Cultivating values

摘要

Successful Calloway County farm family cultivates more than crops. There is a lot of talk these days about family farms, with some people still trying to figure out what the term really describes. For those in question, they should travel to the LynnGrove community of Calloway County and visit Smotherman Farms. There they will find Richard Smotherman and his wife, Sharlisa, cultivating values. Smotherman no-tills 650 acres off white corn and the same amount of soyheans, but he cultivates 30 acres of dark tobacco, which is the most valuable crop on the farm. A short visit to the farm shows culivation does not stop with the tobacco. The Smotbermans cultivate family, community and farm-life values. In early March, their accomplishments in all of these areas were spotlighted when the Kentucky Young Farmers Association (YFA) named Richard their 2001 Member of the Year.