BY DONNA SWICEGOOD

Jeff Sloan is described as a person of faith, family and farming.

Those traits, along with Sloan’s commitment to agriculture, led to him being named Farmer of the Year at the Farm City Week Banquet on Thursday night. The award was presented by AgSouth Farm Credit, the Statesville Kiwanis Club and Iredell County Cooperative Extension.

“This farmer is involved in his church, involved in his community,” said Nancy Keith, cooperative extension agent for Iredell County. “He’s a wonderful husband, dad, son, uncle, father-in-law, takes care of his family and is willing to help others at any given time. He certainly is a person of faith, family and farming.”

Speaking during the banquet at Iredell County Agriculture Center, Keith said the Sloan family’s history in farming is a long one.

“They’ve been farming since 1947 when they began growing cotton, wheat, corn, oats and hay. They started the dairy operation in the mid ‘50s where they were producing milk for Carnation here in Statesville,” she said.

They sold the dairy operation in the late 1980s, she said. They currently grow 250 to 300 acres of wheat, 150 to 200 acres of corn, 350 to 400 acres of soybeans and harvest about 15,000 bales of straw.

According to Keith, Sloan and his family have embraced the latest technology and use 100 percent conservation practices.

Like most farmers, Keith said, Sloan wears many hats.

“He’s always eager to help people, help farmers. He helps people diagnose problems … If he can’t figure out the answers, he’ll work until he can figure out the answers,” she said. “That’s the way most farmers are.”

Sloan’s dedication to his family was evident when he accepted the award, recognizing his father, wife, children and other relatives. “Family works together,” he said.

Sloan said his father, Barry, was his inspiration as a man and a farmer. “He showed us, all of us boys, how to work hard and he provided a great example for us,” he said.

Sloan, who also works at James River Equipment, said his boss, Henry Hall, has been supportive of him, and he also thanked all of the farmers in the room for their friendship and support.

Sloan said he really enjoys farming and working with his family. “All of us working together,” he said, is what makes their farm successful.

He said he was humbled and appreciative of his selection as Farmer of the Year.

Guest Speaker

While Sloan comes from a long line of farmers, the guest speaker for the banquet was a first-generation farmer. Will Brinkley, who lives in Davidson County, might be relatively new at farming but is probably one of the better known farmers through his TikTok account.

Brinkley said he started the Tik Tok account on a comedic tone, sharing humorous stories about the daily life of a farmer.

But as his TikTok gained followers, Brinkley said, he decided to use his platform to educate people about farming. Some of his TikTok postings have garnered him more than 2 million followers. “I get a lot of questions,” he said, adding he is thrilled to pass on the importance of farming.

Brinkley’s account is @tarheelfarmer.

He said his interest in farming began as a child, and resulted in an embarrassing moment for his mother, who he described as the ultimate Southern lady. At the age of 4, while on a trip to the bank with his mother, Brinkley said, another customer asked him what Santa Claus was going to bring him for Christmas.

“I hollered out in this small town bank that I wanted a manure spreader,” he said, adding he used a different name for manure.

“She (his mother) begged my daddy to switch banks.”

Brinkley said that customer eventually became a mentor when he decided to get into farming.

Brinkley said he believes in looking for positivity in every situation, perseverance, and surrounding himself with good people.