VIDEO:Farming For 70 Years And Counting

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A 90-year old Noxubee County farmer is the state’s farmer of the year, and he’s not looking to retire anytime soon.

Paul Good will go to Georgia next week, for his honor as the Mississippi Swisher Sweets Sunbelt Ag Expo Farmer of the Year.

Farming, family, faith, and friend, best describe Paul Good, and farming has been his way of life since he was born, and still is decades later.

Harry Truman was President when Paul Good began waking up every morning and hitting the farm.

He works the same hours as he did when he started, including those 12 to 14 hours days during harvest time.

“I don’t know how many years we can do it, but we enjoy it, and it’s been great, and so I guess, a farmer doesn’t usually think so much about what time it is, he just goes from daylight to dark when the season is needing it,” says Good.

Good started his farming career in Indiana, where his dad was a farmer, and then came down south when industry replaced farming in his former home.

“I’ve enjoyed it so much, that’s the reason I continued on. I probably would’ve quit when I had cancer 21 years ago, and I could’ve quit then, but I enjoy farming, and the Lord has given me an opportunity with health to go on, and I haven’t had any problems since,” says Good.

He has had his share of problems though, which includes farming through the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and World War II, and because of the war, tractors were limited, so Good had to use horses to help get the job done.

“By 1948, my name came up that I could buy a tractor because they were rationed, and so today, we have the privilege where we can go and buy, and expand our operation when we need to.”

Good is an expertise in corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton, and planted his roots in Mississippi 42 years ago, and this is his favorite about farming.

“Experimenting with things. The thing that I ‘d like to say is, I look forward every year to Mississippi State, it has great programs opened for all of us farmers. They have a three day meeting, a seminar, and all those things we can pick up to help us be better farmers, and also just planning for the coming year. What can I do better than I did last year.”

For the last 25 years, Regional Extension Agronomist, Dennis Reginelli has been working hand in hand with Good and his hundreds of acres of land.

“What really stands out is his attention to the details. He’s paying attention to everything that might influence his crop yields, and he will correct those as soon as possible, because the name of the game is to make everything uniformed as possible, and as best as possible, and Mr. Paul is on the cutting edge of the technology.”

Next week at the expo, Mr. Good has the chance to be named the overall southeastern farmer of the year, as he competes with southeastern farmers.