White County family runs water-tight farm

The Shannon Feather Family of Higginson, owners of Conant Crops Inc., is the 2018 White County Farm Family of the Year. Pictured are, from left, Josh Qualls and Kyla, Lynley, Luke, Abby, Ahnean, Thomas, Tami and Shannon Feather.
The Shannon Feather Family of Higginson, owners of Conant Crops Inc., is the 2018 White County Farm Family of the Year. Pictured are, from left, Josh Qualls and Kyla, Lynley, Luke, Abby, Ahnean, Thomas, Tami and Shannon Feather.

— Farming is a way of life for Shannon Feather.

Feather and his family, who own Conant Crops Inc., are the 2018 White County Farm Family of the Year. The Feathers are row-crop farmers with grows in Higginson and Griffithville.

“It’s a good way to honor the family,” Feather said. “When it comes to the farm-family part, I’ve got the family. There is difficulty in all of it. If it’s honoring my family, it’s good.

“I finally told the family that we had been chosen. They’ve got to accept us. That’s OK with me because I know we’re a good family. I love my family.”

Feather said he originally wanted to decline the honor.

“I didn’t know what all it would entail,” he said, but added that he’s glad he accepted.

The Feather family includes his wife, Tami; son, Lucas; and daughters, Kyla and Abby. Lucas farms with his father. He recently married the former Lynley Choate. Kyla is in pharmacy school at Harding University in Searcy; Abby just graduated from Searcy High School and will attend Central Baptist College in Conway this fall to study accounting.

Feather’s row crops include soybeans, rice, wheat and corn.

“We’ve got neighbors growing other crops, so someday it may be even more than that,” Feather said. “Who knows?”

Feather said his family farm started in 1943. The farm where he currently lives was purchased in the early 1970s.

“Farming is a part of my heritage,” he said. “My earliest memories on my grandpa’s farm were cows that he raised, a few small patches of rice and a patch of sorghum to make molasses. As time went on, my dad, Thomas, while working a factory job, began his farming career. He would work nights at the factory so he could have more daytime hours in the fields.

“As far as my memory, the farm goes back to my grandpa and my dad and me. Then hopefully, it will go to Luke. That is the intention.”

Feather said he bought his first farm, 363 acres, in 2004.

“Once you farm, you don’t leave. … You’re on the farm,” he said.

One of the big things the Feather farm participates in is water conservation. Feather said the operation does not use ground water.

“It has to evaporate to leave our farm,” Feather said. “We’re not going to let water leave if we can help it, once we capture it.”

There are federal programs in which the Feather farm participates.

“There are a lot of programs through the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Resources Conservation Service that we’re involved in,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of ground water. We use a lot of surface water.”

The farms have a series of reservoirs and recovery pits, as well as underground pipelines to move the water.

“Once you pump out of that reservoir onto a field, what runs off of it goes into a ditch, then into a recovery pit and is picked up again and put back into the field,” Feather said. “Drainage and irrigation are very key to the process.

“NRCS has been a big player in this for us.”

Feather said a lot of farms use ground water.

“The water table has really dropped in this area,” he said. “You can’t produce a lot of water anyway, a couple of hundred gallons a minute. It’s not enough to grow very many crops. That’s the reason for the surface water. It’s paid dividends.

“So every year is different. Rain water plays a big key in it.”

Feather said his favorite crop to grow is corn.

“Corn is fast,” he said. “You can’t stump your toe on it. Everything is time-sensitive. If you come up short on one of them, that’s going to go all the way through with you,” referring to issues with corn.

At the same time, Feather likes to grow rice. However, this is the first time in several years that he’s grown rice.

“Rice is a crop that you can manipulate as the year goes,” he said. “If you neglect it, you can kind of bring it back. Corn is quick. It’s a lot of bushels, and it looks great. You watch it grow.”

Luke Feather said his favorite crop is soybeans.

“It’s a very consistent crop,” he said. “I like watching it. The plants are pretty to me. We’ve gotten constantly better at growing soybeans over the years. They just appeal to me.”

Shannon Feather said the family brought rice back this year to grow on some new ground that he recently purchased.

“I bought some ground that was marginal, and rice is the crop for it,” he said. “You couldn’t go out and put corn on it, not knowing the ground. It gives me a chance to learn it and adjust it. Then I had another couple of areas that were low, and you lose crops every now and then due to flooding. I just put those in rice. It’s not profitable, but it’s a good crop and a good rotation.

“It’s better than leaving the land fallow. Planting rice takes care of some weed control.”

Feather said there are some challenges that every farmer faces.

“The larger challenges are that land values have inflated until I don’t see how the beginning farmers are going to buy a farm. I really don’t, with current crop prices. The capital side is difficult. We’re one of the only industries that actually produces a commodity, but we don’t name our own price. We have to go with what is given.”

Feather also said family farms like his are going to grow slowly,“because you have to take all of this land, all of its product and all of its profits to buy this smaller tract of land and improve it until it’s paid for and get the next one,” he said. “I would say that land values have limited the local farms. It’s becoming more corporate.

“When you get into farming, you’re in it for the long haul. You can’t start and stop the next year.”

In addition to farming full time, Feather owns and operates Feather Siding and Seamless Guttering in Searcy.

“That helps supplement the farm income until I can buy a little more and do a little more,” Feather said. “We’re operating both businesses. One steals time from the other, but we make it work.

“It’s difficult. That’s long days and a lot of nights. On the farm, there are some things that are time sensitive. Every so often, you’ve got to call a homeowner and tell them, ‘I just can’t do it now.’

“As long as you are honest with them, and they are honest with you, it works.”

Right now, the Feathers do not have any hired hands. A nephew, Joshua Qualls, helps on the farm.

“It’s hard on both industries,” Feather said. “It’s hard to find people who’re willing to work a long, hot day. It’s me, dad and Luke pretty much taking care of the farm. My nephew Josh is learning a lot.”

Growing the farm much bigger could take a toll on them, Feather said.

“If we grow the farm much, there is only so much you can do,” he said. “You’ve got to have help. We’re at the point of either staying consistent, or you’ve got to find help.

“There is a fine line. Profitability is important.”

While Feather’s daughters do not work on the farm, their father said they are important.

“They feed us,” he said. “They keep us moving. That long day gets worse if we can’t get food or parts for us.”

Tami has been known to help some on the farm, while she also works for Searcy Dermatology.

“I have driven a tractor,” Tami said. “It’s been awhile.”

Shannon said Tami helped with the rice crop this year.

“I’ll give her props,” he said. “She put in levy gates this year. We’ve been out of the rice rotation for a couple of years. She came out and put in levy gates. That’s a big thing. She does help.”

In addition to all the work that Shannon Feather does, he’s heavily involved with the family’s church, Higginson First Baptist Church, where he’s been a member since 1991.

Shannon serves on the Building and Grounds Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee.

“Faith. Family. Farm. That’s kind of the way it is,” he said.

In addition to church activities, he was a board member for the Little Christian School in Searcy for five years, and he’s on the board of the Little Red River Irrigation District and the White County Farm Bureau.

Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.

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