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Lepanto selected
Poinsett Farm Family
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Year for 2001
The baby, due in January, will be a welcome addition.
"I wouldn't mind raising three boys," Amelia said "I don't have any girl's clothes."
Their sons are Sam, 4, and Christopher, 19, months.
Stuckey Farms Company is a partnership involving Fred, his brother Sam Stuckey and his sister Baylus East. The farmland is located in Poinsett, Mississippi and Crittenden counties in Arkansas and in Shelby County in Tennessee.
Fred grows 1,370 acres of cotton in Poinsett and Mississippis counties, 1,000 acres of rice, 1,035 acres of soybean and only 95 acres of wheat for this season. But in the past he has had 400 acres of wheat.
Recognizing that conservation remains a foremost aspect of agriculture, Stuckey has gone to no-till and conservation or reduced-tillage methods. The conservation measures not only involve the land, but also irrigation and other aspects as well.
"We've gone to no-till in cotton," he said
Out of 1,300 acres of cotton, 80 percent was planted no-till.
He also includes conservation measures in fields that are conventionally tilled, Stuckey said.
The land is prepared in the fall and allowed to sit until the spring when the crop is planted, following a herbicide application, with out any further tillage.
Both no-till and stale-seedbed methods conserve not only fuel and machinery, but also soil moisture so that the seeds quickly germinate and a good stand is established, he said.
"We grow cotton and rice side by-side," Stuckey said. That means he applies all of his rice herbicides by ground application, which prevents damage to the nearby cotton crops.
Stuckey said the operation also has done its own land leveling since 1993, using his own equipment This practice has helped make the farmland much easier to work and to irrigate, assuring that the operation can remain viable.
Coupled with leveling, underground piping, towable center pivot system and poly pipe helps to irigate more acres at a lower cost. Fred uses multiple inlet irrigation of rice and has found that practice to provide a significant savings on both water and labor costs.
Increasing production and controlling costs are keys to agricultural production, and Stuckey has tried to maximize efforts in those directions.
