Three producers from different parts of the country say making the decision to grow different crops saved their farms
ORLANDO, Fla. — A panel of American farmers say diversification saved their operations during this bleak downturn in the farm economy.
Jeff Wilson, who runs a produce farm in South Carolina, says his only regret is that he didn’t diversify sooner.
“That really helps our cash flow the whole year,” he told reporters attending Bayer’s AgVocacy Forum.
Cotton Hills Farm was a row crop farm since its inception in 1882.
The Wilsons still plant cotton but they also grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that they sell at their three produce markets and to commercial grocery stores in nearby Charlotte, North Carolina.
Read Also
Ag in Motion innovation awards showcase top 2025 ag technology
The 2025 Ag in Motion Innovation Awards celebrated winners across five categories: agronomics, agtech, business solutions, environmental sustainability and equipment.
“We start out with strawberries and we end up with pumpkins,” said Wilson.
He said the three farm-owned produce markets have been a godsend.
“We can get so much more for our products there,” he said.
“Row crops are tough. We found (produce) to be a great niche.”
Don Cameron, general manager of Terranova Ranch in Helm, California, had a similar refrain.
The ranch used to be a cotton, alfalfa and grain farm.
“We saw the disadvantage in going down that road because commodity prices wouldn’t change quickly to market conditions,” he said.
So they began to diversify and now grow 25 different crops including almonds, pistachios, walnuts, tomatoes, carrots and onions on about 9,000 acres.
“That and drip irrigation changed our life,” said Cameron.
In 2009, the operation tried 150 acres of drip irrigation. Crop yields went up 25 percent and water use decreased 30 percent. The next year they had 2,000 acres of drip irrigation.
Produce in the area was priced based on lower yields, which gave Terranova a big advantage.
“We kind of got ahead of our neighbours and took that money and reinvested into the farming operation,” he said.
Terranova Ranch also got into organic agriculture. Cameron said demand for organic products is growing but it can be fickle.
One year his organic onion buyer suddenly switched suppliers. Another year his organic tomato buyer said he didn’t need any tomatoes.
“All of the sudden you’re left with a lot of organic ground trying to figure what to put in it,” said Cameron.
He said there is a lot of hype surrounding the explosion in demand for organic products.
“It’s been a slow growth. You have to temper what you hear and you have to be cautious in your growth.”
For some farmers diversification poses more challenges than others.
Michelle Erickson-Jones, who runs Erickson Farms in Montana with her husband and her father, said the short growing season and lack of water in her state limits cropping options.
But the farm is far more diversified than it was when she was a girl. Back then it was wheat followed by summerfallow.
“Even growing the seven crops that we will grow is six more than we grew when I was younger,” she said.
Erickson-Jones noted that some growers in the northern part of the state branched out and started growing chickpeas and lentils but those crops have been hammered by India’s import tariffs and quotas.
“There were a lot of producers, including myself, who thought that was a progressive way to go to add protection and it didn’t really pan out,” she said.
Scott McPheeters, a corn, soybean and alfalfa farmer from Nebraska, took a different approach to diversification.
The family decided to grow food-grade corn crops like popcorn and Frito-Lay corn. He also started an ethanol plant with some of his fellow farmers. And they invested in irrigation.
He said the best asset that paved the path to diversification was the farm’s 70-year relationship with the same bank.
“That makes a big difference,” he said.
“They trust us. We trust them.”
Cameron said he didn’t have the same kind of cozy relationship with his bank when he was a row crop farmer.
“When I was younger I walked into a bank and was essentially laughed out of the room,” he said.
He had to get his financing from a local cotton gin. Years later he was able to get a loan from that bank that had earlier declined him. And now he is calling the shots.
“I had a lot of satisfaction (when) one day I walked in and told them we were moving to another bank and no longer required their services,” said Cameron.
