Local residents honored at the 2023 Farm City Banquet

The 2023 Farm City Banquet was held on Tuesday, November 14th, at Rivertown Community Church. The annual celebration is organized by the Jackson County Agriculture Coalition, which is not a formal entity, but simply a cooperative effort of six organizations that support agriculture in Jackson County. The six organizations include Jackson County Farm Bureau, Jackson Soil & Water Conservation District, Jackson County Cattlemen’s Association, Florida Peanut Producers Association, Farm Credit of Northwest Florida, and UF/IFAS Extension Jackson County.

The banquet was attended by over 300 people from all across the community. No banquet is complete without a great meal. Dr. Terry Nichols and the Uncle Henry Farms crew, with assistance from Jackson County Cattlemen’s Association members, prepared the smoked brisket, and Brenda Pettis and staff catered the remainder of the meal, made complete with her wonderful pecan cobbler.

An event of this magnitude would not be possible without the financial contribution of organizations in the Ag Coalition and business sponsors. Platinum Sponsors for this year’s event were: Jackson County Teacher’s Credit Union, and People’s South Bank. Gold Sponsors were: Ham Peanut Company, Malone Peanut Company, and Tidewater Ag & Construction Equipment. Silver sponsors included: AgriGold, American Forest Management, Bayer Crop Science, Clover Leaf Cotton Gin, Golden Peanut Company, Helena Agri Enterprises, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, Southern Cotton Organization, Sowega Cotton Gin, SunSouth John Deere, and West Florida Electric Cooperative.

Chris Franklin, Principal of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, organized and presided over the youth organization presentations. Chris said, “We are fortunate to have strong youth agricultural organizations in our communities, and they are represented to share with you their accomplishments from the previous year. Representative from the 12 youth agricultural organizations shared their annual updates. These organizations included: Cottondale FFA (junior and senior chapters), Graceville FFA (junior and senior chapters), Grand Ridge FFA, Malone Middle FFA, Malone High FFA, Marianna Middle FFA, Marianna High FFA, Sneads FFA, Jackson County Junior Cattlemen’s Association, and Jackson County 4-H. Graceville FFA members Lana Wood and Cayden Inscho both spoke at the program.

Doug Mayo, County Extension Director, UF/IFAS Extension Jackson County, provided Ag Award presentations to 11 farm families, and the Farm City scholarship winner.

Corn Farmers of the Year – Dietrich Farms – 261 Bu./acre – DeKalb 6208

This year’s recipient for Corn Farmer of the Year is Dietrich Farms. Each year, the Jackson County Extension Service performs standardized corn yield checks across the county for all interested growers. Annually, the farm or grower with the highest yield check earns this award.

This year, Dietrich Farms grew 200 acres of cotton, 310 acres of peanuts, 225 acres of corn, and 140 acres of soybeans, while also managing 100 head of mama cows. They have a three-year rotation, so corn fits nicely in rotation with peanuts and cotton.

On average, the Dietrichs grow 225 acres of corn each year and are planning to maintain that for the upcoming 2024 cropping season. All their corn acreage is irrigated and planted in single rows on a 30-inch row spacing. This cropping season they planted four variety lines on their farm including some from AgriGold, Dekalb, DynaGro, and Pioneer. The corn yield from 6 tests across different varieties on Dietrich Farms in 2023 averaged 244 bu./acre. Their official top yield for the year was 261 bu/acre, achieved with Dekalb 6208.

Dietrich Farms is truly a family business. Gordon & Christopher manage the day-to-day activities on the farm and Lady is responsible for bookkeeping, although she helps in the field during corn, peanut & cotton harvest. Today, the fourth generation also gets to help out and experience the farm firsthand. Christopher and his wife Holly live on the farm and have four boys, Jackson, Cale, JB, and Whit. Jackson and Cale help unload corn, run the dump cart and even the combine some. When Holly isn’t teaching middle school at Roulhac School in Chipley, she helps on the farm and enjoys working with the cattle. Gordon & Lady’s daughter, Hannah and her husband Mark live in Chipley with their three kids, Shelby, Cooper, and Cannon who can also usually be found around the farm too. Their youngest son Nicholas and his wife Chelsea live in Panama City with their son Banks and visit the farm as often as time allows.

The Corn Farmer of the Year Award is sponsored by AgriGold, and DeKalb. This award is based on standardized yield checks provided by the Jackson County Extension Service. If you would like your corn yield tested in 2024, please contact Ethan Carter, Regional Cop IPM Agent, to schedule an appointment.

Ed Jowers Future of Agriculture Farm City Scholarship – Andy Franklin

John Andy Franklin is the son of Chris and Cindy Franklin of Graceville, Florida. He is a 2022 Graduate of Graceville High School, and a 2023 Graduate of the Digital Video Technology Program at Florida Panhandle Technical School. Andy is currently enrolled at Chipola College where he is working on his Associate of Arts (AA) Degree with plans to transfer to the University of Florida to major in Agricultural Communications.

Andy comes from a strong agricultural background. His grandfather farms, and both parents have served as agriculture teachers and FFA Advisors. The chapters where they have served as advisors have been recognized for excellence on the State and National through FFA. While at Graceville High School, Andy was an officer all 4 years including serving as Chapter President his Senior Year. He was recognized as a State FFA Proficiency Finalist for Supervised Agricultural Experience in Fruit/Vegetable Production and was the State Champion for Agriscience Academic Test for Division 1 Senior Beta.

The Farm-City Scholarship is sponsored by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Nominees are selected by a committee that evaluates each application based on exemplary scholastic, extracurricular, and agriculturally centered achievements.

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