Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Florida Farm Bureau presented both the 2020 and 2021 This Farm CARES awards for Jefferson County at a regional ceremony in Live Oak, Fla., on Nov. 18, 2021. Congratulations to JeffCo Dairy and Monticello Nurseries for their exemplary efforts to implement practices that protect Florida's natural resources. The CARES acronym stands for County Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship, and both of these enterprises have demonstrated that they are fully committed to protecting our local environment while they contribute to the local economy. See full stories about these award-winning operations below.
Monticello Nurseries
Congratulations to Bill French and John Brinson of Monticello Nurseries, the 2021 recipients of the Florida Farm Bureau's This Farm CARES award for Jefferson County!
Brinson and French began producing container grown trees in 2002 with just two beds of plants on a quarter acre of land. They named their business Monticello Nurseries in honor of Fred Mahan's famous nursery. Now their wholesale operation at 1578 W. Washington St. spans 40 acres, has 13 employees and offers an inventory of nearly 100,000 large containers of trees and shrubs. On each parcel of land, they
accomplish extensive conservation goals, including reducing the use of water, nutrients and chemicals; improving water quality; and protecting nearby wildlife habitats.
To accomplish these goals, they use slow-release fertilizers and have created wetlands and irrigation ponds to filter run-off water before it enters Wilson Shepherd Pond, a natural, 12-acre pond on the property that becomes an ibis rookery in the summer. Since installing a micro-irrigation system, they have reduced their yearly water consumption from 11 million gallons to 7 million gallons. Previously, with a traditional irrigation system, 60% of the water hit the ground rather than going into the plant containers where it was needed. Routine scouting for insects allows French and Brinson to target only problem areas for pest control.
“It is in our best interests to do these Best Management Practices,” says French. “It costs money to pump water and spray chemicals.”
Over the years, Monticello Nurseries has built up a strong base of repeat customers whose referrals bring new buyers their way. They also sell their oaks, maples, magnolias, hollies, cypress, pine, myrtles and other specimens through plantANT.com, a website that brings customers and wholesale growers together. They ship plants to retail nurseries, re-wholesalers and commercial landscapers in Texas, across the Southeast and up the East Coast, with a concentration of buyers in North and South Carolina.
“I appreciate the ability to work outdoors,” says Brinson. “It's satisfying to create a tangible end product.”
Brinson and French share many of the responsibilities of their business, with Brinson tending to handle administrative matters while French focuses more on production. They are members of the Florida Nursery Grower's and Landscape Association and are active in the community as well. French supports St. Jude's Charity and Helen's House of Brooks Rehabilitation. He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Monticello and have two children, Julianna and Will. Brinson serves on the board for Healthyways in Monticello and the Archbold Foundation in Thomasville. He and his wife, Margret, live in Thomasville and have two sons, Jack and Curry.
JeffCo Dairy
Congratulations to Calvin Moody and Doyle Weltzbarker of JeffCo Dairy, the 2020 recipients of the Florida Farm Bureau's “This Farm CARES” award for Jefferson County! (Note: Presentation of the 2020 award was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic.)
Moody and Weltzbarker first met in 1998 when Weltzbarker needed help with one of his dairies. A mutual acquaintance gave him Moody's number, and they began to talk about a partnership. Moody, who grew up on a dairy farm in Waycross, Ga., had just graduated from Cornell University with degrees in Animal Science and Farm Business Management.
“One thing led to another,” recalls Weltzbarker, “and we worked out a deal.”
With Moody's knowledge of cattle and Welzbarker's experience growing livestock feed, the complementary areas of focus have made for a successful partnership across multiple operations that has lasted for going on 24 years.
In 2006, they bought an existing dairy and renamed it JeffCo Dairy. This farm includes 2,325 Holsteen dairy cows pastured in the Ashville area of northeast Jefferson County. They produce raw milk that is sold through the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) coop to customers like Borden and Dean Foods, who process it into a wide range of dairy products for consumption.
Over the years, they have worked closely with staff at the Suwannee River Water Management District to implement Best Management Practices that protect the land and conserve water. They monitor rainfall to inform their irrigation schedule. Regular soil sampling that measures fertility helps them moderate fertilizer use. They use a three-crop rotation of corn, sorghum and oats when growing feed for the livestock, and they have changed from impact sprinklers to low-pressure drip nozzles to irrigate the crops. A new freestall barn was added to the JeffCo property in 2012, and the cropland has been increased by 150 acres. They are “holding steady” for now but excited for what the future could bring.
Moody and his wife, Heidi, have two young daughters, Rebecca and Catherine. Weltzbarker has two grown daughters, Jill and Jan. One of his grandchildren, Steven, majored in General Agriculture and will be joining the farming operation in January.
Moody and Weltzbarker both feel that God led them to one another, and they are just trying to do their best with God's creation of land and cattle.
For more information about the Florida Farm Bureau's CARES program, visit www.thisfarmcares.org.