Catoosa County Extension Agent Charles Lancaster recognizes Georgia Sunbelt Farmer of the Year James Lyles at the Catoosa County Commission meeting.Ringgold farmer James Lyles is the 2015 Georgia Sunbelt Farmer of the Year.
Lyles was recognized for his award-winning farm at a recent Catoosa County Commission meeting.
“I have been farming for 20 years,” said Lyles. “I was raised on my grandparents’ farm. As a young boy growing up it was great. I was up chasing tractors with my grandpa. It was a young boy’s dream.”
Now Lyles runs Dry Creek Farm. With help from a couple of farmhands, he tends seven chicken houses and raises 150 cows that give birth to about 140 calves this time of year, he said.
“Every day starts in the chicken house to see what needs to be fixed,” said Lyles. “Every day is different. We stay busy. For our hay customers, we took up to 17,000 square hay bales last year. We hope to do 20,000 square hay bales this year. The weather determines a lot of what we do.”
Days usually begin at 8 a.m. for Lyles and sometimes don’t end until he checks the chicken houses again at 11:30 p.m. that night.
“It’s a seven day a week enterprise when you farm,” he said. “We are in the process of building a chicken house. We built three new chicken houses last year. We put our first bids in last April. We get 220,000 to 230,000 chickens every eight weeks. We keep them six weeks, six times per year.”
Lyles said he was excited to find out that Catoosa County Extension Agent Charles Lancaster had nominated him for the farmer of the year award.
“There’s a lot that goes into being nominated,” said Lyles. “Commissioner Gary Black gave us the award. It was an awesome experience for my family and I. I was pumped.”
After accepting the award, Lyles became Georgia’s representative and candidate for the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year. After several media opportunities and visits to Lyles’ farm, the contest culminated at the Sunbelt Expo in Moultrie, Ga., where all 10 of the Southeastern Farmer of the Year contestants gathered for the announcement of the winner.
“Even though Lyles did not receive the Southeastern Farmer of the Year honor, he truly exemplifies what one would expect from a true Farmer of the Year candidate,” said Lancaster.