Last week, I used this column to introduce Mrs. Janice Fields as the new Family and Consumer Science Agent on our staff. She is prepared to assist you with all your questions related to foods, nutrition, food safety, healthy homes, and green housing, so please give her a call and give her the opportunity to assist you.

Today, I would like to introduce you to another new addition to the Extension staff. Jeff Floyd joined our staff on Tuesday as the Agricultural Technician. In this role, Jeff will be responsible for working with small and part-time farmers in Robeson County to help them learn how to more effectively increase their family income and farm profits.

You might first think that the large-scale farmers who you see featured in the papers, or the ones quoted on the evening news, are the ones doing the farming in Robeson County. But there are actually more small and part-time farmers in the county than there are large, full-time farmers.

Most small and part-time farmers do what they do by design. Many of them hold down a full-time job and keep the family farm running in their spare time. Some are retired or semiretired and manage a small farm more like a hobby, many times caring for the family farm. Still others have limited capital available for expanding their farm operation and, by necessity, keep it rather small, so they can handle almost all phases of production, management, and marketing by themselves or with help from family members.

Small farmers have more flexibility than large farmers when it comes to diversification, specialty crops, and value-added products. Most large farms are very specialized. Usually, all resources on the farm, including equipment and labor, are focused on the major crops. It would be virtually impossible to make quick changes to produce a different crop or to change the method of processing or marketing these crops without seriously upsetting the rest of the operation.

On the other hand, small and part-time farmers tend to be more flexible. They don't have all their resources devoted to a specific crop or commodity, and they usually don't rely fully on the farm for income, so they can take a risk in changing things to better provide for the changing demands of consumers.

Farming in Robeson County has changed drastically in recent years and will be changing even more in the coming years. All of our farm owners and farm operators need to be prepared for these changes, especially the small and part-time farmers.

In addition to working with small and part-time farmers with diversification, alternative crops, and value-added enterprises, Floyd will also serve as coordinator for the Robeson County Beekeepers Association and the downtown Lumberton Farmers Market.

Floyd is a native of Fairmont and grew up on the family farm just outside the city limits. He earned an Associates Degree from the Agricultural Institute at North Carolina State University, and then returned to the farm to work with his brother, Kenny Floyd.

It quickly became obvious that the farm could not support the father and two sons, along with their families, even though they had diversified into strawberries. So Floyd began working off the farm in the swine and poultry equipment business. He was eager for the opportunity to stop traveling and to focus his energy on his family and working only in one county. His wife Sherry is a schoolteacher at South Robeson High School, and they are the proud parents of three children.

In closing, I do not need to remind you that not just one but three hurricanes are headed this way. We have been fortunate for several years that most of the more damaging hurricanes have not come up the East Coast.

Our luck may be changing, so do let me remind you to get yourselves and your family prepared. Watch the weather reports and heed the warnings if the hurricanes head this way. Homeland Security and our emergency service providers learned a lot from the mistakes they made during hurricane Katrina. They can better protect you now, but you must listen to their advice.

Many of us stay glued to the weather reports to learn when the hurricanes are coming and how powerful they might be. We often fail to take the proper safety precautions for what may happen. More often, we fail to properly prepare ourselves to be able to take care of our families, our property, and ourselves as we attempt to recover from a natural disaster like a hurricane.

Cooperative Extension has lots of good information related to disaster preparedness and recovery. I encourage you to visit our disaster preparedness page located on our home page. We have all the information you might need linked right from this page. Give Jeff Floyd a call or E-mail him and welcome him to the Extension staff. Call Jeff or any of our other staff members if we can assist you in preparing for the coming hurricanes or other natural disasters.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 10/15/08