2008 YF&R State Committee
Chairman - Brooks Edmondson
Brooks & Stacy Edmondson – Greene County
Brooks and Stacy live in Greene County. Brooks grows tobacco, corn, soybeans, wheat and oats. Brooks also custom picks corn and beans.
Brooks has served on the Young Farmers and Ranchers committee and he also serves on his local Farm Bureau Board.
Brooks and Stacy have three sons.
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District 1 - Betsy Morris
2nd Year Member
Donny & Jamie Lassiter - Northampton County
Donny, 29, farms with his parents and brother in a family partnership operation, consisting of over 5000 acres of cotton, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, and chufa. He and Jamie and are the owners of Cyprus Knee Chufa, a wildlife seed company dedicated to the preservation of wildlife habitats. Donny and his family are also part owners in Producers Gin & Warehouse in Murfreesboro, N.C. Jamie, 23, is currently pursuing a Masters degree in speech-language pathology at East Carolina University. She assists Donny with the day-to-day management of Cyprus Knee Chufa and plans to work in a school or clinical setting after graduation in May.
1st Year Member
David Baker – Bertie County
David Baker is a resident in Bertie County. He farms with his dad. They grow cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts and wheat. They also have a peanut cooking business.
District 2 - Mac Hodges
2nd Year Member
Dawson and Bethany Pugh - Hyde County
Dawson and Bethany Pugh along with their two children, Stephen and Ginny Grace, live in Hyde County, NC.
After having farmed for many years with his father, Dawson had the opportunity to begin farming on his own. In 2004 they formed Middle Creek Farms, Inc. Today the Pugh’s raise corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat. Dawson and Bethany are beginning their 2 year term on the American Farm Bureau Committee in March 2008.
1st Year Member
Ashlee & Steven King – Tyrrell County
Steven and Ashlee King live in Columbia, NC. They farm 3400 acres of corn, wheat and double cropped soybeans with Ashlee’s family. Steven and Ashlee are also in charge of the farm’s Augusta Seed Dealership.
Steven and Ashlee attend Creswell Baptist Church in Creswell, NC, where they are involved in the choir, young adult program and children’s church ministry.
In their time off they enjoy hunting and taking pictures. They also visit Steven’s hometown of Denton, NC whenever possible.
District 3 - Audrey Avery
2nd Year Member
Clay & Anita Pope - Sampson County
Clay and Anita are part of a third generation farming family. Pope & Sons, Inc. is owned and operated by brothers, Tracy Pope and Clay Pope. The farm grows, packs and ships produce. There are 200 acres of vegetables (cucumbers, eggplant, pepper and squash) and 75 acres of tobacco. The farm has 13 hog houses, 6 turkey houses and 60 head of cattle. Anita graduated from Meredith College in 1997, she works with her father in Dunn, NC. Anita and Clay have a daughter, Georgia LouEllen Pope, she enjoys playing with her cousins and all the farm animals.
1st Year Member
Trent & Rebecca Scott – Jones County
Trent and Rebecca Scott live in Jones County, NC. Trent farms USDA certified organic produce. He also serves on Jones County’s Farm Bureau Board and the Fruits and Vegetable committee with Farm Bureau.
Rebecca works in accounting at Eastern Carolina Internal Medicine. She also keeps the books for Scott Farm Organics.
Trent and Rebecca are first year members in 2008 of NC Farm Bureau State Young Farmers and Ranchers committee.
District 4 - Kevin Kinlaw
2nd Year Member
Lance Herndon - Robeson County
Lance is a third generation farmer from Parkton which is located in the Northeastern part of Robeson County. He currently works with both is Grandfather and Dad in managing the operation. They have many different soil types which require careful crop rotation. They are currently rotating corn, wheat, soybeans and rye. In addition to the small grains and row crops, they have 130 acres of coastal bermuda grass that is baled for hay and sold.
1st Year Member
John Tripp – Columbus County
John lives in Ash, NC. He works on Tripp Farms as a partner with his father. They farm in both Brunswick and Columbus County. They farm 135 acres of tobacco. They also farm corn, soybeans and wheat.
District 5 - Susan Britt
2nd Year Member
Brent & Sue Leggett - Nash County
Brent and Sue Leggett are from Nash County, NC. They have a son, Colin, who is one year old. Brent and Sue are very active in agriculture on the local and state level, including Farm Bureau commodity committees, Young Farmers and Ranchers and other various commodity organizations.
On the farm; Brent and Sue founded Leggett Farms in 2005. They grow over 2,000 acres of crops including tobacco, sweet potatoes, cotton, soybeans and cucumbers. One of their specialties is certified micro propagated sweet potato plants and seeds. In addition to this, they operate a pick your own strawberry patch, grow custom raised tobacco plants and operate a custom cotton and soybean harvesting business.
Brent and Sue are actively involved in the management of their operation.
1st Year Member
Jason & Amanda Aycock – Franklin County
Jason and Amanda Aycock live in Franklin County. Jason owns and operates a stocker cattle operation. He buys cattle, raises them and sells to various feedlots around the country. He runs approximately 1000 head of cattle per year. Amanda is a critical care nurse at Wake Med in Raleigh. Jason and Amanda have a beautiful daughter, Kaylin Ray, born January 2008.
District 6 - Jim Roney
2nd Year Member
Eric & Tammy McPherson - Alamance County
Eric and Tammy McPherson farm in southern Alamance County. We operate 2 broiler houses on contract with Pilgrims Pride, Inc. and 190 brood cows on 300 acres. We also own and operate Mac Tire, a tire and automotive shop that sells passenger, truck, and farm tires.
We stay busy with our 5 month old daughter, Abby. Tammy works at Kernodle Clinic and is involved with church committees and choir. Eric is an Alamance County Farm Bureau Board member. He also serves on Snow Camp Volunteer Fire Department.
1st Year Member
Matt & Stephanie Bowman – Guilford County
Matt and Stephanie Bowman live in Guilford County on a family owned and operated dairy farm. Matt works on the dairy farm full time and Stephanie is employed with SunTrust Bank. Matt and Stephanie are both very active in the community and with Guilford County Farm Bureau.
Matt and Stephanie have one daughter named Aubrie.
District 7 - Karen McKnight
2nd Year Member
Shane & Kelly Whitaker - Randolph County
Shane and Kelly live in Climax, NC on a part of the family farm. Shane farms with his parents and younger brother. Together they raise flue cured tobacco, tomatoes and strawberries. They also operate the garden center specializing in hanging baskets, annuals and perennials that they grow.
Kelly is an engineer for the Randolph Soil and Water Conservation District. They provide technical assistance to local farmers to install conservation practices on their land to protect our natural resources.
Shane and Kelly have a three year old son, Chase and a daughter, Payton, who was born in July of 2007.
1st Year Member
Jason & Robin Starnes – Rowan County
Jason and Robin Starnes live in Rowan County. Their farm consists of row crops, beef cattle and poultry. The farm covers 700 acres near the town of Spencer.
Robin works as a paralegal for Sherrill & Cameron, PLLC in Salisbury. Robin and Jason both attend Calvary Baptist Tabernacle where they teach 4-6 year olds during worship service.
District 8 - Howard Reinhardt
2nd Year Member
Sean & Chasity Turner - Iredell County
Sean and Chasity Turner live in Harmony, NC, located in northern Iredell County. Sean is Vice President of Turner Landscaping Services, a family business. They also farm over 200 acres of land; part of which is used to grow wheat, oats, rye and soybeans. The remainder is used for an ornamental tree and container plant operation and a cow/calf operation.
Chasity is the owner of SHINDIGZ, an event planning, florist and rental store located in Statesville, NC.
They have three children; Kelsey, Justice and Jayden.
1st Year Member
Lucas Richard – Catawba County
Lucas Richard is the owner and operator of L.F.R. Farms and Greenhouses and L.F.R. Grain and Chemical in Catawba County. L.F.R. Farms and Greenhouses consists of 600 acres of corn for grain, 600 acres of soft red winter wheat, 600 acres of double cropped soybeans, 40 acres of canola, 4 acres of strawberries and 4 acres of cantaloupe. They also have 6000 square feet of greenhouses where they have hanging baskets and vegetable and bedding plants.
L.F.R. Grain and Chemical is a full service grain facility buying, hedging, drying, storing and transporting grain. Also they are a UAP-Duro that sells chemicals, seeds, fertilizer and various other agriculture products.
Besides maintaining the day to day operations of his two businesses Lucas currently serves as President of the NCSGGA, he is on the Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers committee and he is on the board of directors for the Propst Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department.
District 9 - Ronald Hawkins
2nd Year Member
Ronald & Andrea Buchanan - Avery County
Ronald Buchanan is a native of Avery County in the mountains of western North Carolina and grew up working with his father in landscape nursery production. He also worked with other innovative nurserymen during his teen age and early adult years.
Ronald is a graduate of Avery County High School and Lees McCrae College. He and his wife Andrea have 4 boys and are active members of Crossnore Baptist Church.
Ronald and Andrea own and operate South Valley Nursery and Landscaping, produce nursery plants and have a retail Christmas Tree lot.
In addition to helping with the family business, Andrea is director of the nursing program at Mayland Community College.
1st Year Member
Brian & Mandi Parker – Cleveland County
Brian and Mandy Parker are from Cleveland County NC. They live on a family farm, Brian’s fathers. They raise beef cattle and poultry. They are also active in their Young Farmers and Ranchers group. Along with farming Brian also has an outside job doing land surveying. Mandi works for a local hospital in mammography.
They have two children; Ashton who is four and Kadence who is one.
District 10 - Jimmy Cowan
2nd Year Member
Kaleb & Monica Rathbone - Haywood County
Kaleb and Monica live in Haywood County. Kaleb works for the NCDA as a tobacco research specialist at the Mountain Research Station. Monica is a cosmetologist at the Red Door Salon in Waynesville.
Kaleb and Monica also farm with Kaleb's father, growing burley tobacco, beef cattle, strawberries and vegetables.
1st Year Member
Adam & Elizabeth Pryor – Henderson County
Adam and Elizabeth Pryor reside in Henderson County, NC. Adam is a third generation farmer and works alongside of his father and grandfather. Adam and his father produce corn for grain on the rolling hillside and fertile river bottoms of Henderson and Transylvania counties. They also grow apples for processing and fresh market uses. In addition to these crops Adam and his dad raise beef cattle and hay.
Adam recently began his second term as President of the Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association and hopes to farm and promote agriculture for years to come.
Elizabeth works as an academic advisor for Western Carolina University, but keeps bees in her spare time.