LEAD Team
Geoff & Sarah Dietrich – Union County
Geoff and Sarah own a row crop operation which includes corn, wheat, and soybeans. Geoff's expertise is with equipment repairs, trucking, drying and storage of crops. Sarah serves as the bookkeeper and works full time for a software firm.
Both Geoff and Sarah are NCSU graduates. Sarah has a BS degree in Business Administration from UNC and a Master's in Industrial Engineering from NCSU. Geoff has a BS degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from NCSU.
Their most recent endeavor is providing guidance to their oldest daughter who has started a cage-free egg production enterprise. She purchased 32 one-day old chicks with money she earned selling plants at the Farmer's Market.
Geoff serves on the Union County Farm Bureau Board. Sarah and Geoff have been married 21 years and have two daughters. Ann Margaret is a 12th grader. Rebecca is a 7th grader. Geoff and Sarah are both active leaders in 4-H, Girl Scouts, and at Edenton Street United Methodist Church.
Tommy & Tonya Hobbs – Sampson County
Tommy and Tonya have been married for eighteen years and have a daughter who is thirteen and a son who is eight. Both children help on the farm in the summer. Their children will be the fifth generation to operate this family farm.
Tommy is an NCSU graduate where he received a two-year degree in agriculture management. He and his brother tend 1200-plus acres. Their farming operation consists of corn, soybeans, tobacco, wheat, and cattle.
The Hobbs attend Elizabeth Baptist Church. Tommy is an active member of the choir and he and the family are involved in various activities of the church.
Tonya graduated from Hardbarger Jr. College and has worked for Cape Fear Farm Credit as a loan assistant for seven years.
Tommy serves on the Sampson County Farm Bureau advisory board, the Southern States advisory board, and was recently elected to the Sampson County Soil & Water Supervisor Committee. Tommy is a past NCFB IFAL participant.
Robbie & Cathy Lewis – Gaston County
Robbie and Cathy are preserving a family tradition of a small scale self-sustaining farm while introducing new marketing strategies, such as agritourism and selling fresh-from-the-farm meat and eggs. They raise horses, chickens, beef cattle, hogs, and hay. They also grow a large portion of the feed for their animals.
Robbie and Cathy operate their farm as an agritourism destination with birthday parties year round, hosting special events, and school groups visiting in the spring and fall. They also offer a horse-drawn carriage service for weddings, parades and special events.
They get the greatest satisfaction from raising their own meat, eggs, and vegetables. Their joy comes from passing on this heritage to their 2 children, as well as others.
Robbie and Cathy are co-owners and are involved in every aspect of the farm, from feeding animals, planting, fertilizing, accounting, advertising, harvesting, to cleaning stalls. Cathy completed the Rural Economic Development Institute Program in 2007 and now serves as NC Agritourism Networking Association President.
Corey & Bridgette Lutz – Lincoln County
Corey and Bridgette were both raised and worked on dairy farms all their lives. In 1998, they built new facilities and moved from Catawba to Lincoln County. They milk 200 registered Jersey cows in an intensive rotational grazing system.
Corey and Bridgette with their three children and four other employees, whom have worked with them about 10 years, work the farm. They travel to dairy shows at the NC State Fair, Louisville, KY and several county shows, their children are very involved in showing.
Corey and Bridgette attend Daniels Lutheran Church. Corey is on the Church Council and Bridgette works with the Youth Group. In 2001, The Lutz family was the NC State Soil and Water Conservation Farm Family of the Year.
Michael & Renee McPherson – Alamance County
Michael and Renee currently farm 85 acres of corn, 85 acres of wheat, 100 acres of soybeans and 60 acres of hay. They also raise 10 head of cattle each year. Michael, with help from his family, prepares all the land, seed, fertilize, lime, spray and harvest the crops. The crops are sold and the straw from the wheat crop is used in his landscaping company and the cattle are used for beef and sold to the market.
Michael is a partner in a landscaping company with his nephew. They do residential and commercial work such as installation, maintenance and clearing/grading work. They also assist their clients with pasture and field maintenance.
Michael was employed from 1993 to 2007 with Southern States in Mebane. He was a custom applicator and worked very closely with the farmers in the immediate and surrounding counties.
Renee is employed as a production planner in a large automotive production facility. Her work involves making sure the production operations run smoothly and they are producing quality parts on time to meet customer requirements. She assists with the landscaping company by helping customers with designs for their landscape and using proper plant materials.
John & Mandy Pickler – Stanly County
John and Mandy have been married 25 years and have a son. John took over his family farm in 1979, where he makes all the business and financial decisions. He also oversees all the daily activities of operating Long Creek Farms, Inc.
Their farm consists of approximately 400 acres of wheat, 400 acres of soybeans, 350 acres of corn, 150 acres of cotton and along with the wheat, they produce over 40,000 bales of straw which is sold to commercial landscapers. Over the past few years they have established a good market for corn used for recreation and livestock feed. They sponsor a "Big Buck" contest with a cash prize and an appreciation meal for their customers. A few years ago, Mandy grew some Indian Corn and ornamental gourds for pleasure, now since finding a market for these, they grow them for a produce distributor. These products require hand labor with a short window for harvest but they are increasing production each year.
Along with the farm commodities produced, John also does trucking for Rolling Hills Gin, supplying feed to area dairies and some custom harvesting. They have one part-time employee who works year round and several others who work during peak farming time.
Jeff & Sharon Tyson – Nash County
Jeff and Sharon are owners of Rolling T Farms, LLC, which is a row crop operation that produces tobacco, cotton, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Jeff also co-manages Andrew Tyson Farms which is a row crop and poultry operation. He is also co-owner of J & J Land Management which is a swine topping facility for Murphy Brown.
Jeff is responsible for the day-to-day planning, crop rotation planning, purchasing seed, chemicals and fertilizer. He manages nine full-time employees and oversees a migrant crew of approximately 50 people.
Sharon manages the poultry operation and a herd of approximately 50 Boer meat goats. She also is the bookkeeper for Rolling T Farms.
Jeff and Sharon both graduated from NCSU, Jeff with a degree in Ag. Business and Sharon with a degree in Animal Science. Jeff is active in the Nash County Farm Bureau, Nash County Soil and Water and Cooper’s Volunteer Fire Department. Sharon is active in the 4-H and Nash County Master Gardeners.
Jeff, Sharon and their three girls attend Elm Grove Baptist Church where Jeff serves as a Deacon.
Johnny Wishon – Alleghany County
Johnny is the owner of Wishon Evergreens in Sparta, NC. His business sells about 30,000 Fraser Fir Christmas trees per year with about 300,000 trees of different sizes currently in production.
He also produces around 100,000 seedlings and transplants for wholesale each year, as well as beginning to venture into the B&B (dug) tree business, producing several different species of spruces and other shrubs for this enterprise.
Johnny graduated from NCSU with a BS in Ag Education. He and Linda have two boys and attend Sparta United Methodist Church. Johnny is the Alleghany County Farm Bureau President and Chairman for the NCFB Christmas Tree Committee. The North Carolina Christmas Tree Association voted the Whishon’s the 2007 Conservation Farm of the Year.
Ken Powell - LEAD Program Coordinator
Mac Hodges – LEAD Team Leader
Karen McKnight – Team Member
Audrey Brown – Team Member