Outstanding Conservationist ....  Kay & Cliff White.  Presented by JoAnn Walsingham from the Orange Hill Soil & Water Conservation District

 

Outstanding Tree Farmer .... Brackins.  Presented by the Chipley Lions Club

 

Agricultural Service To Agriculture Award ...  Bryan Lee.    Presented by Malcolm Gainey of the Chipley Kiwanis Club

 

Outstanding Farm Family .... J.A. Clemmons.  Presented by Dr. Bruce Christmas of the Washington County Farm Bureau.

 

Kicking off Farm-City Week (observed during the seven days leading to Thanksgiving Day each year) the event emphasizes the partnerships between rural and urban residents who contribute to the health and well being of our country.

 

Family farmers work to provide products that are important to Floridians' daily lives.  Currently there are more than 47,000 farms in Florida, an increase over the last five years.  Strong and sustainable family farms mean a strong future for all of us.

 

 

 

The Outstanding Conservationist Award was presented by Orange Hill Soil & Water Conservation District to  Kay and Cliff White.  The Whites purchased 115 acres of the Coy Dyson farm on Hwy 79 five miles south of Vernon in 2003.  They named their farm Holiday Ranch where they built their dream home.

 

Cliff is a native of Northeast Arkansas.  He spent his childhood years on the family cotton farm and still owns two farms in Arkansas.  Cliff is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and is retired from the Office of Inspector General for USDA.  In the 1970s Cliff raised registered Limousin cattle when the low fat, lean beef movement began.

 

Kay was a city girl and spent 27 years in custom home building in Columbus, Georgia.  Together Kay and Cliff have two daughters, two sons, and five grandchildren.

 

The White operate a registered cow-calf operation using a new composite breed of cattle called South Poll.  The South Poll breed was developed by Teddy Gentry from Ft. Payne, Alabama (you may recall that Teddy is a member of the group "Alabama").  The Whites are active in the South Poll Grass Cattle Association serving on the Board of Directors.  South Polls were bred to excel and fatten on grass only, with an emphasis on longevity, fertility, disposition, heat tolerance and tenderness.  After several years of struggling in the grass-fed business, their steers are in high demand with beef suppliers competing to obtain their produce, some coming over 400 miles to pick up grass-finished steers from the ranch.  The Whites have a partnership with a Missouri cattleman and have 125 of their mama cows in Missouri.

 

Raising grass-fed beef goes hand-in-hand with grass farming.  The Whites consider themselves grass farmers first and foremost.  Consumers in the local foods movement expect grass-fed beef to be wholesome, tasty, tender and free from hormones, antibiotics and harmful additives.  To this end, the Whites raise their beef organically, although they are not certified organic.  They do not use growth hormones or antibiotics (except for isolated medical purposes) nor chemicals and commercial fertilizers on the ranch.  The Whites also practice rotational grazing  using portable solar electric fencing to subdivide paddocks.  This helps manage the forages to an ideal grazing height allowing for quick re growth of pastures.  Rotational grazing provides even distribution of manure and urine evenly across the pastures, acting as a natural fertilizer.  By switching to Cydectin wormer, they have created a soil microbe, earthworm and dung beetle friendly habitat.  The dung beetles can bury a cow patty in two days, incorporating tons of fertilizer (manure) into the soil and their tunnels aerate the soil and increase the water-holding capacity.

 

The Whites focus on education and attend many cattle and forage seminars offered by Auburn University and the University Florida, in addition to non-traditional courses such as Graze fests, mob grazing, dung beetle field days, etc.  The Whites credit Washington County Extension Agent Andy Andreasen, and the University of Florida for providing invaluable assistance on the production and management of cattle and forages.

 

Working with NRCS and participating in the EQUIP program, the Whites have improved their pastures and learned to grow a year-round mixture of forages.  Using their existing Bahia and Bermuda pastures, the Whites overseed these paddocks with small grains such as oats and rye.  They also plant winter ryegrass.  Thirty acres have been planted with Red River crabgrass and 10 acres have been planted in a perennial peanut, a warm season perennial legume.  Multiple varieties of clover, each with a different growing season, provide a year-round supply of natural nitrogen for the grasses in addition to being a high protein nutritious forage.

 

NRCS and Orange Hill Soil & Water Conservation District also partnered with the Whites in improving soil and water quality by fencing cattle out of all wetlands.

 

Organic practices to create healthy soil, careful forage management and rotational grazombined with the right breed of cattle that thrive on grass has contributed to the success of Holiday Ranch.

 

The Whites are continually striving to be good stewards of the land and strive to conserve soil and water through a well throughout management plan.

 

 

The Outstanding Tree Farmer Award was presented  to the Mrs. Blanche Brackin by the Chipley Lions Club.  She was not present due to illness.

 

Blanche and her late husband of 35 years, Newman “Buddy” Brackin (passed away in 2004) have two sons, Mark and Bryan.

 

The original homestead was purchased by Matthew T. Brackin and his wife, Rebecca Collins Brackin, in the late 1800’s. In the late 1940’s, Buddy negotiated to move V.J. Collins and his wife, Lotee Merritt Collins, to the original homestead and farm in the Brackin Community and they managed the Brackin Ranch for over 30 years as a cattle farm. However in the late 1970’s, 600 acres of the 1240 acre farm was planted in pine trees. The farm presently grows slash, loblolly and long leaf pines.

 

The Brackin Farm is a Florida Certified Stewardship Forest. Proper management by burning and thinning inferior trees is utilized to insure superior trees are left to maximize quality wood production.

 

Blanche says her future plans are to continue a sustainable management plan that provides quality timber and wildlife management while allowing the family to enjoy what God has given us, while providing Bryan’s son, Beau, with a heritage that he can be proud of as a fourth generation owner.

 

Hopefully he will continue the Stewardship practices and principles already in place so that he and his offspring can enjoy what this land has to offer.

 

 

 

The Service to Agriculture Award was presented to Bryan Lee by the Chipley Kiwanis Club.

 

Bryan grew up in the Westville area of Holmes County.  He was raised on a small farm operated by his father Bud Lee and his grandfather Tom Minger.  The farm consisted of around 40 brood cows and 50 hogs.  The family sold all of the livestock in the mid-80s and placed the bulk of the acreage in slash pines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryan attended Ponce de Leon High School where he became involved in the FFA under the advisement of Leroy Gillis.  During his high school years he held several FFA offices as well as competed in Farm Judging, Parliamentary Procedure, Meats Judging and Agricultural Mechanics.  He also competed in the National Soil Judging and Forestry Judging competitions.

 

His mother, Betty Urquhart, taught in the Holmes County school system for over 30 years.  She, and his involvement in the FFA, were his primary influences in choosing his career.  Upon graduation, he attended Chipola Junior College and then transferred to the University of Florida where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Education in 1993.  Bryan went back to school after several years of teaching through the graduate program at the University of West Florida and received his master's degree in Educational Leadership.

 

Bryan taught to two years at Lecanto High School in Citrus County before getting the opportunity to come to Chipley High School in 1995.  This was like coming home since he had interned under Ray Pigott.  During his years of teaching, Bryan has served on the Florida Association of Agriculture Educators, Washington County Educators Association and Washington County Youth Fair board of directors as well as being a member of the Farm Bureau and Washington-Holmes Cattlemen's Association.

 

Bryan is married to Terry Bryant of Bonifay and has two children ... Rebecca 26 months and Samuel 10 months old.  They live north of Bonifay.  Terri is also employed by the Washington County School Board as a Speech Pathologist.  Bryan and his family attend Carmel Assembly of God in Bethlehem.

 

During Bryan's 16 years as an agriculture teacher, he has inspired and encouraged many young people.  These students have a greater appreciation of agriculture as a result of his efforts.  Bryan is very involved in the Washington County Youth Fair as well as training the Chipley FFA for many competitive events.

 

 

 

The Outstanding Farm Family Award was presented to James Alton Clemmons by the Washington County Farm Bureau.

 

James Alton Clemmons was born a 5th generation Washington County citizen in 1921 to Ernest and Florida Potter Clemmons of Vernon.  His family has a long history of service to Washington County and to our country.  His great-grandfather served and died in the Civil War and his father served in a U.S. heavy artillery unit in France in World War I.  His grandfather served as a Washington County commissioner near the turn of the century and his mother served as a one room school house teacher in Long Bay in Washington County in the 1900 hundreds.  He and his only brother, Alex Herschel, who just passed away in September of this year, both served in World War II on opposite sides of the globe, he in the U.S. Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force based in England and his brother in the U.S. Navy in New Guinea in the Pacific.  The large extended local family includes lovingly remembered first cousin Wilburn "Tobe" Russ of Vernon, Aunt Lou Clemmons Gainey of Vernon, and Uncle Joel L. Potter of Chipley, and many other family members known to be Washington County residents.

 

Jim is a 1942 graduate of Chipley High School where he and his brother enjoyed sports and extracurricular activities including playing football with close friends Phillip Rountree.  He was FFA president and student council president during his senior year.  He entered the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 and at the end of World War II in 1945 piloted four engine heavy bombers over Europe.  He then attended the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill where he completed his bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences in 1949.  Later that same year he married Dorothy Jean Tobias of Chipley and began work as farm manager for the Standard Cattle Company located in Washington and Holmes counties and owned by James A. Smith of Birmingham, Alabama, namesake of local Smith Lake.  His wife, Dorothy, served for many years as an educator in Washington County's school system, and then finally at Chipola Junior College in Marianna, during which time she completed her doctoral degree at Florida State University.

 

Jim and Dorothy became the parents in 1954 of Dr. James Clemmons of Chipley and in 1957 of Edith Clemmons Prescott now of St. Simon's Island, Georgia.  Clemmons continued as farm manager for James Smith's ranch until Smith's death in 1963 at which time he acquired the cattle and equipment and farmed for himself thereon to the present, acquiring the remaining property of Smith's original estate in 1976 and now still located on Douglas Ferry Road between the Chipley-Vernon and Bonifay-Vernon highways.

 

In 1973 he took the position of director of the Chipley Beef Demonstration Unit of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and served until his retirement from the university there in 1987.  His father was a charter member of the Washington-Holmes Cattlemen's Association at it inception in the 1930's and he himself has been a career member of the association since 1960, serving as its secretary from 1976 to 1984 and then as its president from 1984 to 1986.

 

He, along with his wife Dorothy, have been members of the First Baptist Church of Bonifay, Florida since 1949 and this last August he celebrated with her their 60th wedding anniversary.  His life long loves are the land and his stewardship of it, his cattle and farming operation, his church, and his family --- especially his wife Dorothy to whom he now devotes his time providing continuous home care.

 

 

 

Master of Ceremonies was Judge Colby Peel; Pledge of Allegiance led by 4-H Members;  and invocation by the Rev. Ben Hull.

 

 

 

Caitlyn Prichard opened the evening's program with "Looking Back, Moving Forward".

 

Proud of her country and the agriculture industry she represents through FFA, Prichard will be traveling overseas in the near future to help take the message of agriculture to other nations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washington County Extension Agent Andy Andreasen highlighted Washington County agriculture.

 

 

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the Webb Family ... Wayne, LynnDee, Jessica and Jon.

 

Sponsors for the 2009 Farm-City Banquet included ... Chipley Kiwanis, Chipley Lions Club, Community South Credit Union, Farm Credit of Northwest Florida, One South Bank, UF/IFAS Washington County Extension Service, Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Washington County Farm Bureau.

 

Officials also paid tribute to the Chipley Garden Club and the Washington County 4H for their assistance in decorating the ag center and serving dinner.

 

 

 

Representative Brad Drake was among those attending the Farm-City Banquet.

 

He is flanked by Perry Wells and Karen Roland, President of the Chipley Garden Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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