Local Farmer Named Nations Top Farmer Of The Year

By: Salena Schaffer

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI)-

Billy Tabb of Eupora, loves farming…

“It’s something different everyday… you have to be able to be a carpenter, a mechanic, you know not just a farmer. Sometimes you feel like a chemist when you’re spraying and a mathmatician but you know it’s a good job, if you can make it, there’s nothing better.”said Tabb.

He and his wife Karen own and operate about 25-hundred acres of farmland in the local area.

They grow peanuts, soy beans, tomatoes, watermelon and various other fruits and veggies.

Recently they were names the Nations Top Farmer of the year by the Farm Bureau…

Tabb feels their family’s story and passion for agriculture had a lot to do with their winning…

“I think that the judges on the state and national level even though we weren’t the biggest or the most equipment or whatever they liked the fact that we started small and have built up and they know we’re passionate, I mean I love it.I don’t want to do anything else.” said Tabb.

He is appreciative of their close connection with M-S-U…

“They’ll come out here if I’ve got a question, if I see something in these peanuts here that idk what’s going on, I can call over there and they’ll send someone out, I mean it’s unreal.” said Tabb.

Tabb was once a firefighter for the Starkville Fire Department, but he says that his true calling was to be in the fields…

“I love being a firemen and helping the community but farming, there’s just something about it.” said Tabb.

With farmers only making up to 2-percent of the nations population, the Tabb jokes that they are the reason we all stay fed…

“So yea, 2 percent feed the world ya’ll better be thanking us or you wouldn’t be able to eat or have any clothes.”said Tabb.

So just remember to thank your local farmers and know its not a job just anyone could do.

Tabb is currently a top finalist in a “Rooted in Ag Competition”.

You can help him and his farms win by voting for him at the link below.

http://www.syngenta-us.com/thrive/community/rooted-in-ag-finalists.html