\u201cIn a typical year, with five different crops in the ground, it seems like we farm all the time,\u201d said Bill Bridgeforth, a fourth generation farmer from Tanner, Alabama, in the state\u2019s northeast corner. Bridgeforth farms 10,000 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans and canola with his brother Gregory and their sons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to farm,\u201d he said, adding \u201cI always enjoyed working with my father and brothers.\u201d Bridgeport explained that being a farmer in the Deep South could be a mixed blessing. On the positive side is the region\u2019s extended growing period, which allows double cropping.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically, we start planting our corn on March 10, plant soybeans on April 10, and cotton on April 25,\u201d he explained. \u201cBy May 25, we harvest our canola, and then plant soybeans behind the canola,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then we harvest wheat on June 5 and plant soybeans behind that wheat,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
But the negative side of the extended growing season is the extreme weather swings, like powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes that can also plague the region. \u201cThere\u2019s just so much variability in the weather here in the south,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Bridgeforth buys crop insurance every year. In fact, he\u2019s purchased crop insurance policies for the last 35 years in a row. \u201cI can\u2019t even think about farming without crop insurance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe buy crop insurance because the cost of production is so high, you\u2019d have to be crazy to not purchase crop insurance every year,\u201d he said. Bridgeforth explained that with input costs rising every year, it costs more and more to put all of his crops into the ground. \u201cWe have to have crop insurance in case we have a bad year, or a bad crop, and we need to have some help making ends meet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The cost of farming on an operation the size of Bridgeforth\u2019s would be staggering to those outside of agriculture, who are likely unfamiliar with the high cost of production faced by modern farmers. Crop insurance is no exception to that rule.<\/p>\n
Bridgeforth says that they spend several hundred thousand dollars a year purchasing crop insurance, but that isn\u2019t even their biggest cost of production, given the high input costs they face. \u201cWhen I do our budget, I don\u2019t think twice about buying crop insurance, it\u2019s just like buying fuel, seed and fertilizer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although most years are good for Bridgeforth, having crop insurance as a line item in his budget paid off in 2012, as northeast Alabama, and much of the center of the country, found itself strangled by a historic drought.<\/p>\n
The drought began with an extremely hot May and June, and produced the worst corn crop Bridgeforth had ever had. \u201cIt was so bad, that while we would ordinarily start harvesting our corn on the 20th of August, we started picking it on the 15th of July,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause there really wasn\u2019t much there in the field and it made better sense to get it picked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to his busy schedule farming, Bridgeforth is also the Chairman and a charter member of the National Black Growers Council, which was founded three years ago and serves as a network for black men and women who are involved in agriculture. \u201cOur mission is to improve the viability and profitability of the black row crop farmers,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we hope to develop black talent for the next generation of farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advice he would give to all the growers he knows, says Bridgeforth, is to purchase crop insurance every year. \u201cThere are lots of challenges facing a farmer: the weather, the cost of production, the cost of labor, and of course a market that can fluctuate wildly,\u201d he said. \u201cJust a good crop is not enough. You need to have a good crop and a good price.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIn a typical year, with five different crops in the ground, it seems like we farm all the time,\u201d said Bill Bridgeforth, a fourth generation farmer from Tanner, Alabama, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":4407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonials"],"yoast_head":"\n