John L. Council Farms - 2009 Small Farmer of The Year

Shannon – You can take the man out of the country, but he will come back. And when he arrives, he’s coming with an entourage of folks just like him who love the land.
           
That’s the story of the 2009 Gilmer L. and Clara Y. Dudley Small Farmer of the Year, whose award was bestowed on the Hoke County farm team known as John L. Council Farms. The team consists of farm patriarch John L. Council and his devoted adopted family, daughter Jacquie Rogers, and Ted Smith and Paul Raymond.
           
The family was presented the award at the Small Farmers’ Appreciation luncheon Wednesday, during annual activities that The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T organizes to celebrate the achievements of small farmers.
             

Council, 72, returned to North Carolina in 1994 after 35 years in Camden, N.J. and amassed what is now a 68-acre spread in Hoke County. The property includes forestland and active farmland where the family breeds pasture-raised hogs, pastured chickens and turkeys, cows, goats and rabbits. They also grow 17 acres of hay for their cows, and farm 5 acres of pesticide-and-fertilizer- free vegetables. Council uses a solar panel in one of his pastures to generate enough energy to electrically charge a fence so that his hogs don’t stray.

His use of green technology, commitment to raising naturally-grown food and such sustainable farm practices as integrating his livestock with crop rotation, are part of the reasons that John L. Council Farms was selected as this year’s outstanding farm recipient.

John Council Farms has worked with local Extension and with The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T on several efforts to sustain and make their farm more profitable. After A&T associates installed the black plastic and drip irrigation system at Council Farms, the family increased their income from lettuce by 35 percent. A&T sponsored programs, including Farmers Adopting Computer Training (FACT) and Linking Youth with Farming Enterprises (LYFE), have also benefitted Jacquie Rogers and Ted Smith, respectively.

Robeson County Extension Agent Nelson Brownlee has also worked with Council Farms on bio-security education.

“He has introduced us to programs we didn’t even know existed and to people who you didn’t even know they cared,” Council says of Brownlee and Cooperative Extension.

Council’s connection to the land is as much a part of him as his roots, which are planted in Bladen County where he was born, and in Robeson County, where he was raised. As a young man, he struck out to see more of the country and settled for the next 35 years in Camden, N.J. where, even in the urban environs of the North, he always farmed.

"I’ve never stopped farming,” Council says. “It’s the love of my life. I love it. I love seeing things grow.”

When Council and his wife, Willie Agnes, moved back to southeastern North Carolina 15 years ago, other members of his church family, including Paul Raymond, 31, and his father, also ventured South with him. Today Council serves as a surrogate father and grandfather to several young people, including co-farmer Ted Smith, 23, and Smith’s nephew, Jonathan Smith, 17.

Along with the Raymonds, the Smiths help Council run the sprawling farm enterprise. Jacquie Rogers does the record keeping, and attends classes and workshops on behalf of the farm. As a multi-generational farm whose helpers range from elementary-school age children to the septuagenarian Council, those connections are vital to what Council sees as his mission to provide quality food to his family and community.

“We are all one big happy family,” says Council, “and I am training them to think like me.”