Published: March 20, 2008 03:31 pm         

Greenberry Wilson Farm honored as Century Farm

Friends of Farming awards given

Do you take your food supply for granted?"

That's the question guest speaker Lacy Upchurch, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation president, asked the audience at the 14th-annual Farm Festival Luncheon. The event sought not to take our food supply for granted by honoring area farmers.

Honored as a Century Farm was the Greenberry Wilson Farm. The Century Farm award goes to farms that have been in the same family for 100 years or more. The program was established in 1975 by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, according to the Century Farms Web site.

The Greenberry Wilson Farm is one of two family farms in Cumberland County known to be at least 200 years old, said Roger Thackston, Farm Bureau board member.

Also honored at the luncheon were Nan Stevens and brothers Lowell and Sheldon Simmons, all receiving Friend of Farming awards.

The Greenberry Wilson Farm was officially acquired in 1808 with a land grant from the state. Fifteen miles southeast of Crossville on E.G. Wilson Road, the first owners, Greenbery Wilson and his wife, Temperance, had settled on the 150 acres of Native American territory and began farming in 1797.

Present owners of the farm are Lindell Agee and Larry Warner who are great-great-great-grandsons of Greenberry Wilson and Helen Warner. Agee is the sixth generation descendant to run the farm. Agee's daughter Shasten accepted the Century Farm award and announced the farm would be holding an open house on May 24.

Built in 1797, the Wilson home is the oldest home in the county. In 1996, the property was placed on the National and Tennessee Register of Historic Places in 1996 by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior.

Stevens received the first Friend of Farming award handed out at the luncheon. She gave a lifetime of service to farming by working at the Farm Service Agency, beginning as a part-time employee in 1957 and becoming the county executive director in 1980. Stevens retired on Nov. 30, 1990. In 2005, she received the Farm Bureau Outstanding Service Award.

Gregg Upchurch, UT Agriculture Extension agent, joked when talking with Stevens, she told him to promise she'd never be given this type of award again, noting when she received the Farm Bureau award, she came down with the shingles. When she became aware of the Friend of Farming award, Upchurch said she became ill once again.

Lowell and Sheldon Simmons received the second of the Friend of Farming awards. The brothers have been farming since young boys milking cows for their father and feeding calves.

In 1970, they and their late brother Powell began a farming partnership at the current location. Starting with milking 50 cows, the Simmons' dairy now milks an average of 430 Holstine cows with a rolling herd average of 18,852 pounds of milk, Gregg Upchurch said during his presentation.

Upchurch noted the Simmons' cows produce 19.5 gallons of milk per person a year in relation to Cumberland County's population of 52,000 and 312 eight-ounce glasses of milk person each year.

On top of all their work with their own dairy production, the Simmons brothers both serve on boards and committees in effort to support the dairy industry and their community.

Thackston introduced Lacy Upchurch as the guest speaker, saying Upchurch has "always been a farmer and always will be a farmer." Among many other important roles Upchurch plays for the sake of the farming industry, he is also proud to be from Cumberland County, Thackston noted.

Mentioning the challenges farmers face, both business- and weather-related, Upchurch told the audience the greatest long-term challenge to farmers is the general public.

"If they don't have an appreciation for what we do, then [the public] is more likely to follow more radical ideas," Upchurch said in noting the general public's growing perception of a successful farmer is that it's bad.

Many of today's young adults are two to three generations removed from agricultural work, he explained, in citing factors contributing to the confusion about farming. Upchurch went on to say that such animosity toward the field could potentially drive out farming from the United States in which the nation would then have to depend on other countries for food. He encouraged his fellow farmers to speak up for farming in the future.

Walt Hinch, UT Research & Education Center director, called the meeting to order. Jack Chadwell, Highland Federal Savings & Loan president, gave the invocation. Charles Daugherty, Agri-Tourism Committee chair, provided closing remarks, thanking the county officials in attendance along with the sponsors of the event. He gave special thanks to Al Wilson, Cumberland County Farm Bureau president, and Janice Hamby, Chamber of Commerce president, and then recognized all those among the audience connected to Farm Bureau and the Chamber.

Local government officials in attendance were J.H. Graham III, Crossville city mayor; Brock Hill, Cumberland County mayor; Harry Sabine, 1st District county commissioner; Wendell Wilson, 6th District county commissioner; and Kenneth Carey, 7th District county commission.