay for milk. Wendy said that Sandy Hill’s current pricing for milk is the same it was in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It’s hard because milk prices are down, but everything else [like seed, plants and feed] is up,” she said.

Shortly after Dean Foods began dropping small farms, a new co-op formed, the Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative, and began to pick them up. This co-op was originally named Piedmont Milk Sales, but switched in May of last year.

“After the switch, the coop placed us under harsher restrictions and doesn’t offer to pay us as much as they did before,” said Wendy.

Sandy Hill no longer has the safety of a contract, either. According to Wendy, “anything can change in a month or two” and their farm could be dropped from the route of pickups.

“The problem is you don’t know where your milk’s coming from at these big chains,” said Bryon.

“There’s so many hands in it you just don’t know.”

The Monciers believe that supporting small farms is the first step of a lasting cycle. When dairy farms like theirs are supported, local grocers like Ingles also turn a profit.

“We also try to buy locally with our seed, plants and feed,” said Wendy.

“We often buy from Broyles General Store.”

Indeed, the Moncier family honors relationships with others, whether among the community or on the farm itself. Older sister Madison knows most cows by name and number on sight.

“I work two part-time jobs right now so that I can always be home to work on

SUN PHOTO BY MANSI BOEGEMANN

Walker Moncier, pictured right, walks with his mother, Wendy, on the Sandy Hill Farm property, in the family for four generations.

the farm,” she said.

It is expected she will be the one to carry on the family business should she choose.

“I don’t want to see either of my kids struggle through this, but I would love for it to continue if that’s what they want,” said Wendy.

Despite the everyday struggle of running a successful dairy farm, the Monciers have built up a resilience and grit to carry on.

“Any kid would do well to go work at a dairy farm,” she said. “It teaches you work ethic; it teaches you responsibility. You learn about life and death at a very young age. You learn that you have to work to get what you want. I am thankful to have raised my SUN PHOTO BY MANSI BOEGEMANN Sandy Hill Farm is home to over 120 cows, 40 of which are milked every 12 hours. two children here.”

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Proud to Serve & Salute Our Local Farmers Over the years, our business in this community has given us a healthy appreciation for just how hard our local farmers work to nourish our families and our nation’s economy. During June Dairy Month, we salute the dedicated men and women of agriculture for all that they bring to the table.

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Friday, May 31, 2019

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

Page 11

Major Shift At UT Center Still ‘In Process’

BY O.J. EARLY SUN CONTRIBUTOR A substantial shift in activities at the University of Tennessee Research and Education Center at Greeneville is still “in process,” according to Center Director Rob Ellis.

Agriculture officials announced the local transition — a move away from tobacco research toward beef cattle production and forage — last summer. But since then, the UT Institution of Agriculture named a new dean.

Hongwei Xin, a former assistant dean for research in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University, took over in April. Xin replaces Interim Dean Fred Tompkins, a former president and CEO of the UT Research Foundation, who helped guide the decision for Greene County to focus more attention on beef cattle and forage.

That new direction in leadership has slowed the transfer from tobacco.

“We are certainly still in the interim stage,” Ellis said in late May. “At this point, we are still trying to figure out what all this will look like.”

The Center has taken some forward steps.

A group of 82 beef heifers, part of a research trial, have been at the southern Greene County site since the fall. But whatever other changes occur likely won’t be known until Xin further cements his vision. In April, UT announced that Xin would travel Tennessee to meet staff and faculty across the state’s 10 research and education centers.

The move toward beef cattle and forage comes as tobacco, once a critically important crop both culturally and economically throughout the region, continues to slip in influence.

From the early 1900s

Hongwei Xin

through the early 2000s, scores of East Tennesseans harvested tobacco.

Some of the still-standing auction warehouses — large, usually one-story structures with wide doors — reveal a portion of that past.

Greene County has a special place in the crop’s long history.

In the mid-1880s, Clisby Austin and Silas Bernard brought the first burley tobacco seeds to the county and convinced a few other farmers to plant it.

Now, only a few local tobacco farms remain.

“We have significantly declined in production since about 2004,” Melody Rose, with the UT Extension Office in Greene County, said when the Center announced the shift.

The transition doesn’t mean the UT Center, established in 1932, will be any less significant.

“The Center isn’t going away,” Ellis said. “We are just changing directions.”

With a mission that still reads “to improve the net return to Tennessee tobacco growers,” the Center spans more than 500 acres in the shadow of the Southern Appalachian mountains. Beyond tobacco research, UT staffers analyze, among other research, animal genetics, silage feeding and grazing practices. To date, researchers have focused

Lynn

FILE PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Tobacco is planted at the University of Tennessee Ag Research and Education Center in Greeneville.

SUN FILE PHOTO

A 2018 study at the UT AgResearch Center focused on which cattle grazing method is best for regrowth.

much of their beef cattle efforts on cow/calf production, examining different management systems aimed at generating the

best economic return for farmers. That’s an area that could eventually expand, Ellis added.

“We are still trying to

get a sense of what all this will look, and the exact directions this will take.

We are pretty confident it will be beef cattle,” he said.

“Patience is the word I keep having to remind myself of. This transition takes time, and I keep having to remind myself of that.”

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Page 12

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

www.greenevillesun.com

Friday, May 31, 2019

Greene County

2018 Annual Report

SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT Swine waterer located on the Barry Bales Property.

Stream Crossing used for stable access across a stream on the Randy Krueger Farm.

GENERAL

The Greene County Soil Conservation District Board of Supervisors is proud to present its 2018 Annual Report of Accomplishments. Supervisors in 2018 were John S. Waddle Jr., Chairman; Donald Swanay, Vice-Chairman; Samuel L. Southerland, Secretary/Treasurer; Allen Klepper, Jay Birdwell and John Ottinger, members. The Greene County Soil Conservation District was organized in 1954 under provisions of the Tennessee Soil Conservation District Law of 1939, and the District began operation in March 1955. Local funding comes from the Greene County Board of Commissioners which provides a full-time Of¿ce Manager, Susie Wilson and Soil Conservationist, Tina Brown. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture provided costsharing assistance for farmers in the District..

Federal funding comes from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) which pays the of¿ce rent, furnishes equipment and provides a District Conservationist, Jessi Linkous and a Soil Conservation Technician, Josh Jenkins.

ORGANIZING FOR SERVICE

The District Board of Supervisors meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the District Of¿ce. Goals, staff needs, memoranda of understanding, level of service, and approval of conservation plans are discussed, and action is taken. Supervisors are represented on the Greene County Planning Commission, Farm Bureau, Greene Farmers Cooperative, the Agri-Business Council of Greene County Partnership, the Growth Planning Committee and other locally led conservation groups.

Local, state, and federal legislators are contacted regularly asking for supporting legislation, which bene¿ts Greene Co. residents. The district pays annual dues to the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts (TACD), the Tennessee Conservation District Employees Association (TCDEA), and the Appalachian RC&D.

MEASURING SERVICE

State and federal funds were requested by the district and received from: the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) in the amount of $92,973.00, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) $672,280.08, the Conservation Stewardship program (CSP) $12,540.00 for a combined total of $773,793.08 in cost-share assistance. These funds were used to cost-share with 42 landowners to install fencing to exclude livestock from streams, provide alternative livestock watering systems, prevent soil erosion and improve water quality.

The District continues to support the Nolichuckey Animal Waste Utilization Association (N.A.W.U.A.).

Landowners continue to have a means of utilizing animal waste stored in holding ponds and waste storage ponds This provides a means of disposing of waste safely, eliminating the potential for stream and groundwater contamination. Eight waste systems were pumped with the irrigation equipment applying approximately 2,717,370 gallons of nutrients to the land.

GREENE COUNTY SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT OFFICE PERSONNEL:

OFFICE LOCATION:

Jessi Linkous, District Conservationist Josh Jenkins, Soil Conservation Technician Susie Wilson, SCD Office Manager Tina D. Brown, SCD Soil Conservationist

214 North College Street, Suite 200 Greeneville, TN 37745 PHONE: (423) 638-4771, ext. 3

Unrolling hay on the Max Schafsnitz Farm Farm.

Watering facility on the Larry Rader Farm.

The District Board and of¿ce staff attended the Tennessee Association of Conservation District Annual Summer and Fall meetings. At these meetings Supervisors share ideas and provide input that bene¿ts Greene County.

IN APPRECIATION

The Greene County Soil Conservation District would like to express their sincere gratitude to all of the agencies, businesses, groups, and individuals that continue to show their support of the district.

Respectfully submitted, JOHN S. WADDLE, JR., Chairman All programs and services of the Greene County Soil Conservation District are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, marital status or handicap.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS Active EQIP Contracts . . . . . . . . .

Active WRP Contracts. . . . . . . . . .

Active CSP Contracts . . . . . . . . . .

Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conservation Crop Rotation . . . . . . .

Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Forage & Biomass Planting . . . . . . .

Forage Harvest Management . . . . . .

Herbaceous Weed Control . . . . . . . .

Heavy Use Area Protection . . . . . . .

Pumping Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Livestock Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prescribed Grazing . . . . . . . . . . .

Residue & Tillage Management (No-Till) .

Stream Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . .

Waste Facility Closure. . . . . . . . . .

Water Wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Water Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. . . . 26 no. . . . . . 9 no. . . . . . 3 no. . . . . . 1 ac. . . . .208 ac. . . . .717 ac. . . 64,780 ft. . . . .190 ac. . . . . 77 ac. . . . .130 ac.

34,796 sq. ft. . . . . . 6 no. . . 42,344 ft. . . . .784 ac. . . . .445 ac. . . . . . 8 no. . . . . . 1 ac. . . . . . 6 no. . . . . 43 no.

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Friday, May 31, 2019

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

Page 13

Former Tobacco Farmers Turning To Hemp

BY NELSON MORAIS

HEMP’S HISTORY IN TENNESSEE

SUN CONTRIBUTOR

“A

lot of people in Greene County have started hemp growing. The number of hemp growers last year in Tennessee to this year tripled, and I think there’s going to be more.”

So said Gwyn Southerland, who with her husband Jerry (Petie) operate Southerland Farms on Birdwell Mill Road in Cedar Creek.

The Southerlands are planting hemp this spring for the first time on their Century Farm, after growing burley tobacco “all our life,” she said.

Hemp will be replacing tobacco on their farm on four acres.

“We also raise beef cattle and hay, and we have horses,” she said.

Southerland said the application period for growing hemp was Nov. 15-Feb. 15. The couple’s application was approved, and a license issued in mid-March, she stated.

Southerland said she has been studying hard how to grow and process hemp in preparation for the couple’s new venture.

“I think hemp is going to be labor-intensive. We’ll have to watch it every day” until it is harvested in the fall.

The Southerlands have two children who help on the farm, as do their spouses and the couple’s six grandchildren.

Gwyn said she is doing consulting work with Tennessee Extract, the Knoxville-based company that the couple have signed a contract with.

She said she is doing the consulting work in order to help other hemp growers understand the contracts, process their licenses, and answer any other questions they may have.

“There are a lot of questions that people (farmers)

SUN PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Gwyn Southerland with a hemp plant in front of one acre of land where she planns to plant and grow hemp.

have,” she said. “Through Tennessee Extract, I counsel farmers with what I know. There’s so much to learn about this business.”

The Southerlands will be both hemp growers and processors.

She said one benefit the couple have is that much of the same machinery they used to cultivate tobacco will be used to grow hemp.

“You can grow it smallscale as a single parent,” or large-scale, on several acres of land. She said she knows “some ladies” who are growing hemp in pots.

“They’re beautiful plants,” she said, showing a visitor one grown in a pot from seeds.

“Farming is hard work, but it’s a very good life,” she said. “We’re a very close-knit family, and I feel the farming has a lot to do

with it. My grandkids like to ride horses, help in the garden, and play in the mud.”

Gwyn said she has two children who both help out on the farm, as do their spouses and her six grandchildren. Her children are Annie (Southerland) Bailey, and Jeremy Southerland.

“We are very excited to begin this new adventure with hemp,” she stated.

“It is all new to us and to many others. There is a lot to learn in this business.

We are blessed to be able to grow hemp, and begin to help our family and other farmers along the way.”

She said two acres will be planted with hemp clones, and the other two acres with seedlings. “That’s so we can raise two different strands,” she said.

SUN PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Gwyn Southerland’s hemp plant grown from seeds.

Although the Industrial Hemp Agricultural Pilot Program began in Tennessee in 2015, hemp production in Tennessee began in the late 1800s. In fact, it was a major agricultural crop throughout the United States from 1645 to 1958.

Hemp fiber provided rope, which was especially important to the U.S. military. Other uses of cannabis sativa include textiles, building materials, paper, biofuels, paints, solvents, personal care products and medicine.

The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 put the plant under strict federal regulation to control the production and sale of marijuana. Since marijuana and hemp are the same genus and species of plant, that effectively made growing hemp illegal.

The U.S. continued to import hemp from other countries as commercial production in the U.S. ground to a halt.

Marijuana remains on the federal drug schedule and is illegal to grow in Tennessee.

Hemp, which is distinguished from marijuana by a lower level of the psychoactive chemical THC, was removed from the drug schedule with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and can be grown under license in Tennessee.

According to a document provided by University of Tennessee Extension Agent Melody Rose, hemp was believed to be the most profitable crop that could be farmed in the 1840s.

Even though hemp is starting over as a new crop in Greene County, farmers who have been around a while and grew hemp have retained some of the knowledge for growing and managing it that new cultivators and researchers are trying to figure out.

“Old farmers would come by when I set up at the farmers market and say, ‘Man, that’s a small hemp plant,’” said Ryan Rowlett of Greene Hemp Company. “They remember the days that they were out there growing it as a cash row crop.”

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Page 14

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

www.greenevillesun.com

Friday, May 31, 2019

Salute to Our Future Farmers Chuckey Doak High School

North Greene High School

North Greene FFA 2018-2019 FFA Officer Team L-R Zachary Cochran-Secretary, Ashley Morrison-Reporter, Emaline Willis-President, Abi Painter-Vice President, Ethan Starnes-Sentinel, Emily Casteel-Treasurer

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Friday, May 31, 2019

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

Page 15

Pick-Your-Own Farms Make Ag Fun For Growers And Consumers

BY NELSON MORAIS SUN CONTRIBUTOR Pick-your-own farms in Greene County offer area residents a chance to select the freshest fruit possible, educate children about farms and where the food they eat comes from, support local growers, exercise, and of course, have fun.

Jean and Phil Ottinger own and operate Buffalo Trail Orchard in Cedar Creek.

Jean was recently seen picking cherries from a couple of trees on her Century Farm.

“They’re hard to get, more fragile” than some other fruit, she said.

Jean said the couple lost two cherry trees, and strong winds in February blew three more over.

“They must not have a good root system,” she said.

So while cherries won’t be available this year for the public to pick, there are plenty of other fruits scheduled this year: blackberries in mid-June, blueberries in July, peaches in mid-July, plums in August, and apples at the end of July.

Buffalo Trail Orchard is a farm located at 1890 Dodd Branch Road.

There is also a pumpkin patch for consumers to pick pumpkins, at the end of September/early October.

Buffalo Trail Orchard has had a pick-your-own operation since 2009. It started with the Ottingers offering apples, blueberries and blackberries, she said.

There are about 10 acres in fruit production, including around 1,300 apple, peach and plum trees, she said. A store on the property sells apple butter and other products.

“It’s become more popular every year due to word of mouth,” Ottinger said. “It’s healthy food, plus they get the benefit of exercise. Kids learn where food comes from.”

The couple are retired. Jean was the librarian at South Greene High School until her retirement in 2017. Besides the public-centered pick-your-own fruit, they raise Angus beef cows on the farm, she said.

For more information, go to Buffalo Trail Orchard’s Facebook page or call 639-2297. The web address is buffalotrailorchard. com. They are also present at the downtown Knoxville Saturday market.

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Abbygail Roberts, just 5 days old, helped her family pick a pumpkin at Myers Farm last fall.

SUN PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Jean Ottinger picks cherries at Buffalo Trail Orchard.

ORGANIC FARM IN CAMP CREEK Duane Gibson, 32, said he began his pick-your-own operation on part of the Gibson Berry Farm in Camp Creek about 12-13 years ago.

In May the farm offers strawberries to pick. Blueberries will be available around the July 4 weekend through the middle of August, he said.

Customers can pick their own berries every Sunday in the summer, between 10 a.m and until it gets dark. No appointment is needed on Sundays, but they are on occasion open other days in the week by appointment only.

The farm also grows elderberries, black raspberries, and Goji berries, and sells jams, elderberry syrup and jellies at the Boone Street Market farm store in Jonesborough, at different tailgates in Asheville, and at Three Rivers Coop in north Knoxville.

They also have a good market in the Carolinas, he said.

Gibson Berry Farm is a 40-acre USDA-certified organic farm.

Within that area, it has one acre of blueberries, and one-quarter acre of strawberries. “Last summer, we had a double frost, and therefore one-half of our usual production,” Gibson said.

Gibson said pickers should prepare for being outdoors before arriving, and bring their own baskets for taking fruit home with them. Baskets for picking on the farm are provided. He said mornings and evenings are the best times to pick, in order to avoid the summer heat, which is worse from about 1-3 p.m. Even so, some people stop by after church, he said.

They will have several different varieties of blueberries growing this year, he said.

For more information, go to Gibson Berry Farm’s Facebook page, or call their Google number, 828-385-4442.

He said the farm also grows hemp, with a goal to plow profits from producing hemp into their berry busines.

“Berries are our main focus,” he said.

Gibson operates Gibson Berry

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Buffalo Trail Orchard offers pristine views of the Unaka Mountains.

Addyson Roberts, 2, made her selection and got the pumpkin she wanted at Myers Farm last fall.

Farm with his brother, Derek, and family members.

There is no Gibson Berry Farm website, but there is one for their hemp-growing operation: gibsonextracts.com.

The farm is located at 375 Kelley Gap Road, in Greeneville.

The Gibson Farm has been family owned and operated since 1991.

The farm consists of chickens, goats, fruit orchards and a vegetable garden. In 1998, the blueberry orchard was planted as a family project. In 2011, a tornado came through Camp Creek and wiped out the old orchard, both barns, and removed the roofs off the outbuildings. The main blueberry patch was spared, but an expansion patch was destroyed.

MYERS FARM OFFERS PUMPKIN PATCHES, MAZE, HAYRIDES Myers Farm is well known for its hayrides and corn maze in the fall, but it also has pick-your-own pumpkins in September and October, said Vera Ann Myers.

Myers runs the farm with her husband, Eldon, and their son Ethan, who is 22 and “definitelly the next generation” to run the family-owned business.

When they started their corn maze 30 years ago, it was the first one in northeast Tennessee and only the second one in the state, she said.

They also offer gem mining and pumpkin decorating, and sell snacks and drinks.

“The corn maze and our hayrides are our main activities,” she said.

Myers Farm is located in Greene County at 3415 Gap Creek

SUN PHOTO BY NELSON MORAIS

Buffalo Trail Orchard in Cedar Creek boasts 10 acres of fruit production and has numerous fruits through the growing season for the farm’s pick-your-own operations.

Road, in Bulls Gap. The 500-acre family farm does year-round beef farming, has a greenhouse open in April and May, and sells flowers and vegetable plants, as well.

The 24-acre corn maze, when started, “was a hit. We were so new to the area. It became very widely known, and other mazes popped up.”

The pick-your-own pumpkin patch is about one acre in size.

They also grow squash, gourds and Indian corn.

Vera Ann Myers was born in Greeneville and graduated from

Greeneville High School. She became a school teacher.

She said her son, Ethan, is a fourth-generation farmer.

“We’ll be full-time farmers till we die,” she said. “We’re farmers first; entertainment, second.”

Vera Myers was the founding president in 2005 of the Tennessee Agritourism Association, and served with the group until 2010.

“Agritourism across the state has become a way for farmers to diversify to allow farmers to have other income,” she said. “It gave us an opportunity to continue farming.”

Myers said about 20,000 people visit their farm each year. It’s not unusual for the operators to host groups of 800-1,000 people at a time, she said. “Some go to the maze, (and) some just shop for a pumpkin.”

In one sign of the connection between their working farming business and the public attractions, she said corn from the maze is picked in the fall and fed to beef cattle in the winter.

For more information, go to myerspumpkinpatch.com, or call 235-4796.

Page 16

The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition

Friday, May 31, 2019

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