For the second time since 2006, Tommy Porter of Concord, North Carolina is the North Carolina recipient of the 2011 Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. Tommy Porter:
“We will go in October down to Moultrie, Georgia to the Sunbelt Expo, and that’s, you know, when they announce the overall winner for the southeast.”
Porter describes his operation:
“We’ve got the swine operation; we’re a 2,200 sow, farrow-to-wean, multiplication. We actually have four pullet houses, the newest operation on the farm are four layer houses and they are for hatching eggs. We have approximately 300 brood cows, cow-calf operation, and we market those calves annually in truckload lots on the tele-auction.”
Judging of Porter’s operation took place earlier this month, and Porter shares what he thinks the judges are looking for when determining a southeastern winner:
“I think they’re just looking at the overall operation and I think a lot of what they look at is ‘What have you accomplished? When you started farming, what did you have?' And the way I interpret that is…okay, ‘Was there a family operation already going on, and you just kind of stepped in? And what have you done since you entered the operation?’ I think that’s a big part of what they look at.”
Porter says that the judges have a difficult job since they’re not comparing apples to apples, but he feels good about his chances:
“As far as our chances, you know, I don’t know. You know, when you’re talking about your competing against one of the top operations in another state, and there’s some operations that are very impressive, and way bigger than ours, and a lot of times, you think, ’I’m just not big enough, and I don’t have a chance.’ But, I don’t know, I’ve seen other people win in the past, and thought, ’You know I stood up pretty good against those.’ And in 2006, I think we stood up pretty well with them, it’s just that you never know what exactly the judges are looking at. And I think everybody that’s there deserves to win.”
The Porter operation was built from scratch, with Porter having left a career in homebuilding to farm full time. But, he says no matter the outcome:
“As far as what I set out to accomplish, you know I feel very blessed as far as being able to…and you know, it wasn’t easy, there’s been times, when to be honest, that I wondered ‘why did I ever do this?’, because there have been times, financially, years ago, that it was just a struggle, it was week-to-week, ‘How am I going to pay these bills?’, and thankfully we’re not there anymore, and I don’t ever want to go back there. But, I feel very blessed to have accomplished what we’ve accomplished, and I still have my sights set on more expansion.”
And to win the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award, Porter says:
“And if we would be chosen for the overall winner, hey, that would be great. In my opinion, that is the most prestigious award that I know of in agriculture in this part of the country.”
Tommy Porter of Concord, North Carolina
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