Farm Progress

Top stories of 2017 featured pecans, young farmers and the too soon passing of a respected farmer and a dear friend.

Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

December 27, 2017

1 Min Read
Pecan stories among the top read for 2017

Two of the most read Southwest Farm Press website articles in 2017 featured pecans. One of those, initially published in 2008, continues to make the top ten list on a regular basis. Another popular story detailed some of the challenges facing young people who want to farm for a living. Land and equipment are among their biggest obstacles.

The story about Danny Davis, a dear friend and respected cotton farmer from the Carolinas to the West Coast, describes how friends, neighbors, family and a few strangers got together to harvest his last crop following his untimely death. We miss him.

Pecan groves offer profitable options

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Help wanted: young farmers to take over retired acreage

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Cotton farmers Gordon Graves (recently retired), his son Clay and nephew Troy McGann, are thinking about opportunities for farmers in the Texas High Plains.

Is 2017 looking like a bumper year for pecans?

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The New Mexico pecan crop looks promising in an

Danny Davis’ last crop: It was a good one

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Danny Davis’ daughter Sara Alsup, his wife Sherry, sister Susan Holland, his mother Marge with, and Sara’s kids, Miles, Marli, and Mosi, are shown in one of Danny Davis’ 2016 cotton fields.

About the Author(s)

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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