VALDOSTA — The nine contenders for the 2011 Swisher Sweet/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year traded work boots for suits Monday night.

Hundreds turned out as the nine state winners and finalists were honored at a reception sponsored by Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center.

Sunbelt Agriculture Expo Executive Director Chip Blalock feels that the Farmer of the Year program is at the grassroots of what helps a community function.

“It’s just a great program that brings recognition to the farmers that provide the food, fiber and shelter that we take for granted sometimes,” said Blalock.

The Southeastern Farmer of the Year will be announced today at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie.

Last year’s Farmer of the Year, Robert Dasher, offered some humble words to calm the nerves of this year’s finalists.

“Keep your fingers crossed,” said Dasher. “I just hope each and every one of them could win it. I know it couldn’t be all but I’m sure the judges done a good job.”

At Monday’s reception, emceed by Jimmy Hill of Dawsonville, the state winners received a green jacket. Additional prizes included a $2,500 cash award, an all expense paid trip to the Sunbelt Ag Expo from Swisher International, a $200 gift certificate from the Williamson-Dickie Company and a $500 gift certificate from Southern States.

This is the 22nd year that Swisher International and the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo have honored the agricultural community and industry with the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Award.

“It’s just unbelievable,” said Blalock.

Since its start in 1990, the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Award has evolved into the highest honor in the southeastern agricultural community. One-hundred-seventy-seven outstanding agribusiness leaders are honored for their contributions to agriculture and 10 states participate in the program: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

One of three judges, Dr. John McKissick, spoke at length about the strengths of each finalist and how that posed such a challenge when trying to do his job.

“It was probably one of the most difficult tasks I’ve ever had in my career professionally,” said McKissick. “There’s really nine winners. They're all truly winners in their own right and it’s hard to judge one against the other.”

Judges visited the farms of each of the nine finalists in just four-and-a-half days. They were judged on a number of different standards such as the efficiency of the operation, how successful they have been over time and how each finalist plans for the future.

The judges visited farms like the belonging to Carlos Vickers in Nashville, Ga.

“I’m very humbled to be selected,” said Vickers. “There’s a lot of good farmers in this state and just to be among them is a very appreciative feeling for me.”

Vickers, the 2011 Georgia Farmer of the Year, was born into a longtime farming family. His dad collected turpentine from pine trees and relied on hogs to pay the bills. His first farm job as a 5-year-old was driving a tobacco harvester. Then, at age 7 or 8, he fed hogs. In 1994, Vickers’ father retired and sold him and his brother, Lamar, the family farm.

Vickers has been a diversified crop and livestock farmer for 32 years and farms in partnership with his brother and Lamar’s son, Bradley, who is following in their footsteps. Together, they farm 3,135 acres, including 2,535 acres of owned land and 600 acres of rented land.

Almost a farming “jack of all trades,” Vickers recently added blueberries as a new crop, but also grows watermelons, tobacco, peanuts, cotton and corn. They also have 800 acres of timber and 300 acres of pasture for their beef cattle which includes 450 brood cows, 15 bulls and about 1,000 head of stocker cattle.

“We found out that maybe being so diverse that if one crop comes up short then maybe another one will fill the void. It’s kind of the way we have based our operation over the years,” explained Vickers.

Ron St. John, Florida Farmer of the Year, owns five dairy farms, including two in Georgia and has a new one under construction in Florida.

John began farming in 1968 and has been a catalyst for innovation and expansion in dairy farming.

“Probably the biggest innovation is the barns,” explained John. “When we came to Florida there weren’t a lot of barns. Cattle were not raised in barns and we like to think that we helped that transition.”

Last year, John farmed 11,820 acres, including 6,995 acres of rented land and 4,825 acres of owned land. He has about 17,000 milk cows, raises replacement heifers, buys herd bulls and grows three crops per year; corn silage, forage sorghum and ryegrass.

Georgia has had  three overall winners, James Lee Adams of Camilla in 2000, Armond Morria of Ocilla in 2002 and last year’s winner, Robert Dasher of Glennville.

The Southeastern Farmer of the Year receives $15,000 from Swisher International, the use of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a year from Massey Ferguson North America, which was displayed at Monday night’s dinner, a custom-made Canvasback gun safe from Misty Morn Safe Company, a $500 gift certificate from Southern States cooperative, a $500 gift certificate and $500 cash reward from Williamson-Dickie.

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