Ag tour show off cream of the crop!

By MATTHEW STOFF
The Daily Sentinel

For anyone curious about raising strawberries, growing peaches, irrigating tomatoes or any other leading agricultural techniques, the Nacogdoches County Agriculture Tour was the place to be Friday.

The County AgriLife Extension Office organized a tour of area farms to show off the latest and greatest in local agriculture. A group of about 30 participants met Friday morning at the Nacogdoches Expo Center for coffee and doughnuts before heading to Millard Farm, where strawberries were the main attraction. The group then headed to McCarty Farm to see more than 30 varieties of tomatoes, 12 kinds of sweet peppers, and even more hot peppers, squash, soybeans, green beans and eggplant.
Matthew Stoff/The Daily Sentinel
(ENLARGE)
Farm owner R.W. McCarty, left, demonstrates the use of old-fashioned farm equipment during the Nacogdoches Agriculture Tour on Friday. Extenstion Agent Chad Gulley, right, and a group of visitors looked on.


Several in the group took notes as Extension Agent Chad Gulley pointed out the elaborate drip irrigation system, which controls weeds and moisture content. Participants asked questions about the setup, and the farm owner showed off the black plastic T-tape system that covers the bed of young crops and functions like a miniature greenhouse.


R.W. McCarty, the farm owner, also demonstrated an old-fashioned hand-pushed seeding device he had inherited from his family. He then compared it to a large, modern John Deere tractor resting nearby.

Ann McCarty, who has operated the farm with her husband and son for 30 years, said the family started growing just for its own needs, but watched as the operation has grown to a commercial size in the past 10 years. "It just kept getting bigger and bigger," she said.

McCarty said she was pleased to bring a group of interested visitors to her home, but noted that the farm is as serious as it is entertaining. "It's a lot of work," she said.

Participants on the agriculture tour learned more than how to make simple wire cages to protect their crops or how to use a smokehouse to store and keep their products. In fact, some participants were experts themselves in area agriculture. Extension Agent Crispin Skinner said the tour was also a way to show off the achievements of Nacogdoches and its agricultural pioneers.

"A lot of people don't realize that we are one of the best in the state when it comes to agriculture," he said as the tour was headed to lunch and then on to the Van Dover Peach Farm. Skinner said Nacogdoches is consistently in the top 15 counties in the state for production. And, Skinner said, the tour not only demonstrated the economic and technical successes of the local industry but the diversity of ventures within the county. As an example, Skinner said that most people don't know that there are four peach orchards in Nacogdoches County.

The tour is even a useful and interesting event for people who are not working in the field, according to Bruce Partain, president of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce, which helps to promote the event. Partain cited the entrepreneurial workmanship at the Millard Strawberry Farm as an inspiration for professionals in any line of work.

Partain also said the tour was a chance for city-dwellers to reconnect with and learn about the dominant industry in the county that operates just beyond the every-day lives of many residents. "Even if you're not a farmer, you can learn some valuable lessons," Partain said.

The agricultural tour is held each year in advance of the annual Agricultural Appreciation and Awareness Banquet. This year's banquet will be at 6 p.m. Monday, April 6, at the Fredonia Hotel in honor of Nacogdoches County's agriculture industry. For more information, contact the Texas AgriLife Extension Service at 560-7711.

Photos by Bruce Partain