(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) – William and Sarah Carte of Suwannee County drove away in a new Dodge Ram quad cab truck courtesy of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company and $500 courtesy of the Dodge Division of Daimler-Chrysler Corporation, as winners in the Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s Outstanding Young Farmer and Rancher competition. The announcement came during the organization’s annual meeting Oct. 22-24. The Cartes also received an expense-paid trip to the American Farm Bureau annual meeting in Honolulu, HI, where they will represent Florida in the national YF&R competition. The winner of the national competition receives a Dodge Ram 3500 Quad Cab 4x4 SLT pickup with a 5.9L 24-valve Cummins diesel engine and an Arctic Cat® 454 4x4 All-Terrain Vehicle.
William and Sarah Carte manage diversified agricultural operations in Suwannee County. William’s cow/calf operation includes a Brangus foundation herd and a terminal herd comprised of Brangus cows and Charolais bulls that result in a more marketable stocker calf.
The Cartes, who live southwest of Live Oak, have three poultry barns with a total capacity of more than 70,000 chickens and a seven-week grow-out schedule. They produce six flocks each year. They also have 90 acres devoted to hay and 210 acres that produce grass seed. In addition, Sarah works with her father in the production of fresh cut herbs. As assistant manager of Shenandoah Growers, Sarah is responsible for day-to-day harvest, packaging, customer services and marketing. She also helps her father manage eight hydroponic greenhouses and 20 acres of herbs that are on plastic.
Fitting the mold of innovative young farmers, the Cartes take advantage of the complementary nature of their enterprises. “I haven’t bought any fertilizer since the 1980s when we built the chicken houses,” explained William. “We’re also able to cut our feed costs by feeding a litter mix to our cattle.”
Sarah, who once served as state FFA president, says that their involvement in Farm Bureau’s YF&R program has “meant the world” to her and William. “The Young Farmer and Rancher program has allowed us to fight for causes that we believe in,” declared Sarah. “It’s helped us to become leaders in an industry that we love.”
Both William and Sarah are believers in the political clout that comes along with the Farm Bureau name. “After my first visit to Tallahassee, I walked out of there with my mouth wide open,” William recalled. “I couldn’t believe that you could walk into legislators’ offices and they would actually listen to you. When our YF&R group visited Washington D.C. this past spring, it became obvious that many more doors were opened for us because of Farm Bureau than if we had gone by ourselves.”
Sarah wishes that more young people would take it upon themselves to get involved. “We have some friends that are not involved in the YF&R program and have not even registered to vote,” admitted Sarah. “But we’re hounding them.”
The Cartes are also big believers in ag education and have been a part of several Ag-in-the-Classroom programs. “We host an ag safety day at the Experiment Station,” said William. “We also participate in a local farm tour.”
William said that they are involved with Farm Bureau because of the support it provides. “Farm Bureau keeps us aware of issues important to our operations,” said William.
Sarah looks at Farm Bureau and its members as an extended family. “If we can’t get involved with issues when we’re young, then we’ll never get involved,” she stated.
William and Sarah see foreign competition as the greatest threat to Florida agriculture. Sarah noted that many foreign producers grow the same specialty crops that are grown in Florida. Nonetheless, both William and Sarah see themselves staying on the farm.
“Farming is not just a career,” declared William. “It’s a way of life. There’s no greater life than farm life. We hope we can raise our family by instilling the same love for the farm as we grew up with.” Sarah agrees. “We’ll keep on farming,” she stated. “It’s in our blood.”
The Florida Farm Bureau Federation is the state's largest general-interest agricultural association with more than 151,000 member-families statewide. There are Farm Bureaus in 65 counties in Florida, where agriculture comprises a stable, vital leg of Florida's economy, rivaling the tourism industry in economic importance. Headquartered in Gainesville, the Federation is an independent, non-profit agricultural organization and is not associated with any arm of the government. More information is available on the organization’s website, http://FloridaFarmBureau.org.
Florida Farm Bureau Federation