After a decade of growth on the family row crop farm in Westport, Matthew Hicks finally turned the 1,300-acre farm into a full-time job.
Matthew and his father, Kenneth, began row-cropping as a way to buy a new cabbed tractor. In 2011, the duo planted 70 acres of corn as their first crop and have continued to expand their acreage each year.
When starting the farm, Matthew worked 40 to 60 hours a week in a local factory while still carving out time to grow and improve the farming operation. Kenneth also worked full-time at Kellogg’s in Jackson. Matthew says trying to balance both the hours at work and tend to the crops had him burning candles at both ends.
“After working that much at the factory and still having to tend to crops, I was starting to burn out, and it was taking all the fun out of farming,” says the Carroll Farmers Co-op customer. “This year I am looking forward to farming full time and being able to focus on the crop.”
In addition to increased time on the farm, Matthew is hoping to have more opportunity to spend with Courtney, his wife of nine years, and their children, Marley, 6, and Corbin, 10 months.
After adding over 1,200 acres to the farm, Matthew wants to better manage those acres before he looks at adding more acreage. He is striving to implement better management practices to increase overall yield.
“I really want to focus on getting better instead of bigger,” says the 33-year-old farmer. “Since it’s just dad and me, if we can get the same yield [as a larger farm] with less acreage, that’s what we want to do. We want to work smarter, not harder.”
To achieve this goal, Matthew planted his first cover crop this year — along with an additional lime application — in hopes of providing better soil nutrition when he plants his next season of corn and soybeans. He is eager to see how the yield is affected.
This spring, the Hicks will plant 1,300 acres of crops, with a third planted in corn and the remaining in soybeans.
In years past, Matthew hasn’t been able to check on crops like he wants. With his shift to full-time farming, he hopes to have more opportunity to spend monitoring his fields.
“Last year, I didn’t even look at the crop after I completed the last spraying until I was sitting in the combine harvesting,” says Matthew. “This year, I’m going to make sure the crops get more of my time and attention.”
Matthew’s favorite part of farming is the sense of solitude while he is on the tractor or in the combine by himself. He says it gives him time to reflect on what needs to be done around the farm.
While adding acreage to the row-crop farm isn’t high on Matthew’s agenda, he does want to add a small commercial cattle herd in the next few years to further diversify the operation. Matthew competes in the beginner level penning and sorting competitions with this 11-year-old Chestnut mare and plans to use the cattle as practice.
“Adding cattle to the farm would allow me to diverse the farm, but also have some cattle to work with for the competitions and help me introduce riding to my kids,” says Matthew. “I can already tell Corbin is just fascinated with horses, and honestly, I’d work all day off the back of my horse if I could.”
Matthew says he is most excited to continue to improve the farm so he can have something to pass down to his children.
“I enjoy farming and love working with family. Every day I work hard to show my kids hard work pays off, and eventually I will have something to leave them to carry on and grow.”