Louisiana Farm Bureau is constantly working protect and promote Louisiana's farmers, ranchers, and rural residents. This podcast exists to share stories of those farmers with interviews about their farms and issues important to them. Here, we will also share about the work Farm Bureau is doing on their behalf on issues related to public policy from the parish level all the way to the halls of Congress in D.C.
Welcome back to Louisiana Farm Bureau podcast. I'm Allie Shipley, and today we are in Tensas Parish, continuing our celebration of Women's History Month and actually catching up with an old classmate of mine from LSU, Miss Melanie Netterville Beavers.
So welcome. Thank you so much for having us up here. Here. So, Melanie, why don't you, I kind of alluded to you. Obviously there was an ag business degree in there, but why don't you tell us a little bit about first where we are and what this place is and kind of what's going on around us?
Well, we're at my family's farm and in Tensas Parish right now it's in waterproofs, Louisiana. And, my husband and I, we farm together, pretty much 5050 and everything. And we started farming here three years ago when we actually got married here in this barn. And it's been an interesting ride ever since then,
I guess my journey in agriculture has been like, anybody's unique, but, we I guess I went into ag business probably, I guess two years into college, so I didn't.
I didn't.
Even realize you didn't start there.
I know, so I.
Actually, funny enough, I wanted to, go into media for agriculture.
And here you are. You're still doing media for agriculture.
And that was the thought process. And then I guess shortly into college, I realized, I really wanted to be more boots on the ground. I loved working outside. I told my mom for years that I was like, I just want to put on my boots every day and go to work and.
Nobody bother me.
And, it just kind of turned out that way where I was like, okay, well, I'll go into business, so swap tag business and, kind of went that route for a little bit, a little while, worked on the, farm at LSU. I don't been here, and, kind of fell in a little bit more with the outside work and, kind of graduated into, the agronomists.
I had, a job, with the research station for a little while. So let's.
Say there was an extension work in there somewhere.
Right? That opened my eyes a lot more to road crop farming. My my family actually, on this ground, you know, my whole life, and, I always thought, how cool would it be to farm? I did not know where to start. And thankfully, somewhere along the way, I met Cody, and, we kind of realized that we wanted the same life, and, we ended up getting married while I was, working in extension and working on my master's degree in agronomy, and it kind of pulled me just further down into the rabbit hole of grow crops and, now officially work on the farm full time every day of my life.
We do have some cows thrown in there a little bit. But mostly.
We promise not to make.
You can't focus on corn, cotton, and sometimes soybean farming. We soybeans can be sensitive subjects.
But, they're valid.
So we farm, I guess 3200 acres together. With our, farm partner, Jack Daly. And, we farm in Franklin in intense all parish. And that's kind of been a small glimpse into my journey into.
I guess I feel like you're downplaying your part into a little bit, but I think it's definitely the perfect stage, both for both you and Cody's life in this farming operation. Because you kind of said.
It it I mean, it just going in from it just it felt like a creeping your way into it. And then, you know, once agriculture does kind of gets its hooks in you like it's just there and then it's in your blood and just kind of part of you. And I definitely feel that.
Yeah.
I feel like you fast track through a lot of it. So I'm going to make you break it down a little bit, because I feel like you don't think it's substantial. I think it's important. And maybe somebody that's just starting out is listening and doesn't know exactly where they are in that. So you grew up in Central Parish, correct.
On a in a family farming situation, correct?
Yes. I well my family never I guess they farm maybe years ago but we just we bought this land and we share crop it. So we never were directly involved in the farming of it. Thought it was cool. I always wanted to be a part of it. Had no clue how to, you know, do that myself. I just, you know, wanted,
I never saw anybody start from the beginning. You know, a lot of people around here. I mean, this is an old farming community. It's, people that have been in this have been in this a long time. You don't see the new and beginning farmers as much,
because it's hard.
It is very difficult.
You learn every lesson the hard way. New farming is, 100%. If you want to learn hard lessons like, that's the best profession you.
Can go, well, this.
Podcast is all about you and we are going to focus on you. I do want to talk about Cody a little bit. Was he because he is also part of this operation? He is full time farmer as well. Was he? Did his family farm generationally? Was he did he was he new into it to.
New and beginning farmer as well. He had a his grandfather did farm and then skipped a generation. And then he started farming with his great uncle. His grandfather had passed away, so he didn't get the chance to farm with, but he farm a little bit with his great uncle. And then that went into farming with his neighbor, Mr. Jack.
And so he's been on a farm since he was 14 years old.
But still started out. But.
As far as, like, officially starting out, I mean, it's really weird. Definitely definition of new beginning farmers.
Awesome.
But he did have a little he did have some more experience or a few more years of experience and maybe some people that are braver than.
You can.
Really take in taking a.
Leap of faith.
So thankfully he did have some background experience in those because it wasn't been a more of a nightmare of yeah.
Right. And you are both from this part of the world, but y'all did not date.
And yes, we are from, rival parishes. So I like to phrase it like that because it really sets up our relationship for what it is. You know, I went to tensor Academy, he went to Franklin Academy, and, you know, it was a very typical rival high school. I knew who he was, but, we never really knew knew each other.
And then we ended up meeting, down the road at, like, a farming convention type thing. And, I was there looking for internships.
And you found us, and,
I ended up I did end up getting an internship for, with, the LSU center, and, but ended up dating him as well.
So you really got your money's out of that convention. Whatever the registration fee was, it.
Really set my dude perfect.
Which is so funny. Looking back, you look at something so small that started that, I'm like, wow, that was one thing.
But let's talk a little bit about that life. I feel like you're leading into a great cause. You've kind of touched on it a little bit, but you are a full time producer. Boots on the ground. You put your boots on every day and go to work and get left alone in your tractor. Somewhat.
Yeah.
And that is something that is like, I wish that was like not something so abnormal. You know, I wish that, you know, there was more women that had, you know, the camera in front of them showing that they're doing this kind of stuff because we are out there. It's just not as often as, you know, you know, male.
We kind of joke, Carl, who's behind the camera right now and the usual host of this podcast tells this story. When we were talking about the story you're going to do, he's like, I feel so bad that I had this unconscious bias when I went to do a story with them a year ago and just was like, hey Cody, I'm coming to a story.
Can I get a job with the cotton picker? And he's like, I mean, you're more than welcome to come on the cotton digger, but it's not me on that. It's my wife. So you're gonna have to ride with her. And he was like, I never even thought that. And not because you're not capable or that you're not. It's just that's the perception of agriculture is when there's a partnership that the man is the main decision maker and the one driving the equipment.
And I love breaking that stigma for people to make them think about it. You know? However, I don't get offended.
Because, I mean.
What kind of person would I be if I was offended?
You would not be in this line of work if you're easily offended.
You know? I mean, like, how on earth would you know that? A lot of people just don't even assume I'm on form at all. Or they'll ask, you know, do you have a job.
Or are you keeping the books? I feel like I'm not that that's not an important part of it, but a.
Really big question for me. And I'm like, actually, I struggle, funny enough, with our ag business degrees, right?
We're at a level.
He teaches me how.
To do. The book person.
Who will not tell a doctor deliver it.
We have definitely a 5050 partnership and everything. I'll say if there's anything or uneven in. It's like he does have more mechanical knowledge than I have, and he's better on the marketing and I'm better on the agronomists. And it works out that way.
It takes definitely takes different skill sets to complement each other. And it sounds like you're laughing off camera. They are opposites in every single way, except that y'all both love to farm, and.
That's the only thing.
We have in common. The rest of it. Our thought process is how we do things, how we make decisions are 100% different. The way that we think about things honestly and even in communication. And being a woman farmer in this industry that's mostly male dominated, I will say there is a difference in sometimes how women think versus how men think, and that leads to a communication barrier.
That's the way.
That I present information is very different than how he receives it, or vice versa. And it's so weird until you're getting into like the deep technicality of making, you know, some of these really like, tiny decisions every day. You don't realize, like, well, we think different.
Me and my husband argue in the house and we don't work together all day. So I can only imagine if we work together all day.
Landowners like to drive with us. About. You want me to bring you some box and gloves.
For the crew?
Like that sounds pretty fitting.
And I think I mentioned that earlier. I do feel like our arguments lead to an averaged out decision, because sometimes we're on opposite ends of the spectrum and we meet in the middle. And that helps us make a better decision.
Your input to the decision, if I wasn't there.
And I'd be making sure that he was there. And so we always end up meeting in the middle on most things, and that helps.
It's a true partnership and that y'all are both weighing in on the decisions that are made. And it's not just the.
There's not very many decisions that get made without us making a phone call to one or the other. Now, we also do talk about you never see us together on the farm. We're almost always separate for multiple purposes. One efficiency. You know, we don't need two people to do the right job, but another one being is we do.
We work here separate. So I do have.
To call him when we need, you know, make a decision together. It usually ends up with us on the phone all day, but, regardless, it just it's easier if we stay separate.
I can definitely understand that just from a marriage perspective.
So you get more done. But, you know, our relationship benefits from the separation.
Well, we.
Know y'all really like each other. I feel like we need to tell our viewers they really like each other.
We actually, you know, like, I would not do this with headaches.
It's love for sure.
Difficult profession. Not necessarily just because of the work, but it's just the I mean, it's, you know, Farm Bureau deals with this every day. The risk. And there's no mitigating.
There is no day is the same.
And, you know, no years the same. No challenges the same, no market prices or the same, no crop year. It's not.
Nothing is ever.
It's always interesting.
can never.
Know what you're going to get into, but, we try to mitigate risk as much as we can in every way that we can.
You know, and are obviously doing a very good job because I'll have a very successful farming operation, and you all know what you're doing and the the partnership is working for sure.
Yeah. So we like we like to think so.
Yeah.
Well from the outside looking in, it sure looks so for sure.
We like to keep.
That. Yeah. Let's talk about.
You kind of just joked that no year is the same. No season is the same. And honestly, no day is the same in agriculture and especially for you. Can you just kind of tell somebody, maybe a woman who kind of like, you just want to wear their boots all day is or is interested in maybe pursuing a degree?
I mean, a career as a producer. What a typical day looks like for you. And I know they're all different, but maybe today or in this season that we're in and planning what your daily task as a woman producer looks like, or just as a.
Producer.
Well, so it can look different every single day. Sometimes I am the one driving the equipment and sometimes I'm kicked off of it. Right now I'm seven months pregnant, so you can't.
Tell, so.
Thank you.
I was able to drive the cotton picker from my first trimester, and now I'm in my third trimester, and I'm not necessarily on the planter as much as I used to be. So, especially being a woman in there, you've got to understand that there's going to be some kinks thrown in there for what you're going to do every day.
But me personally, every day, you know, you get to wake up whenever, you know, you feel like it. Sometimes it has to be at, 3:00 in the morning. We've done that here at this farm, where me and Cody did shift work, where he planted until 11, and I planted from 11 to 3 a.m., and then he got back on at 330 or 4 a.m. and have done it that way.
We've even picked cotton that way on a night when the wind was blowing and where we could literally just pick cotton in shifts.
And people think farmers are responsible for daylight saving time. There's lights on the tractor. They're doing it all the time.
Exactly. So you can go anywhere from that to where I wake up in the morning at 9:00 and drink my coffee. And, it's a book workday where I do really need to do book work, and it is very difficult to drill it out. And, and it's, you know, can be miserable going through numbers when the numbers don't look great.
To, like, really, really happy days when you know, you're having the yields of your life, you know, sitting on a cotton picker and, like, thinking, wow, we actually managed to make this work. For here in your corn yields come back and it's like, okay, this actually.
Worked out like.
All that hard work that we did actually paid off. But, you know, day to day is is different every single day. It depends on the season. And, sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it's so fast you can't breathe.
I can only imagine. What is your favorite, your ideal day in this job? What is your favorite thing to do?
Ideally, my favorite day is a day when nothing breaks.
I feel like we can we can bookmark that quote.
Absolutely. An ideal day is a day when nothing breaks and I don't have to go run for parts. Or Cody doesn't have to go run for parts. And everything is running smoothly, and I have a day where I can just go get on either the cotton picker or planner and just have a nice day.
Just, you.
Know, everything goes right. But I also enjoy checking crops a lot more, so I don't, 100% of the time drive equipment. In the middle of the year. I don't drive the sprayers.
And.
Getting let jokes at me because, like, he's fast and I'm slow, so, the faster increments I stay off the. And, I spend that time usually, checking the actual crops. So I spent, I guess a lot of time in agronomists or whatever. And, would like to get my crop consulting license. I still haven't done that yet.
I need to.
As.
If you have extra time on your hands. Regardless.
I do go check the crops, and that's probably my favorite part of the year, is when you really get into it, you get out there and get into the science of it and see your decisions and what they did well. And you know what? Maybe could have.
Been done differently.
And that I guess my ideal day would be kind of more so checking the crops, you know, and those that don't.
Stuff doesn't break a full day's.
Going about your business and just doing your job when life isn't absolutely chaotic, but the chaos is thrown in there.
Regardless.
It's part of the job. Unfortunately. The good there's pros and cons to every job it.
Is, and it's like any other job in that aspect. Yeah, I have good days and bad days and then you have a lot of days. I, you know, with farming, sometimes you have to add the why am I doing this? Because, well, you're not making it.
Right.
But so that is a little bit different there because sometimes you really have to be like, well, I guess I'm doing this because I love it.
It's not funny.
It's not the paycheck at the end of the day.
So.
I would like for it to be because of that. I like it because I love my job right now. It's, it's a little bit, one sided and swings. And I love doing this.
it really is fun. Like, so this, this time of year. I hear the plan. I run it right now.
Yeah.
And, me and Cody, we were joking about us making the decisions together and that we even each other out. Well, when we go to set a planner, it takes all day. I mean, I'm not a lot of people have to take that much time. Maybe because they're better at it than I am. But also, we're just very, very particular.
Or maybe you just know too much for that agronomy background.
Knowing too much can be like a huge hindrance because, like, we've honestly lost time over knowing too much. I have like a soul thermometer that I keep track and I'm like, the soul is not quite sure. I don't know, this is a good idea.
I know the peak, the peak temperature.
I mean, it's this, the more you know, the more stressed out you can be sometimes. But,
I think that balance is probably were one of those situations. That balance comes in like.
We really even each other out on that.
You got to send it with a prayer sometimes.
And that's something that, we've struggled less with that this year than any other year because like first couple years of us farming together, we were really trying to be very detailed on our decisions on like when we wanted to spray or when we wanted to start planting, when we wanted to do whatever. Well, that cost you time.
So sometimes you have to start things when it is not ideal. And that.
Pains me.
but I think that kind of goes back.
To being a young producer. Those are things that you have to learn and and you can learn it in a textbook and you can learn it in school so much, but actually applying that out in the field and.
Don't find that out until you're doing it yourself. Unfortunately, people can tell you whatever they.
Want to.
Have the best advice and best intentions. And to be honest, you're not going to learn that lesson.
Until you've.
Done it yourself.
Hate to break it to you, but motherhood is going to be quite similar, I know.
Oh my gosh, I'm not even ready.
Yes you are. You're going to do great. It's going to be like. It's just like driving already.
We were talking about that earlier. I feel like I've been pregnant forever and like, people keep telling me how it is and all this kind of stuff, and I'm like, this is just a lot. I really don't feel like pregnant women working, getting enough credit. I want to give everybody like, for this, I. Quiet.
It's a badge of honor.
Who you should wear. Badge of honor.
I mean, anyway, somebody that wants to do this, like with a child.
Already.
And and working while pregnant with a toddler at home, like, are y'all crazy?
We were kind of laughing. We were joking about how when we were talking about when baby Charlotte is supposed to make it here, and oh, that's going to be a great time with planning. And Karl was kind of being facetious about it, but you're like, no, actually it is no.
Really.
Worked out because like, I got, I still ran the whole cart. The cotton picker, you know, my first trimester and then coming into my third trimester on planting, I'm still able to drive the fertilized trailer around and, you know, move seed and check seed out and make sure everything's running and still able to function through, hopefully the whole planting season.
I mean, we still got a ways to go, but, hopefully I'll be able to manage that all the way through cotton planting and then peacefully, I'll be able to, you know, when all that's over with, we'll be getting into irrigating. Really when I'm, when I have her, which is a nightmare.
When.
I, we talked about that, too. Been a really big part of irrigating for, you know, three years now. I guess. And we've grown the operation since I've been on, and it's just, you know, adding more and more work when we irrigate really small runs at a time. So it's, it's like tedious. So I'm like, they lay the pipe and I'm punching the holes, and then I'm swapping water on and off, you know, after that.
And so I trust my.
Husband.
To take care of that.
But it's definitely a part.
You're going to.
Have let all the. And that's hard.
That's just another part of being a woman. And though you're like, that's what this is about. And that's something that
men don't have to consider. Well, there are other factors that obviously Cody is going to be around and present, but he's going to be able to get to duck out and check on things while you're.
You're going to be pretty hunker down.
Exactly. And that's, that's I mean, that's something that, you know, I, I would like to say that I thought about this more before, you know, I got pregnant, but, you know, I didn't I wasn't.
Really thinking logistically.
How this was going to work. Not that I would have done anything differently, but, like, when you really get into it, you're like, wow, my life is about to actually change. And I'm thinking about Cody, and I'm like, he's still going to.
Do.
All this stuff.
I always say, my next life, I want to be a dad. You get the best of both worlds.
And, it's just it is so fun and different, honestly, being a woman and I because I actually do like in some ways that it's more challenging. I feel like I can give myself some.
You should.
Definitely give yourself props for it.
Because it really has its own struggles that are hard to convey, to people that I don't have to deal with it as much as, you know, we do. It's, it can be different. And sometimes I don't feel like I struggle as much, and, and then I think about it, and I'm like, that really was actually more difficult.
We've kind of joked about some of the, like, the funnier things in that, like maternity leave and what's happening on the farm, a bathroom. We were literally just joking about how that's literally one of the hardest parts.
I've always told Cody that I'm like, if anybody ever asked me what the hardest part about being a woman farmer is, it's the bathroom. I, I it is a miracle if we can farm somewhere within, like a decent, like distance to a bathroom. And that's something that a lot of people don't.
You don't think about it until it's your everyday reality.
You really don't think about it until you're attached to a fertilized trailer with a thousand gallons on it. And you are a woman next to a highway, like next to a highway, but there's no bathroom in sight, and you have somebody driving the tractor right next to you, and you're like, what are we going to do about this?
It's a where are we going to go?
It's a real struggle. And there are struggles that, again, you like to say, I don't think I don't want to think that it's harder, but I'm going to give myself a pat on the back. And there are things that are harder. And I think, let's maybe talk about some of those things more serious. Like what? Is there ever been a time that you've like, had to step back and say, oh wait, I really am a woman in a man's world?
Are there situations, not that you were offended because we've kind of talked about that. You're not offended. It's not people.
Get offended by it, but they're definitely times where those things.
Or stereotypes that you've been impacted by.
There are times when you encounter somebody that either recognizes like, hey, I see you're a woman doing this. Like, this is amazing. Like, you were great for doing this. And I'm like, I'm. And then there are other towns that you do run into people that you make them uncomfortable being in this industry, being a woman. Now, I will say that is not often right.
It really isn't. But you think about it and I'm like, God, I forget I'm a woman and.
I'm just in this industry. I'm just here. I'm just doing what I love.
I don't sometimes, I don't know, listen to other people pointed out, that it is different and that it is something that should be celebrated because there are other women doing this that are struggling just like I am. And I'm like, God, we are really doing this thing.
Did you ever have.
Any hesitations when you kind of figured out that this is the path that you wanted to take? Did you have any hesitations about.
Yes. And it was really before I started doing more field work. And then I realized, this isn't bad, you know, until I understood more. I really did have a big question mark in my head on, like, how do I get into this? I know that I love this, I know that I will love doing this, but how do I really enter this?
Should I really just back up and go an industry route or something like that? You know, can I really do this? You know, can I really be a farmer? And then it just kind of fell into it. I eventually I was just like, I've got this. And eventually you get comfortable with your choices. But that comes with years.
And unfortunately.
It is the harder route. I mean, as somebody who grew up on a similar path and obviously we kind of took similar paths out of high school and into college, it's not easy. I it's easier to fall into the industry route. It's it's more common to, as a female to take that industry route. I, I'm sure if I wanted to go home and farm, my dad would hesitantly take me back.
But that's probably not because I'm a female. It's more of a personality difference there. But, I want to commend you on starting farming is hard, and we kind of alluded to that. This is not an easy thing for you to jump in. And we kind of I've talked about that with my father, like he's like, I don't know how you start that the capital that it takes to get invested.
Yes. It's hard.
Yes it is. And, well, all you got to do is go to a bank, walk you through it.
You know.
You may still not know how it all works, and you're in the middle of it and realizing you have a huge crop and you're.
Like, well, I'm here. I hope it's a good year.
But that that is the more complicated part of it is where do you start now? Once you've started, there's always help. You know, you can always ask questions. But the hardest part is how does this start? And I did have charity like I I've got to give a lot of credit to him because he really got the start.
Before I came down on it, he had started farming, by itself a little bit a couple years before we got married. And so he really took the brunt of it, thankfully. But, as far as expanding the operation, that's something that me and him experience together.
You're probably going to take the brunt of motherhood, parenthood. So even out there.
Yeah.
You take that.
But what I got is it's a great one.
But it's it's been, interesting, a risk. And I want to encourage any other woman out there that you can do whatever you want to do.
I think you're such a great example. It's so fun.
You kind of just figuring out what you want to do is the hardest.
And I think that's what I kind of want to go back to. The industry route is not an easy route. I love what I do, and I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I think it takes all kinds in all places to make this industry go round. And I'm so glad that you figured out where you wanted to be in it, and you did what it took, because it's not easy and it's definitely a a harder routes.
And it's.
In.
Terms of a leap of faith.
And there are aspects of it where really there is a little bit of a difference with men and women, where I have to do things a little bit different physically. Right. That could be slower. You know, sometimes I make a step stool.
You know, I never even thought about that stuff.
Like, like, I mean, it it's it's little things that I address. Like, I have a whole pack of, like, leverage tools in my truck so that, like, I can turn things and do things myself. A cheater pipe is like, I have to have one at all times, just in case. Like basically anything for leverage. You can use it stuff you don't.
I never would have.
Thought about.
That.
Don't think about having to struggle with it. I mean, yes, in terms of like just regular mechanical work, people have to do that. All right. But maybe not.
As often as I have.
To. Like, I have to I think.
That's very safe to say, not.
Everywhere.
Because I don't have a strong of a grip sometimes. I mean, like, it sounds, you know, feminine when I have to say things like that.
But it's it's a reality.
It's the truth. It's how it is that sometimes I do things differently than other people. And things are a little bit more difficult, but I.
Still get them done.
That's so funny. I think that's such an interesting perspective into being a woman. And a man's not in a man's world. And I hate to say that because the egg industry is very nice and everybody, it's just it's not the norm.
Look, I, I really don't get the opportunity to discuss this as much as I would like. Because, you know, there's not I don't have as many, you know, people like me up here. I know there's a I met through Farm Bureau, a lot of women that are into farming and ranching and stuff like that. And that's been like a godsend.
I want to hold on to those people. Yeah.
I don't live near.
I was about to say. I guess that's not even like that's not even a part we've kind of touched on, but it's such an important thing. It's just it's.
Very difficult to.
Connect, to relate with people who are in similar situations because it is so unique about not going.
Hey, what.
Are we doing for the bathroom during harvest? Or what are we like? You don't have that. And I mean, we joke about the men at coffee shops in the morning like that's what they're doing. They're relating to people who are in similar situations, and there's not as large of a group of people to have that network with as a woman producer.
And there there can be a gap there too, as well. You know, people don't always assume that, the one that they could call and ask some of these questions as well. I have my people that will call me for sure and talk and ask questions and we'll chat. But Cody definitely is the one that gets most of the calls on chat and on stuff.
And I have to ask him second hand. Mike, what did you ask? And sometimes you have to call back and you know what?
They don't ask the details, man. I've learned that, it's like I will my husband will tell me news and I'm like, well, what about this? Like, I don't know, I don't know. That's just what they told me in that phone game. I was about to say that we should probably start a support group for y'all, but I feel like in ways that's kind of what Farm Bureau.
Is, is and, and when you have the time to be a part of it, it is extremely, extremely where the young farmers and ranchers we really met, a lot of people that I feel like we're going through the same struggles as us that, you know, like you said at the coffee shop, you may not run into those people because they've been doing this for a while, or their their dad, their grandpa or whatever, been doing this for years.
And sometimes you run into those people in your farmer and ranchers that they're just as clueless as we are. And that's refreshing. Absolutely refreshing. And I always get, to meet, more of the women that are doing something right. And, like I said, I wish I could connect more with them, but, I mean, we really have been so busy.
It's not like you have anything going on or running a farming operation. I got to welcome a child in the world.
I'm in the past couple of years when we got so much bigger in the past, I guess two years, or 2 or 3 years since we picked this place that really we just got crazy and things haven't slowed down, really? Because, when we've had bad environmental years in the past three years, we've had bad marketing. We've had, record highs, our input prices.
I mean.
Great to a great time to be a young producer. Right?
I apologize to the world, because I feel like I'm personally responsible because, like, since the day that Cody and I got married and I entered in this farming operation, it has been downhill, and I'm like, I did this.
I'm sorry.
I started working in health care in February of 2020, and I've apologized for Covid because I was like, that's just my life.
Sometimes you step into it and then.
It's like, I feel like this is definitely my.
Fault. It's following me. I don't think.
That's true at all. I think that's just the.
Nature's finally been our luck. Because I hate Cody. I actually got to see a few good years, before I came on, and I actually had nothing.
But.
Last year, it was probably my favorite and least favorite. Your favorite? Because I really felt like our operation ran smooth. You know, we had good yields. Like, we had something to be proud of. But, I mean, just like any other farmer out there who we didn't get anything for all of our hard work and, just.
It's just not one.
Thing. It's the other.
Absolutely. But you have to, like, hang on to those things that make it worth it. So I hang on to my little yields from last year that I'm proud of. And, you know, all of our hard work that we did because I didn't hang on to that. I would be crazy right now.
And it's going to work out. It always works out. And I think you're exactly where y'all are supposed to be. So it's going to continue to work out so that you are able to continue to do this course. And y'all are learning and it's part of it. And all I.
Can do is pray every day that I'm going to get to wake up and keep doing this. You know, and especially now having a baby on the way. I want to show her this. And she may hate farming. She may, you know, absolutely think we are crazy for ever having wanted to do this, but I at least want to give her the opportunity to see what we built.
And you know what we can do every day.
I have a feeling she's not going to hate farming. And I think, well, if she may not want a farm, she's going to definitely take what she's learned from watching you too, on the farm for it.
That's all I care about, because it is a very I mean, you grew up around this life as well. I mean, it gives you an appreciation for just life in general that a lot of people don't necessarily.
It's, it's something we take. So for granted, I think the values and just like what, what you learn on the farm and that hard work and like I, I don't forget that I'm a woman in this job because that's just how I was raised. And women do hard stuff too. And you get the job done. But also I live in Metairie now, and I guess I take for granted.
Our neighbor came over the other day. We brought her some crawfish and she was like asking about the farming operation. And Tyler, my husband, was kind of explaining and I was like, so proud. And my little city husband was explaining how rice farming worked and that. But again, I didn't realize that time with the college, because when you grow up in these rural communities, even if you're not and from a farming family, you have an appreciation and an awareness of how rice is grown or how cotton or corn, because you see it and you're driving around it.
But in the cities, that's not the case. And I was really dumbfounded by that.
Well, and I also found a big love for telling people about this and telling people your story. When I went to college, I mean, unless you have people from all.
Walks of life. Yeah.
And, you know, my accent can sometimes give me, things, especially being in south Louisiana, a south Louisiana accent, you get, you know, you hear that down there? And sometimes this accent comes out and they're like, how.
Are you northerners?
And, you know, explaining that small town atmosphere to somebody else and, try to give them, give them a little piece of the farm and, like, show them what this is like. It's fun.
I mean, it it's so fun and so important, I think. And it's only going to be more important. And I think Charlotte is going to be able to tell that story to another generation. And I think that's again, I don't want to say if that's the only thing she takes from you being a farmer, because it's not going to be, but that's going to be so important to.
And that because that generations even further removed from the farm than what we experience in college and it is,
We're on a working farm.
If y'all couldn't tell.
We're definitely not a working farm. And when we say working, we use that term.
And most of our equipment is.
Struggle all the time. We love to carry lots of, old affection in.
In the if it gets the.
Job done, do what you gotta do. So but I think, kind of talking about how even as in.
Rural communities.
People are getting far removed, I think we kind of talked about how you're busy, and time is obviously a valuable asset, but you are so involved in those organizations outside of the farm that are still involved in agriculture. But can you kind of talk about why you dedicate time to that and why you think it's valuable?
Absolutely.
it's as important as actually getting the farm work done is, I do think it's more important to make sure that we can farm tomorrow. You know, in a, in a sense, so I feel like being a part of an organization is the only contribution that we have to make sure that there is a type of sustainability in farming.
You know, there's a big agronomic farm sustainability. And I'm very familiar with. And then there's, a larger political part that I'm less comfortable with and less familiar with. But it's probably more important, because that affects how we farm every single day and how we will farm in the future. So I do really feel like all of these organizations, that advocate for farming and, you know, support producers, whether that's in Washington or just any, any kind of government setting her, supporting research or anything like that, very important to farmers to contribute whatever valuable time that you have to these organizations.
Because it's what keeps us going. And, as guilty as anybody for wanting to sound like we don't have time.
To do that,
I really would like for you to go do that, and that's amazing.
And, like,
We need to get this irrigated today, or we need to get this planted today or something like that. But he's actually better than I am even about giving his time, to these organizations. And that's, something I would probably like to dedicate more time to in the future. You know, I always say, well, if we've had a better year, I'd get more.
And we just haven't had a good year since I've been on the farm yet. But I do think that, that is extremely important to any anybody that's farming. Now, whether you're a young farmer or an old farmer, it's something that we need contribution to and they need our thoughts out there. Otherwise, you know, it's somebody else, you know, having their opinion.
You know, I feel like we can drop the mic, stop the camera. We've just bagged the Farm Bureau commercial here. I think you've articulated why we.
Think farmers are so valuable and we can just go home. I think we're done. I think you've you've done.
Our job for us, and.
We're just going to go take that tagline home with it. Now.
But I'm just okay. I think,
We are.
Here for Women's History Month. So before we go, because I think that's an excellent stopping point. And you so well, you've talked so well about everything and have honestly, just by sharing your story and what you do and what's on the farm, you've probably empowered so many women to maybe take that leap of faith or to say, you know what, I can do this.
I didn't see myself in that. But by looking at you, I know that I can do this. Is there anything that we haven't touched on, or is there anything that you haven't got to say that you would want Charlotte to know in 20 years? Or any woman in AG that's considering going into the industry? Is there anything you want them to know?
That's $1 million question. Because I wish I could go back and give myself some advice that.
Would get me through.
These hard years that we've already been through. But unfortunately, patience is the only answer. The I have. Because really, knowledge just comes with time and experience and failures. Lots and lots of failing. Honestly, the more you fail, the more you're doing it, the more you're learning. And that really does sound cliche, but it is.
It really is the truth. So maybe the best advice I can offer somebody is if you're struggling, you're doing the right thing, you're learning something, and you're going to get better because you're struggling. At least that's the best advice I can tell myself right now to keep my sanity in, this crazy world that we're in right now of uncertainty anyway.
But, I guess trying to keep a good team around you would probably be another thing. And not being afraid to communicate and get involved in a conversation because just because you're a woman. And that doesn't mean you don't belong here, as much as anybody else. It can be difficult to find your community, and find your people that you can talk to.
But just keep trying for sure.
Well, Melanie, I know we're talking about aging and being a woman and egg, but I have to tell you, I think you're going to be a great mother. And this is going to come very naturally, because just the advice you gave there, I know, is.
Going.
To be great for Charlotte. Do. And I hope Collins take something from watching this episode today to one day when she understands what's being said, because I think it's a good time to be having little girls, and that women like you are shown and that they can be anything that they want to be when they grow up. And.
Really can't.
I just thank you so much for taking the taking the time out of your busy, busy schedule and bearing with us seven months pregnant. That's a lot of talking. I remember those days and that there's nothing there's no room left for the breathing.
The lack of lung capacity, the full time.
I promise. Nobody could tell. And you've done so great. And we just, again, really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and for being such a strong woman and, and, and being a voice for women in the industry and for losing in agriculture as a whole.
If you're interested in learning more about the Young Farmers and Ranchers Program, the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, or anything else that we've talked about today, we'll have links in our show, so be sure to check those out. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Podcast.