Mar 25

Mar 25 Farmers across Duplin County speak out about their industry

In Duplin County, agriculture is a way of life. It is what farmers have always known, generation to generation.

Jared Sholar, owner and operator of JTS Farms, LLC, has been in the farming industry since he was 16 years old, “It’s something that runs throughout my family, both of my grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers as well as my father and my father-in-law, along with the women of my family filling in whenever needed.”

Over the years, farming has become affected by the state of the economy, making it harder to stay in the business.

Sholar says, “The issues that are most concerning are the input cost and the market price at which we sell our commodities. It’s very hard to make ends meet with the profit margin being so small.”

Farmers constantly monitor market prices.

For Chris Civils, owner and operator of C & J Farm, and farmer of 16 years says, “today’s greatest impacts in the farming industry are high operating costs. Fertilizer and fuel being the biggest for me.”

The cost of fuel has particularly affected farmers who rely on it to operate their machinery as well as transferring their goods for sale.

“I chose farming to provide a lifestyle where my children could work with me as they grow up and learn the values and benefits of hard work.”

Many small businesses, including farms, attribute their struggle to covid.

Even Noah Simpson, co-owner of Simpson Farms, says, “people are more than tired of hearing about covid, although the effects from that were detrimental to the industry… It takes a village to raise one pig… It was hard to keep people working in the cycle, including us here, sick or not. Our pigs need constant care.”

After two years, it seems like life is getting back to normal.

Simpson says, “slowly but surely we as a company are getting back to that elite tier we were on before covid, the perseverance of the farmer is what keeps the backbone of this country strong.”