Raymond & Esther

Louisiana, USA

Esther: It was at an Agricultural Society meeting at Louisiana State University when we met. At the time, I was going steady with another fellow. When I met Raymond, I remember going back to my roommate and saying, “You know what? If I don’t marry Gerald, I am going to marry Raymond because he is just such a fine person.” <Laughs> He didn’t know it yet. 

Raymond: We got married and that was the end of my schooling.  I went to work on the family farm. Esther and I went in the cattle business on our own at that time. We had 200 acres we rented and we just couldn’t make a living doing that plus working for the family farm. 

So in January 1964, we took a job managing a farm when soybeans were new in the state. It was 2,500 acres of land and most of the land was in woods.  We cleared the land and started planting soybeans and cotton. I got a lot of good experience because I was an old sugar cane farm boy and didn’t really know anything about soybeans. After four years of that, we decided to rent land and go into farming for ourselves. Our first year was real successful. The next year, we doubled our size. We went along on rented land for quite a while. 

In 1978 we bought our first tract of land. It was 500 acres of woods. I could see the potential there. Then a couple of years later, we had 240 acres right behind it that we were able to lease and clear.  And when that lease was up, we bought it. We have roughly 1,100 acres of our own. But we’re renting and leasing 2,000 more, so we farm about 3,000 now. 

Esther:  We lived with his parents for a while and then we lived in an old farmhouse that was just on the place that was rent free. About two years later, we had our first child, and 18 months later we had our second child, 13 months later our third, and 13 months after that our fourth. So we were getting quite a few children. I had to give up teaching home economics, of course, and just stay at home with the kids. It didn’t seem so bad at the time. It kind of grows on you gradually and you think, all of a sudden, “What am I doing with seven children?” <Laughs> I guess when you’re young you can do things you don’t expect you can do. 

Raymond:  When the children were young, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with them. The oldest son always wanted to be in the field. And he was. I felt a little guilty ‘cause he was on a dual-wheel 5020 John Deere tractor -- this was a great big tractor and he was 11, 12 years old. We just barely could see him over the steering wheel. <Laughs>  Anyhow, we were able to raise seven children. All of them had as much schooling as they wanted, and they’re a beautiful family. My wife really deserves just a whole lot of credit. She held us together.

Esther:  When you talk about family farms, it really is family. When we first went into farming, I was just a gofer and he was more or less by himself with just a few hired workers. Our kids weren’t old enough to work yet, so I would go for parts and things like that. I’d show them in the book, “This is the part. It’s a little screw that hooks onto that little nut,” and whatever. But I lost that job to the children when they grew up. <Laughs> Then I did bookwork for a long time until the oldest girl started working on it and then they just passed it down from one to the other. So I lost that job to them, too. 

Also, there’s no restaurants in the field so in the beginning I would fix up sandwiches and bring them to the field. Then as things got better, we’d just go and buy lunches at a place and have to distribute it because they’re not all in one group when you’re working on the farm. And not being good with directions, it always took me longer than anybody else to find them. <Laughs> It was good to be a part of it and be close to them, but it was also a commitment because you’re there every day. It wasn’t easy to run off and go shopping or whatever. But I was pretty free, I shouldn’t complain. 

What is your farm like?

Raymond: We do soybeans, wheat, corn and a little bit of oats. The crop rotations spreads the workload and it spreads disease risk. The rotation helps with the soil, too. And weed control is a lot easier with the diversification. Of course, now we have Roundup Ready crops – genetically-modified crops that help with weed control because now you can plant a crop that has Roundup Ready genes in it and spray Roundup on it and kill all of the weeds but not the crop. It’s one of the biggest innovations.  We’re using a lot less chemicals now than we ever did before. 

Because we’re within driving distance of Baton Rouge, the land that we own is worth now a lot more for houses than it ever was. I assume after we’re gone or maybe before <laughs> it may turn into residential. It doesn’t bother me. I mean things are changing. We made our living producing food, but I see all of agriculture – all farmers – looking toward other income sources. For example, after we moved away from my home place, a chemical plant wanted the land and they had the money to buy it, so it’s gone. The old family farm that I grew up on, there’s hardly anything left.  

Esther winced a bit when Raymond talked about selling their land for residential development.

Esther: It’s kind of sad to see it going to something else ‘cause it’s just real beautiful when you ride out there and you see a crop growing in the field. You feel like you’re breathing that fresh air.  Of course, once it’s full of homes of stuff… it’s just a change, I guess, the change is sad. But like he said, that was part of the idea when we bought it that eventually it would be sold. So we can’t keep things for ourselves. It’s not really ours, we just borrowing it.

What does food mean to you personally?

Raymond: Food is the fuel that keeps us going.

Esther:  It’s been real interesting to be involved with food production over the years and see how the food industry has changed from where we used to use so many raw food products to where it’s almost completely prepared for us. But, personally, I feel like food is just something that keeps me going. It’s not a big treat to go out and eat a big meal. I can eat a little bit at home and I’m satisfied. Eating is something I have to do rather than something I want to do.