Mike Moser "I Say" Published March 28, 2003

Farming here is something to really celebrate

Those of us who work and live in Cumberland County believe that we are a modern urban community connected to major cultural events by a ribbon of asphalt running east and west. Because of our mobility, many of us often forget the very staple that anchors our community.

That is why the annual Friends of Farming luncheon and the Farm/City Breakfast are such important events.

Not only does it pull together friends from town and the farm, it allows us all time to pause on the importance of farming to our daily lives and it reminds us of our roots.

In the late 1700s or early 1800s early settlers passing through Cumberland County en route to settlements realized that the Crab Orchard area would be a good place to set up roadside inns to provide rest and food for other travelers.

While many would argue this was the first foray into developing tourism for the county, others could equally argue that it led to the first farming ventures in the community.

Early settlers found that despite the massive amount of rock lying under the skin of earth, there were some places that farm crops thrive upon and today farming is a most intricate part of today's economy.

From peddling apples and selling corn to pioneers passing through to the multi-million dollar green bean industry and even the truck farming that provides many of us with food while providing farmers with an outlet for their goods and an income.

Today there are 726 farm operations in Cumberland County, which surprisingly is up from 639 farm operations counted in 1992. Farmland has increased in acreage from 96,874 to 100,352 in just five years.

On the flip side, farm size has decreased nine percent and full time farms by five percent during that same five-year period. In 1997, market value of agricultural products increased 131 percent to $37,229,000.

The Greater Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce has presented the annual Farm Festival Luncheon for eight years now. Another important program is the Farm/City Breakfast organized by the chamber and held late each fall in celebration of the end of the harvest season.

Cumberland County Farm Bureau always takes an active role in both programs and this year's festival was sponsored by Mountain Farm International, Plateau Truck & Tractor, Tri-County Equipment, the chamber and Farm Bureau.

The list of past Friends of Farming who have been honored at the festival reads like a who's who in Cumberland County agribusiness. They include John Mast and sons, Wayne Jernigan, J.B. and Joyce Creason, John Kemmer III and Claude Little, Huel Neal, Dr. Robert Freeland, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Wilson Jr., Dr. Charles Mullins, Jones Produce, Roger Thackston, Danny Kemmer, R.L. Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Marlin Haston, Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Rowell and this year's recipients, Jack Looney and Ernest Neal.

It will be spring planting time before we know it and soon we will be traveling to the Farmer's Market off Hwy. 70 N at the Community Complex to purchase the fresh bounty of the labor of local farmers.

It is fitting we take time out to recognize our friends in the ag business, and next time you see them, a thank-you would be appropriate as well.

· · ·
Mike Moser is the editor of the Crossville Chronicle. His column is published periodically on Fridays.