Scott “JD” Sink has mastered the art of balancing farm life and family life, on top of a full-time, off-farm career. 

He farms 150 acres of nursery stock and 225 of row crops in Hiddenite, North Carolina. 

Diversified income
In any given year, Scott may grow row crops ranging from corn to wheat to soybeans. And, in addition to those crops and the nursery stock, Scott also farms 20 acres of blackberries with a business partner at Old Mountain Berry Patch. 

This diverse range of crops acts as a natural crop insurance. If one crop has a tough year, Scott can rely on the others to help balance out his income. Such a variety also ensures that there is never a dull moment, as he is always working on something different. 

If the diversity in crops wasn’t enough variety for Scott, he also teaches agriculture classes at Alexander Central High School.

A strong partner
Scott has been a customer of AgSouth Farm Credit for over twenty years. And he has relied on his partners there for support during good times and bad. 

“I can’t imagine farmers being able to make it without AgSouth Farm Credit,” he said. 

When Scott considers why he’s stuck with AgSouth Farm Credit for all these years, he comes back, again and again, to the ease he feels working with his loan officers and their thorough knowledge of his business. He said, “I appreciate how accessible Farm Credit is to the farmers and how understanding they are to the way the cashflow works on a farm.” 

Scott’s understanding of the vitality of Farm Credit for the agriculture industry took him to Capitol Hill for the 2017 Farm Credit Fly-In and Farmers Market. He joined more than 600 Farm Credit staff, directors, and member-borrowers to advocate for agriculture-related issues such as the Farm Bill and the value of Farm Credit to rural America.

Scott summed up his experience with Carolina Farm Credit when he said, “As a whole, I think it has been the backbone of American agriculture, Farm Credit has.”