Winter meeting season has ended. Farmers are beginning to get into the field, working on their crops.

Last year at this time, I did a column on “quotable quotes” from meeting season, and just like last year, a number of memorable quotes from the various meetings this year stayed with me.

Here are just a few:

“We don’t have any extra money to spend in 2019. We have to be right.”

• Yadkin County, N.C., farmer Kevin Matthews, speaking at the SC AgriBiz & Farm Expo in Florence on maximizing soybean yields.

“While we think volatility is a challenge, it is actually an opportunity. What you have to do is have the discipline to execute and market these commodities to capture that window of profitability. There won’t be a lot of home runs, but a lot of base hits.”

• Virginia Tech Economist David Kohl, speaking at the North Carolina Commodities Conference at in Durham.

“Cover crops are the visual part of what we do. Cover crops are what you actually get to see when you drive by the field and see how it is working for you.”

• Conway, N.C., farmer Donny Lassiter, speaking at the North Carolina Commodities Conference in Durham

“Cover crops are known for the soil health benefits, but I’m looking at it from a fertility perspective because we have cheap nitrogen now. I don’t know how long it’s going to be cheap, and that’s one way we could change our cotton systems is to maybe not rely on inorganic nitrogen fertilizer.”

• Virginia Tech Extension Cotton Specialist Dr. Hunter Frame, speaking at thee Virginia Cotton Production Conference in Franklin.

“I have to throw in a word of caution. I’m really afraid my theory of agricultural economics is going to take place. And that is if you put a good profit margin in front of a farmer, he’s going to farm his way out of it as quickly as he can by over-production. I think we can over-produce this very quickly and we are going to try to craft a program in North Carolina that helps with this.”

• Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, in his annual State of North Carolina Agriculture address delivered at the Ag Development Forum at the Southern Farm Show at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, speaking on industrial hemp.

After a very challenging 2018, farmers all across the Southeast are due a banner year of cooperative weather, exceptional yields and excellent returns. Here’s hoping 2019 is your best crop year ever.