Leghorn Farmer Awarded the 2021 Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award
The YF&R Achievement Award recognizes young farmers and ranchers in Arkansas who have excelled in their farming and ranching operations and exhibited outstanding leadership abilities. The award is designed for an individual or couple involved in full-time production agriculture with a majority of their income subject to normal production risk.
2021 Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award
A Major move paid off with a major honor for 2021 Achievement Award winners James and Ashton Dixon. James established Dixon Farms in 2013 when he purchased a five-house operation in Magnolia. Eight years later, the Dixons left their hometown and moved to Hindsville, where they purchased a new farm and home just two months before winning the YF&R Award.
The Madison County couple has six broiler houses on 44 acres, where they expect to grow 5.7 million pounds of chicken in 2021. The couple plans to raise five flocks annually. They also will remove and sell roughly 1,400 tons of litter per year between flocks.
James grew up around the poultry business, having been raised around his grandparents’ farm. Ashton credits the success of Dixon Family Farms to James’ intense work ethic, noting the occasional all nighter shift and relentless focus to succeed as a young farmer.
“I’m super proud of him,” she says of James. “My dad used to say, ‘You’re never going to find someone with the same work ethic you have,’ … I’m really blessed that I did.”
Ashton acknowledges that the couple took a leap of faith when the couple left Magnolia for Madison County, but the two are committed to a life in agriculture.
“It was different to pick up roots and leave everything we’ve ever known, and I don’t think either one of us would have done that on our own,” Ashton says of the move. “But, that’s kind of how we complement each other, so we jumped in with both feet together and whatever life brings we’ve got each other’s back.”
The family received a $35,000 cash prize and a trip to the 2022 American Farm Bureau Convention in Atlanta to compete for the national award. The prizes were courtesy of the Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Company.
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Leghorn Investments LLC is a high-yield, subordinated debt product that finances poultry farm operations throughout the United States. To learn more about Leghorn Investments click here or contact Connor Bolen at cbolen@tidewaterinvco.com.
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