Love of the land is all in the family for Georgia Farmer of the Year

BOSTWICK — Georgia’s 2020 Farmer of the Year Samuel L. (“Lee”) Nunn has always been around farming. His grandfather owned and operated a dairy and row crop operation in Morgan County until 1986 and, after retiring, continued to keep a small beef cattle herd. At 87, he was proud that his grandson followed in his footsteps.

“As a boy, I used to watch my grandfather get up before dawn to milk cows, work all day in the fields tending his row crops, and then do the milking again in the evenings,” Nunn said. “His work ethic was something I admired greatly, a high standard I would strive to live up to.”

Nunn attended Athens Technical College and afterward went to work as an assistant manager on a large cattle and recreational hunting plantation for three years.

“That was when I started my ag construction business,” part of a three-pronged agricultural operation he now owns,” he said. “In 2005, a portion of my wife’s family farm became available, so I rented 50 acres to plant my first crop of wheat and never looked back.”

Today Lee Nunn Farms consists of Custom Farm Service, Ag Construction Company, a private trucking company, and 1,530 leased and owned acres under cultivation with yields as follows: 750 acres of wheat yielding 67 bushels/acre; 440 acres of soybeans yielding 38 bushels/acre; 380 acres of cotton yielding 985 pounds/acre; 360 acres of corn yielding 128 bushels/acre; and 140 acres of winter field peas yielding 42 bushes/acre.

“My cotton, which I’ve been growing for the last three years, is marketed solely with Staplcotn, a co-op that prices the crop throughout the year to achieve the best possible price for the producer,” Nunn said. “My wheat is forward contracted with Godfrey’s Warehouse in Madison.”

Nunn’s soybeans are direct marketed and sold to the end use of Cargill Grain. He forward contracts bushels during the growing season. His corn is sold through three local buying points in Morgan County: Godfreys Warehouse, Rose Acre Egg Farm and Wildlife Foods.

“I forward price the crop during the growing season,” Nunn commented. “The last two years, I’ve sold about 25% off the farm as deer corn in 50-pound bags, allowing for a substantial profit margin over wholesale price.”

His winter field peas are sold directly to Diamond Dog Food in Gaston, S.C., for a predetermined, set contract price before the growing season.

Besides his own farming, Nunn owns a custom farm service company and an agricultural construction company as well as a small trucking service. He and his four employees provide services to operations inside and outside of Morgan County.

“This business was created to help other local farmers who needed planting, spraying, tillage, crop rotation plans, soil testing, fertilizer application, and harvesting,” Nunn said. “These operations provide my farm with additional income and eliminate the need for other producers to own expensive pieces of equipment.”

The Ag Construction Company, founded in 1997, builds farm structures and has four employees.

“My full-time crew foreman is in charge of this enterprise,” he said. “We construct horse, feed, seed, equipment, pole, and RV barns as well as fencing and projects for USDA grants such as stack houses.”

Nine years ago, Nunn became aware of a need for local agriculture transportation and started his own trucking service. He now owns two 18-wheelers and about a dozen and a half trailers.

“I don’t do any commercial hauling,” he said, “but just wanted to alleviate the problem of delivering my own grain to market in a timely manner.”

Nunn met his wife, Sally, in high school, and they started dating after she graduated from the University of Georgia with a BA in Early Childhood Education. Degree in hand, she began a 17-year career as a kindergarten teacher. Sally now works as a teacher/advisor at Foothills Charter High School and is a past women’s chair of the Morgan County Farm Bureau.

On the county level, Nunn is a board and past president and current treasurer of the Morgan County Farm Bureau, current board member and chairman of the Farm Service Agency, board member of Farmers Fire Insurance, member of the Morgan County/UGA Extension Ag Advisory Board, president and founder of the Morgan County Row Crop Association, member of Gibbs Memorial Baptist Church, and councilman of the city of Bostwick. On the state level, Nunn is a member of the Georgia Cotton Commission and a member of the Georgia Corn Growers Association. On the national level, he is a member of the National Corn Growers Association.

Nunn practices crop rotations that break the cycle of pests, nematodes, and diseases and employs controlled traffic patterns to decrease soil compaction across fields. One hundred percent of the farm land is fertilized with local poultry litter to meet crop nutrient needs. Biannual soil testing and plant tissue testing and crop scouting have reduced fertilizer and pesticide use by 30%. He also leaves borders for wildlife habitat.

Nunn said he wants to explore the option of specialty crops and agritourism in the next few years.

Throughout his farming career, Nunn has developed a wise acceptance about his chosen profession.

“No matter how hard you work, especially in dry land acreage like ours where irrigation’s not a viable option, Mother Nature has you in her grip,” he said. “You fail a lot in farming, and commodity prices fluctuate unpredictably. That’s why keeping your eye on the radar and being conscientious about input and outgo are so important. But there’s nothing more rewarding in life than growing and building things.”

Nunn was nominated as Georgia Farmer of the Year by Lucy Ray, Morgan County’s extension coordinator and natural resources agent.

“I feel privileged to have had the experience of working closely with Lee Nunn over the past seven years,” she said. “He is one of the most motivated and selfless individuals in our extended farming community. He came to me in 2015 and proposed starting a Row Crop Association for our area, a resource where row crop farmers could access educational and timely industry information specific to their needs.”

A panel of judges will visit Nunn, along with the farms of the nine other state finalists, the week of Aug. 10–14. The judges include John McKissick, long-time University of Georgia agricultural economist Athens; David Wildy of Manila, Ark., the overall winner of the award in 2016; and Cary Lightsey of Lake Wales, Fla., the overall winner of the award in 2009.

Special Photo: UGA/CAES