Virginia Soybean Farmer Talks Farming Practices and Family Transition

Susan Watkins joined Successful Farming at Commodity Classic to talk about transitioning the family farm to the eighth generation, implementing sustainable practices to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and working with the United Soybean Board to promote American soybeans.

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Meet Susan Watkins

Watkins farms around 3,500 acres, growing soybeans, corn, and wheat in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The farm is located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which means conservation practices like no-till planting and the use of cover crops have an impact beyond the soil health of the land itself. 

After losing her husband last year, Watkins began meeting with a succession planner from Iowa to transition the operation to her farming son while ensuring he and her non-farming son are treated equitably. 

Watkins works to promote soybeans state-wide and nationally, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the United Soybean Board. On a recent USB “See For Yourself” trip to Guatemala and Honduras, she was pleased to see products prominently labeled as containing U.S. soy. “I would love to see more pride in the United States for our products and how that’s displayed,” she said.

Episode Highlights

• Watkins Farms spans 3,500 acres and is planted with soybeans, corn, and wheat. 
• Cover crops, no-till planting, and other conservation practices help protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• The land was originally granted to the family by the King of England. Watkins’s son is the eighth generation to farm it.
• Watkins says the goal of transition planning is two-fold: to ensure the farm will remain in the family for generations, and to help preserve the relationship of her farming and non-farming son.
• She has been on the USB’s Executive Committee for two years, currently serving as secretary and demand action chair.

Links and Resources

Transcript

Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lisa Foust Prater: Susan, thank you so much for joining me today. 

Susan Watkins: Hey Lisa, good to be here with you. 

Lisa Foust Prater: So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background in agriculture and your operation there in Virginia. 

Susan Watkins: Well, I farm in central Virginia along with my son. We farm about 3,500 acres of land and we have a rotation of soybeans, corn, and wheat. 

Lisa Foust Prater: And you are working with the Soybean Board. So tell us about your role there. 

Susan Watkins: Yeah, I’m a six-year director. I’m Virginia and currently on EC. I’ve been on executive committee now for two years and I serve as secretary and demand action chair this year. So I’m very excited about that. 

Lisa Foust Prater: I love talking to farmers from all over the country and how, you know, different things are in different parts of the world. I’m in Iowa, so it’s a little bit, a little bit, you know, different than what you’re doing down in Virginia. So tell me more about your operation and like what, you know, the history behind it and what kinds of, you know, other efforts you’re doing there. 

Susan Watkins: Well, it’s actually, unfortunately, my husband passed away back in the summer. So it’s now, it’s transitioned to my son and I. But it was actually a land grant from the King of England where my husband’s family has this property. And so my son will now be the eighth generation.

And we are so excited that he gets that opportunity. He has two little boys himself and we were going to do everything we can to preserve that family farm for generations to come. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, I’m sorry to hear about your husband. That’s so hard. But it’s wonderful that your son’s able to step in and work with you. 

Susan Watkins: Yes, yes. He’s doing a very good job. And we have a lot of conservation practices we use. We have always been I say ahead of the curve. were doing sustainability practices before it was cool. Yes. know, everybody’s doing it, but we have been doing no-till cover crops for numerous years. And it’s been so beneficial for us because we are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and we have to be very cautious of our farming practices. 

Lisa Foust Prater: So what kinds of things are you doing specifically for that watershed that maybe other farmers aren’t having to deal with? 

Susan Watkins: Well, again, we’re on heavy soils, but it is a little rolling. So we do have some waterways to protect any runoff. And that’s where our cover crops, that helps keep the soils together and we don’t have the runoff from that also. And like I said, everything is no-till, which we try to keep everything intact. And we do that year round. Like I said, we are 100 percent. We want our fields green and growing year round. We don’t want anything going dormant. We want to keep those soils alive and productive. 

Lisa Foust Prater: What is your planting schedule look like in a given year? 

Susan Watkins: Well, I was saying, it’s hard to believe we’re already in March. So we’re we’ll be getting on the fields as soon as we can. We’ve had a lot of snow and a lot of rainfall this winter. But we will be back in the fields probably within the next couple of weeks. We’ll be spreading fertilizer, lime, and we started sowing our soybeans before corn. It used to be we always planted our corn first. Yeah. We got that in the ground before we ever thought about growing a soybean. And now we’ve changed it up a little bit. With the technology in the soybeans, we go out a little bit earlier and we’re seeing really good yields from doing that. And then when the temperatures are right, then we go in and we get to work. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, that kind of technology, you know, it’s so fascinating about how it changes over the years and how it really makes such a huge difference in just the way you do things all together. Like you said, planting earlier, doing soybeans first, that’s always, you kind of have to roll with it and kind of roll with that new technology and embrace it. It sounds like you’re doing that.

Susan Watkins: Yes, my son is really good with technology and we have a Ryan, a person that’s been on the farm with us since he was 16 years old and he so embraces it and he’s so good at it and they’re gonna have to teach me a lot. 

Lisa Foust Prater: It is a lot to learn, it’s a lot to get your head around sometimes but you know I mean another reason why it’s so great to have young people around because it just comes so natural to them but just the willingness on your part to acknowledge that that’s an important thing and to embrace it and also to recognize that maybe this is something that you’re better at than I am. I have areas that maybe are stronger for my skill set for you. So how do you and your son sort of work out those responsibilities or areas of interest?

Susan Watkins: Right now kind of where we’re at and I’m going to get more involved with the farm once we get going again. I’m kind of done doing the financial end right now, but still want to be more hands on. And we do, we have Cody, which is my son, Ryan is the other boy and we hired another employee this year also, Michael. And they’re all diesel mechanics.

You know, we try to do everything we can on farm, you know, to keep costs down. And it’s so beneficial, you know, with they’re all truck drivers. So it’s, I can get in a tractor, but I’m not getting in a truck. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s amazing that they’re all mechanics because you can never have too many mechanics on hand when you’re on a farm. Cause it feels like something’s always happening and just having that kind of skill there where you don’t always have to call out for somebody. Wow, that’s awesome. 

Susan Watkins: Yeah, so what we’re working on now is keeping the farm lively, abreast, moving forward. And, like I said, we want that transition. I want my son to step up and I want him to – let him that ownership that my husband and I had the opportunity to have. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s amazing. And such a good attitude. You know, a lot of times you’ll see parents holding on and not, you know, not really willing to even talk about succession, let alone make a plan for their children to step up at a younger age. You know, you hate to see it when someone’s 55 or 60 years old and they’re still waiting for their turn. You know, that’s a really tough thing. 

Susan Watkins: That’s what I don’t want to happen. Right. So we’ve actually reached out. I’m speaking with a transition planner now from Iowa and we want to make a plan and we want to make it the right plan for us going forward.

Lisa Foust Prater: So talk to me about your succession planning.

Susan Watkins: Yeah, actually one of my fellow USB directors recommended this person. I reached out and she came into Virginia and that’s what she does. She talks with the parents, she talks with the children and she tries to make a plan that there’s happiness. Because I have one son that’s off farm and we have to make it work for both. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, that’s really tough when you have a farming heir and a non-farming heir. And it’s so hard to sort of quantify sweat equity and you have to think about is fair and equal the same thing. And that can be such a hard thing, but I tell you what, getting that stuff figured out now is so key to not only the farm continuing, but like their relationship as brothers going forward. And that’s the most important thing as a mom. All you really want is for your kids to be close. 

Susan Watkins: It’s one of those things that I think every farmer needs to address it. Nobody wants to address. You know, any type of death or any type of big change, but it’s gonna happen. Yeah. And needs to be, you need to be proactive and make that change and make your family aware, you know, of how you want to proceed with it. Yeah. I think a lot of times people are not open about it. And when something does happen, there’s grief involved and there’s a lot of pain and sometimes the families are divided and that’s what I do not want. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Exactly and in those moments of loss and grief, emotions are running so high and even siblings who get along so well, I mean I’ve seen it in my own family too but like it’s it can be really it’s a huge strain on their relationship and just having that plan in place it’s just one less thing they have to worry about or argue about or fret about. so I love it that you’re doing that and being proactive because that’s excellent for their future for both of them. 

Susan Watkins: Yeah, I’m excited for him because he is excited and he’s ready to take charge and I want him to do that. But I’ll always be there. Yeah. Even when it’s said and done, you know, farm families, they’re all living right there amongst each other and I’ll always be there whether it’s all be a parts runner or he needs me to jump on a piece of equipment, I want to be available. Yeah and I just want to see him succeed. 

Lisa Foust Prater: absolutely, absolutely and you know seeing him succeed, seeing other young farmers come up and succeed, it’s so great to be able to be a role model and a mentor to those folks coming up and you know working with the board and doing all of that. Tell me about how you’ve been able to sort of support those kinds of farmers, the younger farmers or folks coming up through that work. 

Susan Watkins: Yeah, well, I had the opportunity to do a “see for yourself” just recently and we went with some young farmers to Guatemala and Honduras. And it was so exciting to see the leadership. Yeah. They were so interested. It wasn’t just a free trip, so to speak. I mean, they were there and they wanted to learn. They were just like sponges and they did come to the older ones.

Lisa Foust Prater: What were you surprised about on that trip? Did you see any practices or anything down there that you were, that you found particularly interesting or surprising?

Susan Watkins: Just the support for US soy. They label their products with US soy. We don’t even do that here. I was so surprised by that and they really take pride in it that you know they use it to feed. We went to some feed mills. We went to grocery stores. You know we’re here. We have our vegetable oil labeled vegetable oil but if you turn it around it’s 100 % soy. Down there it says soy. Front and center. And I wish we could get back to that. I don’t know how we could work on that, but I would love to see more pride in the United States for our products and how that’s displayed. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, that’s fascinating. Yeah, and you think about just sort of bad press or misunderstandings about different crops and health benefits, or people talk about GMOs and all these things that just kind of put a damper on just the general view in the United States. And that’s another reason why doing work with the board and things like this I think are so important just to let people see that you’re a family farm and that you’re taking good care of things and that you have a good product. I think that’s just so important. 

Susan Watkins: Yeah, we take pride in our farms. We take pride in our products. We see, I just recognized down there, they appreciated it. And sometimes over here we get some negative reactions to food whether it be animal or human health. And we’re doing everything we can. We’re gonna protect our soils. not putting anything on the environment that’s detrimental to my family nor any of my neighbors. And it’s the same way with our food system. We want to put out a good nutritious food.

Lisa Foust Prater: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, and I think the more people can connect a farmer, a real person with the food that they’re eating, you know, they feel more confident and then they also have that knowledge in their pocket or, you know, their ability to just say like, yeah, I know where this came from or I met a soybean farmer and, you know, here I am purchasing the soy oil or whatever it is. It’s just, it’s such a good way to promote agriculture in general.

Susan Watkins: Well, there’s so many products out now that has soy in it. even I take it for granted. I don’t think about it either, but there’s over a thousand soy based products on the market right now. And we think about what we put in our bodies. Yeah. And some of these soy products that we have on the market, we need to think about what we’re putting in our homes. Yeah. Yeah. want a clean product. one example of that is some plywood that’s being manufactured in North Carolina and they’re using soy flour versus formaldehyde. And not only is it good for their employees that they’re not breathing anything harmful, but you’re putting a good clean product in your home. So that’s been one of our successes

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s amazing. I did not know that. Well, Susan, it’s been so much fun to talk to you today. And great to hear about your trips and your work with the board and all that you’re doing down there in Virginia. Yeah, so just keep up the fantastic work and best of luck with transitioning and your estate planning. I’m looking forward to seeing how that all works out. 

Susan Watkins: Great, great. It was great to be with you.