(WGHP) — Drawing life from dirt can be transformative.
“Well, we’re the first-generation produce farmers,” said Justin Miller as he walked his 63 acres near Mocksville in Davie County.
But he’s hardly a first-generation farmer. His family has been raising livestock on the land since before the Civil War, and his wife, Holly, has a similar story about the land just up the road.
“I grew up in livestock, poultry houses and beef cows,” Holly said.
This is, as you often hear people say, not a job so much as a way of life.
“I always wanted to farm. I wanted my kids to grow up on a farm,” Holly said.
Their three children are growing up on a farm, but it can be a precarious life.
“That’s the sole source of income for our family,” said Justin about the farm, now that he left the full-time job he had off the farm.
Because he and Holly love watching produce sprout and grow and knowing it will nourish families, they decided to leave the livestock world and dip their toe into produce.
“It started out as a hobby … We had 5,000 strawberry plants and … maybe 1/2 acre of produce and threw up a 10 by 10 tent and hoped that people stopped,” Holly said.
But produce takes a lot of work.
“And if our H-2A program were to go away, we would have to stop,” Justin said. “We would have to pivot.”
The Millers employ four workers to help them, and there is a significant cost to it.
“Their wage rate coupled with all the fringe benefits of us paying their transportation from Mexico to here and back to Mexico, us paying for all their transportation while they’re here, us paying for all their housing,” said Justin about what the federal government insists upon. “That’s required.”
And it’s not cheap.
Two of the workers have been with them for years. One of them has brought his son into the operation.
Because of rumors of a change to the H-2A program that the Millers keep hearing about, they meet often with North Carolina’s Congressional delegation to have their say.
“I’ve met with Ted Budd three times. Virginia Foxx. Thom Tillis,” Justin said.
But it’s still a struggle. See more on that in this edition of The Buckley Report.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel