Appleberrys Mix New Technology, Natural Resources In Corn, Soybeans

By: Brad Robb

Nestled next to County Road 397, northwest of Tillar, Ark., a multi-generational row crop operation continues the family farming tradition started in 1941.

“My grandfather, who worked as a mule master for R.A. Pickins, bought the initial 60 acres of this farm after he moved out of an area called The Gourd,” says Frank Appleberry, a third generation farmer and second generation family member to graduate from the University of Arkansas.

Seventy-five year-old A&A Farms was built on cotton, but after several harvest seasons replete with hurricane-remnant winds and rains, the increased efficiencies and lower overall costs of producing grains pushed cotton out.

“Cotton will always have a place in this farm’s history, but after putting pen to paper, we made the switch to corn and soybeans.

“Since then, we’ve improved our harvesting speeds and oriented fertilizer zone maps on our John Deere 2630 monitors. We also use the 2630 monitors to map varieties so we can conduct yield analyses at the end of the season.

“We use precision planting 20/20 monitors to handle our planting prescription composite maps,” says Jacob Appleberry, who is the fourth generation of Appleberry farmers, and the third generation to graduate from the University of Arkansas. After receiving his degree on a Saturday, he was back on the farm laying irrigation pipe the following Monday.

The Appleberrys use four data management systems to verify consistency and to provide backup if problems occur. They will soon start using MyJohnDeere, a data management system, that will allow data from their equipment and/or fields to be “cloud-based” and quickly accessed or shared via the internet.