South Carolina farmer named Sunbelt Expo Farmer of Year
Oct. 23—MOULTRIE — Robert "Bob" Martin Hall was selected as the 2021 Swisher Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year, one of the highlights of the three-day farm expo here that ended Thursday.
Hall's Bush-N-Vine Farm, located in the Piedmont region of York, S.C., is a fruit and vegetable-growing enterprise owned and operated by Hall. His career began 41 years ago on land that's been in his family for a century and a half.
"My early love of gardening came from having spent much of my childhood helping my grandfather with his peach orchard and helping my father survey land," Hall said. "A couple of my uncles, one of whom ran a truck farm with peaches and tomatoes, were also great mentors."
After graduating from high school in 1976, Hall enrolled at Clemson University to study horticulture and obtained a B.S. degree in 1980. Meanwhile two cousins, who were sisters, decided to commit the future of their father's farm to agriculture. Hall's desire to grow crops and directly market fresh fruits and vegetables was the fortunate link to their wish, one that allowed him to begin farming the family land again.
"We started Bush-N-Vine Farm then with 75 acres and converted the old 1930s peach-packing shed into our retail market stand in York which, over the years, has served us well," Hall said.
From the 1960s on, after the initial shipping business faded away, the Hall family shifted focus to roadside market sales. Living within an hour's drive of Charlotte, N.C., what had been an exclusively agricultural community for most of the 20th century gradually became a suburban one. It also became a destination point for visitors to enjoy a day in beautiful rural surroundings and sample the farm's bounty.
Bush-N-Vine Farm's land under cultivation has doubled since the early 1980s and now supports three direct marketing fruit stands: the large main one in York is open year-round, and ones in Rock Hill and Lake Wylie are seasonal. On the fruit production side, strawberries have been the farm's core crop with 10 irrigated acres yielding 17,500 pounds/acre, 15 irrigated acres of peaches yielding 320 — 400 bushels/acre, 8 acres of cantaloupe and melons yielding 18,000 pounds/acre, 3 acres of blackberries yielding 9,000-10,000 pounds/acre, 3 acres of blueberries yielding 8,000 pounds/acre.
Vegetables grown at Bush-N-Vine Farm include 10 acres of sweet corn yielding 500 dozen ears/acre and 25 acres of a wide variety of vegetables whose yields vary depending on the crop. These include crowder peas, sugar snap peas, butter peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, cilantro, arugula, summer squash, lima beans, and tomatoes.
In the last decade, Hall's son Sam and his wife, Lindsey, and their three children have been living full-time on the farm. A 2010 graduate of Clemson's Agriculture Economics program, Sam Hall wears a lot of hats in his full-time job at Bush-N-Vine Farm.
"I grew up helping my dad and realized from a very early age that I wanted to be a farmer," Sam Hall said. "I can't imagine doing anything else. I also love seeing Lindsey turn into a country girl and raising our little ones here. She maintains our Facebook page and other social media marketing efforts as well."
To the main York store location, built in 2014, the family has added picnic tables, swings, rocking chairs, a one-mile hiking trail through meadows and a cow pasture, and even an old John Deere G2 cylinder tractor.
Bob Hall was nominated as South Carolina Farmer of the Year by Philip "Andy" Rollins, Upstate South Carolina Commercial Fruit & Vegetable Agent at Clemson University.
"I've worked with Bob on many research projects and have been most impressed with his innovative spirit, his eagerness to try new things," Rollins said. "He's always experimenting with different crops and growing times, pushing the limits where many others would give up. When faced with adversity, he just tries harder. Bob's strong faith is also an inspiration to me personally, along with his willingness to generously share his vast, hard-earned knowledge with others in the agricultural community."
The new Farmer of the Year was selected for the honor by three judges who visited his farm and the farms of the other state winners the week of Aug. 16 — 20. The judging panel included Joe West, retired assistant dean of the Tifton campus of the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Environmental Sciences; David Wildy of Manila, Ark., the overall winner of the award in 2016; and Cary Lightsey of Lake Wales, Fla., the overall winner of the award in 2009.
The other state winners this year included Thomas Ellis of Fort Deposit, Ala.; Jamie Anderson of Lonoke, Ark.; Raymond R. "Rick" Roth Jr. of Belle Glade, Fla.; Lee Nunn of Madison; Stephen J. Kelley of Bardwell, Ky.; Joe Edmondson of Vardaman, Miss.; James L. "Cookie" Lamb of Clinton, N.C.; Jay Yeargin of Greenfield, Tenn.; and Charles Edwin "CJ" Isbell of Rockville, Va.
