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It's been a tough farming year for many farm families in the U.S. Hear what one wife wrote about "every day."

Shelley E. Huguley, Editor

June 21, 2019

2 Min Read
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Jared FloydShelley E. Huguley

I had the privilege of interviewing Jared and Lexi Floyd of Brownfield, Texas, this spring. As I was visiting with Lexi, farm wife to farm wife, she shared with me something she wrote two years ago. She recently posted it again, stating, "Still true. Still hard. Still going."

"Every day I watch this man pull out of our driveway. Every day I worry what the day might hold. I worry that the wind blew too hard during the night. I worry the storm we got the evening before rained where we didn't need it and left the other parched fields starving for a drink. I worry today will be a good day and then the next three will be terrible. I worry he feels more defeat than he does triumph. I worry people don't understand this "9-5" is actually a "5-9". I worry we put our faith and effort behind false prophets who are supposed to put their faith and effort behind the American Farmer. I worry that I'll be putting another plate of food into Tupperware because it's 8:30 and he's still not home to eat dinner. I worry he's had to make 50 hard decisions before lunch--those decisions not only affecting today but affecting the rest of our lives. I worry when he falls silent, yet his mind is speaking louder than ever. I worry that Mother Nature isn't going to give us a break. I worry that we can't hold on for much longer. I worry his faith is going to give out. I worry because I am sick of tired of watching someone with so much perseverance, determination, and skill to feel like he can no longer do what makes his heart happy all due to factors beyond his control. Farming in the South Plains of West Texas is not for the faint of heart. But all of my worries are calmed when this farmer comes home and tells me "It's going to be alright." #SaveTheAmericanFarmer"

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About the Author(s)

Shelley E. Huguley

Editor, Southwest Farm Press

Shelley Huguley has been involved in agriculture for the last 25 years. She began her career in agricultural communications at the Texas Forest Service West Texas Nursery in Lubbock, where she developed and produced the Windbreak Quarterly, a newspaper about windbreak trees and their benefit to wildlife, production agriculture and livestock operations. While with the Forest Service she also served as an information officer and team leader on fires during the 1998 fire season and later produced the Firebrands newsletter that was distributed quarterly throughout Texas to Volunteer Fire Departments. Her most personal involvement in agriculture also came in 1998, when she married the love of her life and cotton farmer Preston Huguley of Olton, Texas. As a farmwife, she knows first-hand the ups and downs of farming, the endless decisions made each season based on “if” it rains, “if” the drought continues, “if” the market holds. She is the bookkeeper for their family farming operation and cherishes moments on the farm such as taking harvest meals to the field or starting a sprinkler in the summer with the whole family lending a hand. Shelley has also freelanced for agricultural companies such as Olton CO-OP Gin, producing the newsletter Cotton Connections while also designing marketing materials to promote the gin. She has published articles in agricultural publications such as Southwest Farm Press while also volunteering her marketing and writing skills to non-profit organizations such as Refuge Services, an equine-assisted therapy group in Lubbock. She and her husband reside in Olton with their three children Breely, Brennon and HalleeKate.

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