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November 17, 2000

Huffman: 'We never give up'

By Mike Barnett
Editor

Many farmers would have given up. The year was 1998. Young Kevin Huffman chose that year to increase his Central Texas operation from 500 acres to over 2,000. Basically, 98 percent of this ambitious expansion was financed. The crop was in the ground. Then, April rains failed to fall. It continued dry in May...and June. The corn crop was depleting rapidly.

"We tried it, it didn't work and it was a disastrous year," Kevin recalls telling his wife, Sheryl. "We may be going to town and get a job."

But decisions made earlier by Kevin, who farms near McGregor, turned out to be wise. There was a corn silage market that year, and he had contracted with a dairyman. And he had contracted corn, selling for $2 at harvest, at $2.80 earlier in the year. Government payments helped keep him afloat, along with understanding creditors and landlords.

However, he contributes stubbornness to his staying power—both then and now. "I'm going to give it everything I've got not to fail," this 32-year-old producer says. "It was tough in '98 and we came together. My wife, she taught school for five years. She owned and operated a day care business. And we do whatever it takes to make ends meet. We never give up. That's my success."

Today Kevin runs a diversified row crop and livestock operation. He grows corn for both grain and silage, along with wheat, soybeans, sorghum and cotton. He still custom farms for others, and owns a herd of momma cows. He has also started a small trucking enterprise to move a portion of his silage crop to Central Texas dairies each year.

That dairy silage market continues to be profitable for Kevin. "That's an immediate goal, trying to build a working relationship with them," he says. "I've had some really good people in that industry that have helped me along and made some contacts for me. Through lots of negotiating and hard work, 90 percent of my corn this past year went out as silage to the dairy industry."

Perhaps more important though, as far as management, is following his cash flow. "Knowing your break-evens is how I cash flow this operation," he says. "At all times I know what it costs and what I have in a crop. I want to market my crop all year around. Just carrying it to the local elevator is nice and simple, and I'd like to do it that way. But it's not that easy. You need to have some grain storage. You need to store some silage like we're doing now. You need to look for other ways to market your crop that's not traditional."

Following a set course is also important for this Central Texas producer. "Each year you need to have a plan. Each year you need to sit down and draw your plan. And follow that plan the best you can," Kevin says. "In the beginning, I would draw up my plan and try hard to make it work. Sometimes things aren't meant to be. I've tried to back up and relax a bit. If my plan's not exactly working the way I want it, I'll adjust it. Patience is the key. But hard work and dedication pretty much take over."

Sheryl's role the past eight years has been limited in the operation as she has worked outside the home. She stayed at home this year and will go back to work next fall. She does fill in, however, to make things run smoother, including driving tractors or working the module builder during cotton season.

Sheryl loves the lifestyle.

"I'm glad to have that opportunity to have my kids learn how to get down there in the dirt and work hard and play hard," she says. "And I think it does give them a good sense of morals and values and I'm glad to be able to do that for my kids."

As for Kevin, he's never known anything but farming. And he plans to stay in it. This young man says he had many other opportunities to pursue different careers, but the ties to the land kept drawing him back. "I could have made more dollars and put food on the table a lot easier by getting a job in town doing something else," he says. "But the opportunity wasn't there to better ourselves."

Although short-term the future for agriculture may be a bit unstable, Kevin sees things more positively, long-term. After all, in his thinking, world population is growing and people have to eat.

To that end, he has developed a simple philosophy. "I want to be a property owner," he says. "I want to own my equipment and property and take care of it. And I don't want regulations to take over the farming industry. I'm a good steward of the land. I take care of it. I want to produce the best crop possible."