Windy City Harvest Graduate Aaron Serrano shows NIFA National Program Leader Siva Sureshwaran seedlings in the Daley City College greenhouse. (Photo: Alexandra Wilson)

Aaron Serrano was 15 years-old when he was charged with a felony and sentenced as an adult to two years in a Chicago-area prison. Today, at age 18, he has a full-time job at FarmedHere, an aquaponics agricultural producer in Chicago, where his boss calls him “a treasure.”

Serrano’s transformation from a troubled teenager into a well-trained agricultural professional wouldn’t have been possible without the opportunities given to him by the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest, which runs a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) project funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Read more (USDA blog).

At 100 years of age, Annie Faye Woodson was still farming 1,000 acres of farmland.

The Farm Service Agency must report some sad news.  We recently featured a story about 100-year-old but very active rancher Annie Faye Woodson.  Annie died this week from a stroke.  Her grandson notified our staff in Texas of her passing, saying how grateful he was that Cassie Bable, Texas Public Affairs Specialist, covered Annie’s wonderful life.  He said it made his grandmother extremely happy.

Telling Annie Faye Woodson’s story made all of us at the Farm Service Agency extremely happy, too.  She was an inspiration.  We thank her for giving us hope that even at 100 our lives make a difference.  Annie’s certainly did.  May she rest in peace. Read the recently published story.

At 92, Malachi Duncan (center) is still farming in Union, S.C. Pictured with Duncan are Cinda DeHart, farm loan tech and John McComb, farm loan officer.

Malachi Duncan has farmed for six decades. Now, at age 92, he’s ready to do more.

“I was out on the tractor trying to locate a cow,” said Duncan, who farms 43-acres of his family’s land in Union, S.C.  It’s the same land he used to plow with mules before planting cotton, peanuts and corn.

“Now that was hard with long hours” said Duncan. “We didn’t have any tractors back then, but we farmed to survive.”

That has been the motto for his life. A life that has traveled the world, fought in a war, educated others and returned to a 21st Century farmland he once again calls home.

“This used to be a rural area with only three or four houses around,” said Duncan. “Now you can’t count the number of houses.”

Duncan left the farm During World War II to serve in the U.S. Army in Europe under the command of General George S. Patton. He made his way through France, Germany, Italy and Africa before returning to South Carolina to study economics and history at Benedict College in Columbia.

He went into the teaching profession and became a Baptist minister with Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church.

Today, Duncan is retired from teaching and ministering, and sits on his tractor in hunt for a stray cow. His son helps him with the day-to-day chores, but lately, Duncan has been searching for runaway cows and seeing several calves die off.

“I lost a lot of calves and I couldn’t figure out why,” said Duncan. “I found out it was because the mother wouldn’t allow them to suck. I tried the bottle, but they were too weak.” He currently operates with six cows that roam 40 acres of pastureland.

“He started farming over 60 years ago when farming as a minority in the Deep South was a tough business,” said John McComb, an FSA farm loan officer who assisted Duncan with a microloan.

Duncan said the microloan provided the small amount needed to buy a bush hog and fertilizer. “They were wonderful and courteous and explained everything I needed to know and what they expected of me,” said Duncan.

McComb said he is one of the newest farm loan customers, but “he has likely seen more changes to American agriculture than any of our existing customers.”

Duncan said he has seen more than just physical changes, but the way of life has changed. From the way people raise their children to the way people farm. “People aren’t as compassionate as they used to be,” said Duncan, who raised four children and has eight grandchildren and, as he puts it, “heaven only knows how many great-grandchildren.”

The advice he gives new farmers today? Education is key. “Farming is big business now. You have to understand it, expose yourself to it and be involved,” said Duncan. “Go into it because you love it. You will only get out of it what you put into it.”

Mamaw Bubbles visits the White County FSA Office in Illinois to encourage producer sign-up and bring laughter to the office.

A day off from work turns Renita Nelson into another person. Her alter ego, Mamaw Bubbles, dons a green wig, yellow shoes and a multi-colored dress. Holding a megaphone in her hand, she stands in front of the White County, Ill., Farm Service Agency reminding producers to sign-up for DCP or ACRE programs before the deadline. Some people may say she looks silly dressed up like a clown, but it brings smiles to faces and has increased producer sign-up by 15 percent. “Most adults enjoy a clown and being able to make others laugh is my goal,” said Nelson, a program technician with the White County, Ill., office. “If Mamaw Bubbles can help get our producers in to sign up for the program that is what she will do.”