Farmer Gene’s Farm – Gene Moore

00:08	Introduction
00:36	How far back the farm’s history goes
01:09	Growing up on the farm
01:50	The family’s land grant history
02:15	Why Gene came back to run the farm
02:48	The role of education in the family tradition
04:01	How long they’ve had this market stall
04:39	Other markets and outlets they sell through
05:14	Inspections and requirements for wholesale selling
05:46	Pricing differences across markets
06:36	Personal connection with customers
08:01	Gleaning with the Society of Saint Andrew
08:15	Donating excess produce
09:09	Early years of the farm and switch to row crops
10:03	Pest management and limiting chemical use
12:19	Beneficial insects
13:55	Farm labor and hiring
14:51	Startup costs for new farmers
15:55	Government grants and subsidies for farmers
16:39	Creative equipment solutions on the farm
17:47	Farm equipment innovation
18:21	Changes observed over the years
18:54	Extreme heat in past decades
19:46	Views on climate change
21:12	A typical day on the farm
22:52	The most difficult part of the job
24:07	Farming history: forestry, row crops, and the shift to produce
26:23	Land value and development pressure
26:43	The 1980s farm crisis
27:29	Crop rotation
27:47	Irrigation methods
28:57	Biggest expenses today
29:28	Farm labor history
30:20	Recent laws and environmental regulations
31:07	Closing thoughts and advice for farmers
32:00	Closing

Phoenix Riesing 00:08
OK, and my name is Phoenix Riesing and we are doing an interview for the UNCC Queen’s Garden Project and Oral History. And I am here with Mr. Moore, and he goes by Gene and he is a longtime 4th-generation farmer.

Gene Moore 00:36
Probably further back than that and further back close to, uh, probably 200 plus years.

Phoenix Riesing 00:43
Wow. So we have some incredible history coming for you guys, and I’m just so excited. So let’s get started. And we are actually located in the Charlotte Farmer’s Market, the regional farmers market here in Charlotte. Where Genes Farm actually has a beautiful stand with a lot of their project with their products. So yeah, we’re gonna just get started. How long have you been growing or farming?

Gene Moore 01:09
Pretty much most of my entire life, even as a child. We moved back onto the farm when I was probably 6-7 years old. My father moved back to the farm, which he had left. He left the farm and he graduated high school and went out and got public job for a while and then come back to the farm, bought it, bought into the, bought the farm and operation back. Uh, from his, uh, his great uncle, my father’s great uncle. Who inherited it from his father. Who inherited it from his father. And maybe further back than that.

Phoenix Riesing 01:46
Oh my God. OK, so this farm has been in your family’s history?

Gene Moore 01:50
We have. We have oral history showing the part of our land has been in our family name unbroken since King’s Land Grant sometime in the 1760s.

Phoenix Riesing 02:00
Wow, that is incredible. So that would probably make you guys one of the oldest and longest-established farms here?

Gene Moore 01:58
We were some of the original settlers to the Piedmont of North Carolina.

Phoenix Riesing 02:07
Is an honor to interview you, I’m so excited. So this might be a silly question then, but what initially got you interested, what made you decide that you wanted to continue with the family tradition of farming

Gene Moore 02:15
Ohh partially to, I wanted to continue it on for the family legacy; my brother was not coming back to farm and I wanted to continue on to help my father and we did. We do as and as as a general rule on our farm. Basically the youngest adult generation works a public job and works part time on the farm and then comes and then comes back later as their family grows then. And gets out of school and begins to come back to the farm full time.

Phoenix Riesing 02:48
So education is important then

Gene Moore 02:50
very important.

Phoenix Riesing 02:52
That’s amazing. And do you feel like education has helped your family and maintaining the farm?

Gene Moore 02:57
I think it has helped a lot and. Well, a lot of my my great uncle, my father’s uncle and some of them actually called him the educated farmer of the time back in the 60s and early 70s. So yes, we do. We do believe strongly in education. My great grandmother was one of the originally went to what is now Wingate University in the the early night, late late 1800s, early 1900s, what became wing at university?

Phoenix Riesing 03:27
Ohh, my gosh, wow, that is that’s amazing. And and so I’m sure like you mentioned, having that education helps in some operations of the farm too.

Gene Moore 03:38
It definitely helped, uh, little bit on the economics part. I took some economics courses in college to learn a little more about economics, how to, how to manage it that way. Because farming, farming is a business as well as it is anything else. And if you don’t, if it’s not managed right, you will not survive in it.

Phoenix Riesing 04:01
I cannot even imagine and well, and so leading into business then, um, how long have you had this market stall here?

Gene Moore 04:10
In this particular building? We have been here what, 7 years, 7 or 8 years in this building at this market, there’s the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market. Was 40 years old. One member or other of my family has probably been here 32 out of the last 40 years, with some break with a couple of breaks, but probably 32 of the 40 years it’s been in existence. Someone from my family has been out here.

Phoenix Riesing 04:39
That is amazing. So do you sell in any other markets or?

Gene Moore 04:42
we do we? Father and and mother used to sell a good bit at the Union County market in Monroe. Sold a lot there. We sell on the farm. We uh. Have done wholesale to some of the supermarkets in the past. Now with the regulations and then everything that is required, they no longer buy from small farms. The supermarkets never no longer buy from small farms. It has to go through brokers and, and and they and they get through larger farms.

Phoenix Riesing 05:14
Wow, I wasn’t awaren of that. So there’s now extra steps when it comes to say,

Gene Moore 05:22
if you want, if you want to sell to the public and to through the supermarkets as at a wholesale level. Uh, yes, there’s lots of inspections that have to be done, certifications, which are generally, generally we do what’s called GAP. Good agricultural practices. Generally we follow them, but we don’t follow the paperwork and the money part of it. And and we’re, we’re a lot smaller size, so we’re not required actually required to.

Phoenix Riesing 05:46
Good, that’s good. That’s probably helpful. Do you feel like there’s a pricing difference in some of the areas that you sell like in the farmers market? Versus the stores versus at the farm?

Gene Moore 05:58
uh, there is some difference and there’s difference in and different markets too. There’s a difference in pricing at different markets as well. Pricing is. Pricing is tricky; you’ve got to balance supply and demand and a price point that people will willing to pay. In the less economically developed areas, you will have to charge less, less for your produce. Uh, but our philosophy on our farm is always to maintain the highest quality regardless of the price that we, that we’re forced to have to try to run our price point on.

Phoenix Riesing 06:36
It’s incredible to umm. So obviously you do have a personal connection with your farm. Could you tell us a bit more about the history of your farm?

Gene Moore 06:46
Ohh well like I said, some of our land, some of our land has been in our families unbroken since Kings land grant. Different generations has either been inherited or bought directly from family member to family member. Most of the time a family member will buy out another family member as they retire to keep it going. It’s not been, been a direct inheritance.

Phoenix Riesing 07:18
That’s how important your honey is, isn’t it? It’s probably 4th customer that I’ve gotten to witness that’s come by just to buy your honey. That’s very, yeah. It’s amazing. So again, we’re, I’m just witnessing, uh, probably the fourth group of customers come just to buy their honey. So this is definitely a very popular stand and that probably is a testament not just to the quality, but

Gene Moore 07:45
the quality and the and the personal connection that we try to establish with our customers. We do try to. That’s a good, good working relationship with them. It’s part of what I enjoy about the way, the way our farmers developed into my own is the connection with the public.

Phoenix Riesing 08:01
That’s amazing. And yeah, so actually you were telling me before we started interviewing about gleaning and that you take part in that.

Gene Moore 08:09
We do. Society of Saint Andrew is a national gleaning organization, they have volunteers that come out and we’ll when we finish with harvesting field day, we’ll come out and glean the field to get anything of this still good and pass it on through those who are in need.

Phoenix Riesing 08:11
That’s so incredible. I’m just again another testament to how your farm cares for its community.

Gene Moore 08:15
we also even at the market here, if we pick an excess and have things left over that they will not go to the next market, we do then call them in they can come in and pick it up where we’ve already harvested for them and they take it to the main areas.

Phoenix Riesing 08:50
it’s incredible. That’s it. And I just have to thank you on behalf of the community. And truly it’s incredible. It’s seeing farms doing that, taking care of people, especially in this time of need. Can I ask, what did your first year of farming look like when you came back to the city and you bought it back from your great uncle? What was that first year like?

Gene Moore 09:09
oh oh. The first year that, well, I was, I was child when my father bought the farm back from his great uncle, uh. We were all row crops at that time, Corn, soybeans, wheat. This was in the 60s. There were not as many chemicals out as they are now. The chemicals out then probably were a little more, poisonous or cancer causing, but we did not know at the time, than they are now. Uh, but we were taught proper handling techniques and that’s, that’s a big part of chemicals in the way I look at chemicals are not a danger if they are handled properly handled and used properly. Wait. But as we’ve grown, grown, we’ve changed our practices to sustainability,

Phoenix Riesing 10:00
OK, and a bit more about

Gene Moore 10:03
sustainability, we will scout our fields. We will not use a insecticide or fungicide unless we have a problem and have to use it. We, uh, use as much organic as we can, organic fertilizers as well as sprays, but in our size we can’t use all organic. We do plant the native pollinator strips and native plants, native Prairie plants that are native to this area that attracts in all of the good insects that attack the bad insects. Actually on insects, less than 10% of of the insects that are out there are actually bad for the environment or bad for your crops. 90% are either uh no harm or anything, or they are the ones that will predator predatory that will eat the ones that are bad for you that are bad for the crop.

Phoenix Riesing 11:03
Ohh, thank you. And and so it’s good to hear too that you’re only using chemicals as like a must need based

Gene Moore 11:11
Must need basis

Phoenix Riesing 11:11
but otherwise that you’re pretty much organic. So then so you mentioned sustainability too. So is your farm sustainable with organic produce And do you feel you meet the USDA organic standards?

Gene Moore 11:21
We do not meet USDA organic standards. I do not want to try to go through the paperwork and hassle of it. I think some of the organic labeling is mislabeling, as more of a marketing ploy than it is anything else. We use, like I said, as sustainable as we can, use the use the other chemicals when we, when we have to, we have to use commercial fertilizers to maintain soil fertility. But we’re, we’re learning more on different practices all the time and lots of things are changing that have already changing. Little over time and a lot more farmers are beginning, beginning to see the need for the, like I said, the strips for our Prairie plants, uh, the use of biologicals instead of, instead of petrochemicals, things like that. That is slowly changing in the industry, but it’s slow to change.

Phoenix Riesing 12:19
That’s honestly, that’s really exciting to hear because you’re the first farmer that I’ve I’ve talked to you that’s actually mentioned the use of native Prairie plants and and using those predatory insects that are actually beneficial to life.

Gene Moore 12:30
They’re called beneficial insects and and we do order beneficial insects from places that actually are trying to grow it and, and move them around. Uh, most of them are, the place that we get now is from out in Arizona, but they have, they, they have ideal conditions for them. They’ll send eggs and larvae or the adults and we just place them in the, in the greenhouses. We use them. They’re used a lot in greenhouses. A lot of them are beginning to get, they use some in fields and small small areas but when you have the natives plants there they have a place to go and you can maintain a population so you don’t have to buy them all in as long as you’re careful with your insecticides.

Phoenix Riesing 13:17
I know I’ve heard of ladybugs being used sometimes.

Gene Moore 13:19
Ladybugs, lacewings, uh, we use one, uh, we use a predatory wasp. They’re predatory wasp, the real small wasp, almost too small to be seen with the naked eye, but they actually attack the aphids and whiteflies.

Phoenix Riesing 13:37
Gosh, that’s probably really helpful. I know aphids. Really yes, tuff on the plants. I hope USDA changes their standards. Honestly some are so stringent it doesn’t make sense. So do you have a workforce that is your farm? Is it is it family based or have to hire?

Gene Moore 13:55
primarily family based and family friends. Most, most of the time we use the high school age or slightly older. Uh, we don’t We have used a migrant help, but it’s getting harder to find. The H2A worker program is very expensive and almost unable to unable to be, uh, economically sustainable for small-scale farming.

Phoenix Riesing 14:27
And hopefully like at least being able to use like high schoolers or fresh out of AG, I was in 4H. I love that so and migrant it’s, it’s so frustrating that it’s, they’re not as comfortable here anymore because I know that that’s a really big impact on farms and it’s going to cause a lot of prices to go up too. Um. So what advice would you give to young farmers that wanted to start a farm

Gene Moore 14:51
You’re wanting to start from scratch? Yeah, uh, have a lot to a good bit of startup capital to get started with because the startup capital is very high. Start on a small scale. In something in the produce area, unless you have strong financial backing, because of the large scale and the large row cropping is very hard, very hard to break into without backing or without family support that you already have. That’s the reason you see more farms getting larger and becoming more corporate type farm is because of the expense of getting them. The average piece of equipment runs anywhere from $150,000 to to $1.5 million for one piece of equipment.

Phoenix Riesing 15:43
Ohh, wow. OK. Wow.

Gene Moore 15:46
Yes, that’s why I say you have to. You have to have financial backing or or have it in the family where you have to get it developed it over years.

Phoenix Riesing 15:55
Do you feel like the government offers enough grants and subsidies to truly help farmers? Or do you think that they could do more?

Gene Moore 16:02
Ohh maybe do a little more. uh, They do offer a lot, but more loans they do have, they do have uh through Farm Service Agency. They do have ways to get loans. And operating loans for first time farmers, uh, also with the with you’re trying to break into farm and find an older farmer that has been in a while to advise you and help you to figure out plans. Also be ready to be innovative and be surprised and, and be willing to make a change on, on a minutes notice. Because it will happen.

Phoenix Riesing 16:39
I was actually, umm, some questions kind of started some questions I was going to ask. What is one of the most innovative, creative things that you had to come up with on the fly to solve a problem? If you can think of one.

Gene Moore 16:51
we have used uh. Looking at we have, uh, because we, we, we can do a lot of our own welding and a lot of different things with the things we’ve had to build a lot of our own equipment or modified equipment to use the way we need it to, to, to perform the tasks that we need.

Phoenix Riesing 17:11
That’s the part that probably saves almost what, one point $1,000,000

Gene Moore 17:18
We have one of the best things I guess we have. We have a transport planner, a sled transplanter. We’re planning on on on the plowed land that actually we built from scratch. We’ve seen some on video, seen something different things. But we built it and then redesigned and reworked it to get it operating when we want to. And it greatly increases the number of plants that we can transplant, set out in a lot shorter period of time.

Phoenix Riesing 17:46
Wow. That is definitely creative and innovative.

Gene Moore 17:47
Farmers are very creative and most of your farm equipment all the way back to McCormick and John Deere. All that came out of a need and farmer seeing a need and trying to figure out how to solve a problem.

Phoenix Riesing 18:01
My, my stepfather had a little farm that he always loved, John Deere. So I’d actually, I learned that there was admiration there. Um, was there a learning curve when it came to reacting to and preparing for weather here in the Carolinas just after what we saw with Hurricane Helene? You know, we’ve seen a lot of detriment. Has there been? A learning curve?

Gene Moore 18:21
Not as strong because we have seen the changes. I’ve been around long enough to see the different changes and see what can happen. There is some differences now, and you just have to learn the seasons. Now seem the spring seems to start a little later than it used to and go a little bit later in the fall than it used to. I will not say that it is hotter overall, uh, because I’ve seen days in the 70s and 80s that were way hotter than we’ve had in any, any of the days in the last 10 years. Wow.

Phoenix Riesing 18:52
That gives me relief, to be honest.

Gene Moore 18:54
Well, I remember, I remember several days. There’s been two or three days. Reached well over 100° back in the 70s and 80s. Uh, and the cold, I’ve seen some of the cold, I’ve seen some of the recent recorded history. Coldest weather in history too. But the last real cold I think was in the 80s, mid to late 80s, right after we.

Phoenix Riesing 19:21
Ohh OK so this really isn’t this horrific cause everyone’s making it seem

Gene Moore 19:23
no ohh overall it may be sneaking slightly higher, but overall it is not that much and it could easily turn and go back down the other way. I remember in the 70s when I was in high school, they said we were going into the next Ice Age. They’re saying,

Phoenix Riesing 19:43
Yep, they’re saying that now.

Gene Moore 19:46
And it said it was global warming. Then they say in climate change, and then they’re changing it again. So one thing I have learned was weather, is weather has always changed. There’s always been climate change. You have to adapt with it. You have to change your practice a little bit. We may lose some early, early crops because we plant them too early, but we plant early because some years, some years you, you luck out and get real good with it. Sometimes you luck out, sometimes you don’t. I’m expecting sometime over the next few years to have an early frost and early freeze. We haven’t had in the last five years, but we’re due. We’re due one. Like this year has been one of the latest freezes we’ve ever had. Uh, because the, the, there’s just this week that there was the first freeze of the season, the first heavy biting frost was only like 10 days ago. So it’s been this season has extended a little longer than my than most and and most years. OK. But looking back overall, it’s not the longest and definitely not the shortest, And for me with how the weather changes and I’m comfortable with how it does it.

Phoenix Riesing 21:12
But instead it’s just kind of you’re really comfortable though familiar with these changes..So what does your date like? What would a one day on your farm look like a daily like? I know it’s probably a lot, right?

Gene Moore 21:20
It changes from depending upon the day. OK, the longest day start at 4:00 in the morning like the days. Now, when we come to the market, uh, we get up around 4:00 in the morning, get ready, get out, get everything loaded up that we’ve already harvested. We’ll go to at a market day. We’ll then come to the market and we’ll be at the market until 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon, pack everything up, go back home, have to unload it or put it into the cooler or anything like that. Market days will start at 4 and end about 7:00 or 8:00 at night.

Phoenix Riesing 21:53
My goodness, uh,

Gene Moore 21:56
in the summer and in the summer time in planting or harvest season or in planting season and harvest season, your day will start at or slightly before sunrise and go to sometimes one to two hours after sunrise, after sunset. Uh. [Planting starting in January and in our greenhouses. But again, there’s planting in the field and then there’s boxing in the field, selling here and then there’s fixing things that go wrong.-Wanda Moore]

Phoenix Riesing 22:34
Gosh, so it’s non-stop chaos. It’s it’s

Gene Moore 22:37
It’s nonstop chaos. Not really, but not no, it’s not website. Yeah, but it’s it’s nonstop. OK, but we do take our times out, takes breaks and and have fun. We we work hard, but we play hard too.

Phoenix Riesing 22:52
That’s good to hear. That’s good to hear. Well, what would be, would you say, what would be the most difficult part of your job?

Gene Moore 23:02
Umm. That’s a hard one. Probably trying to diagnose and fix and try to figure out what’s wrong with a piece of equipment when a piece of equipment breaks down and how we’re going to try to fix it. What to do? Because we do, we do most of our own mechanic works. We don’t hire it out. We do a lot of our own. If, if it’s possible for us to do it without special tools, we do it. And sometimes if it’s a special tool that can be made, we make that special tool.

Phoenix Riesing 23:32
Oh my God. And that goes back to the creative and then innovative part of like where you just have to problem solve and you don’t have a choice. You have to figure it out. Um. And I, and I’m really excited about this answer from you. How would you say agricultural practices? I mean, you kind of mentioned it with the predatory bugs, but between growing up on the farm and being a farmer now through into your adult life, what are one of the biggest agricultural practice changes that you’ve seen?

Gene Moore 24:07
Well, we’ve gone, we’ve had everything from, uh, my, my ancestors did forestry as well. Uh, we had, uh, we, we were mainly row crops and, and pigs and cows primarily. We have changed on our farm, on our particular farm we changed to all vegetable crops and greenhouses. Now, uh, we grow offseason. Some of the changes, the difference in the chemicals that are used, different practices there. We have gone from tilling the land all the time, which tended to wash away a little bit of more topsoil to doing more of a. Are now no-till or strip-tilling uh, keeping the soil from washing ways to help hold the soil uh. Which usually does help hold soil. They have terraces which big mounds in the field to help direct the water, the water flow and reduce runoff. But you still had runoff. So a lot of changes in those areas; there’s a lot more technological things that are beginning to come online. Uh, we’re looking I’m seeing as far as spraying, its beginning to get a lot more drones and things like that that that are be coming on. I haven’t got any yet, although I’ve looked after this year and I’ve looked at considered getting a drone for spraying. There is a lot of technological changes you’re coming on. If we’re going to start staying to produce and continue to do produce is going to have to be done on a little bit larger scale, feed the world and get more automated because the physical labor is not out there, either not willing to or or not enough people to. We’re going to have to look a lot more automation in those areas, OK. I’m seeing a lot more greenhouse, greenhouse and offseason production of food as well, which I have done a little bit of. And we, we do a good bit with tomatoes on our farm now. I have done it with strawberries. I’ve seen it with cucumbers. Lettuces and things like that are the easiest to do, but a lot of things like that we can grow more produce in a smaller area. Because land, land is getting to be a precious commodity as well.

Phoenix Riesing 26:20
Yes they are. And expensive.

Gene Moore 26:23
Very

Phoenix Riesing 26:23
Ohh goodness

Gene Moore 26:23
The developers are are paying way more than a farmer can afford to pay for it.

Phoenix Riesing 26:33
Yes, We can’t, you can’t compete against corporations and hedge fund hedge funds, though. It’s, it’s tough. You mentioned switching from row crops to vegetables. What motivated that change to your farm?

Gene Moore 26:43
The 80s.

Phoenix Riesing 26:46
What happened?

Gene Moore 26:46
Severe, severe drought, low, low commodity prices, uh, things like that. Daddy almost lost the farm. We almost lost the farm, but we reorganized and downsized and took any other side jobs that we could to get it back and get it back on track and produce and greenhouse is what got us back on track.

Phoenix Riesing 27:09
Ohh, that’s incredible so that it’s very powerful then it’s it was one of the best decisions like

Gene Moore 27:13
produce by far for us for our size is by far the way with our land amount. It’s by far the best way to go.

Phoenix Riesing 27:21
That’s amazing. And you already answered the questions about, you know, tillage and. Do you do any crop rotation with your vegetables?

Gene Moore 27:29
We always rotate crops. We don’t want to put the same crop in the same place all the time. Because you will drain certain nutrients in the field that you can’t, it will be harder for them to replace.

Phoenix Riesing 27:39
That makes sense. Very glad that you explained that. Just for any future farmers that are listening to. Do you use any irrigation? Or dry farming?

Gene Moore 27:47
Uh, we do both, and my irrigatation our primary irrigation is with drip irrigation. OK. We use plastic. Plastic culture too. Sometimes when use raised beds with plastic and drip drip underneath it. Sometimes on bare ground just with drip. I do have one field that I have to do some water flooding, but I much prefer the drip irrigation. OK, It’s a little harder to clean up. Yes, we’re having to use plastic, but we’ll reuse it as long as we can. And it utilizes the water so much better because it places just the right amount of water. It places the water, where that’s needed at the root system and you controlling the water and it’s not evaporating because it’s not going up in the air, overhead irrigation tends to lose probably 30/40% of the water– overhead irrigation goes into the air.

Phoenix Riesing 28:40
Makes sense. Now I’ve heard great things about drip too, and it’s great for the conservation that you mentioned. Um, so getting to the last kind of question, uh, last questions, um, what are your largest expenses, labor versus inputs versus infrastructure versus taxes? What would you say?

Gene Moore 28:57
Since we already have the land we pay for and and we pay for the land. Our biggest expenses now probably and hardest to find is labor, uh, followed by the input cost of, uh, fertilizer and fuel and equipment. And, uh, those are those are probably the largest expenses. Uh, know what I said? That’s the primary, largest expenses I would have.

Phoenix Riesing 29:28
Perfect. And that you mentioned, um, when we talked about gleaning, uh, the organization of the Saint Thomas, I was wondering if, uh, did any organization or person or any other organization or person help you overcome any challenges with the farm or maybe mainly just family?

Gene Moore 29:45
It’s mainly family. Uh, when we, I bought the farm from my father. Part of the farm for my father. We, uh, we used we did use a good government program there, uh, through Farm Service agency, uh, a farm, uh, first time farmer, farm loan.

Phoenix Riesing 30:00
Okay. Uh, good to know.

Gene Moore 30:05
And that program, they do still have some of that program available. And Farm Service Agency does have things that help on the crops, and different things on that, particularly with row crop, but not as much sell on produce.

Phoenix Riesing 30:20
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you, now that’s really helpful again for future farmers. And then have any recent laws or environmental changes impacted your recent endeavors at the farm?

Gene Moore 30:30
Uh, I can’t think of the specifics, but I would say that EPA has probably limited a lot on, uh, chemicals, some of which needed to be, some of which they took away good chemicals before they had a reasonable replacement. I mean, which government is good at that.

Phoenix Riesing 30:48
But. Yeah. Right.

Gene Moore 30:50
They take away what they perceive as not beneficial or not beneficial to the environment before there is an economic, uh, alternative. There’s no good economical alternative. And then you have to struggle and you’re left to struggle until one is developed and pay higher cost until one is developed.

Phoenix Riesing 31:07
That would definitely be a big impact. And are there any is there any last thing that you would like to share with any farmers or anything. Uh, any questions I should have asked you, but didn’t. Anything that you feel like will be important to share with listeners and future farmers or students.

Gene Moore 31:27
Uh, say it. If you want to be in farming, you’re going to have to have a love for it. And the faith and the patience. Uh, and like I said, and the heart of a gambler. Because it said that the farmers at large is the biggest gambler and the, uh, person with the most faith of anyone out there, because every crop is put in as a gamble and, and and you put it in with, with the faith that you’re going to build a hearts out.

Phoenix Riesing 32:00
And that is incredible. I thank you so much Gene and Wanda. This has been amazing, and I truly appreciate you guys doing this interview with me and helping out, you know, UNCC students. And uh, so just thank you for your time.