We continually refine our farming system. While my brother, Bill, and I know we’ll never get to specific end goals with many practices like efficient fertilizer use, we’re always chasing and narrowing the gap. 

Our chase is very deliberate. Data from field trials, rigorous soil sampling, imagery and more guide decisions we spend years making. We operate on the premise of think, believe and then know. 

This can apply to most any practice. We might think a certain row cleaner would work exceptionally well in our conditions. We’ll try it side-by-side with another setup. If we still believe it’s a good fit, we’ll try it on a whole planter for a few years. Once the data piles up, and we know for sure, we’ll apply the tool across all our acres.  

The think, believe, know strategy has served us well throughout the years we’ve farmed together. We grew up on a primarily cattle operation. Bill started farming on his own right after college. I joined him 3 years later in 1993. Today we raise cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat.

Our commitment to conservation, and reputation for how we care for the land, helped us build our acreage throughout the years. Here in the hills of west Tennessee, roughly 90% of the farm ground is considered highly erodible…