Harvesting Dallas County’s economy: Cotton crops good this year

Driving the side roads around Selma, Sardis and other Dallas County towns, you would think we were experiencing an early snow. Cotton blooms are bursting along the roads and giving us white blankets stretching for hundreds of acres.

 All of that puts a smile on the face of Bojie Beers.

 Beers didn’t really have a choice when it came to being a cotton farmer. Three generations on both sides of his family were. Now, the J.B Hain Company is an established cotton producer in the area.

 “I absolutely love it. It wasn’t like I had other options though, but I love it. You put in the work, then you harvest what you get. Depending on how things turn out, this year looks good. It looks like a good harvest,” Beers said.

 Beers plants thousands of acres in different spots around Sardis. He grew up doing this and remembers the days of smaller and individual pickers when it took forever to harvest.

 “Back in the day, it took so much longer. The pickers today are much faster. Technology has come a long way,” Beers said.

 Beers remembers years when the harvest was ample, and some years when it wasn’t due to weather or other circumstances. To him, it all averages out. He has two sons, one of which is going into farming. The warm summer and fall this year are yielding a fruitful harvest for Beers and other cotton farmers in the area. Dallas County yields a high percentage of the state’s crop.

 Beers surveyed the cotton field from atop the picker we rode upon while it collected the cotton plants and turned them into huge rolls dumped along the field.

 “Looks like a good year,” Beers said smiling and shaking his head.

 Read more stories like this one in the Selma Sun print edition. Subscribe here.