MOULTRIE, Ga. — It was one of smallest crowds for an annual opening-day luncheon at Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, but the hundreds of humans didn’t seem to miss the usually ubiquitous swarm of gnats.

Cooler weather apparently kept at bay the pests that normally crash the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year party each October.

While the winners of the award given each year during the Willie B. Withers luncheon, named for a former Moultrie mayor who was a big supporter of the annual farm show, often come from multigenerational farm families, that was not the case this year.

 Robert Mills Jr. grew up in a suburb, but two weeks into his first vocational agriculture class in the eighth grade, the Callands, Virginia, resident decided his true calling was farming.

“I came home from eighth grade and told mom and dad I know what I’m going to do,” Mills said in a speech after being named the winner among 10 states’ finalists. “They said what’s that. I said I’m going to be a farmer.”

His declaration was met with incredulity.

“My dad said we don’t have the money, we don’t have the land, we don’t have the equipment,” Mills said.

He took care of the last of those three hurdles by purchasing his first piece of farm equipment at 14, and he worked nine years on a commercial farm to gain experience before striking out on his own, managing poultry grow houses as a contractor for Perdue Farms Inc.

Mills, 44, now operates on more than 2,200 acres in three counties, growing conventional and organic flue-cured tobacco, dark-fired tobacco, winter wheat and bioenergy crops. The major enterprises for the farmer — now in his 19th year doing the job of his dreams — are beef cattle and pullet breeding.

“This is probably the highlight of my farming career, to be recognized by my peers as the Southeastern Farmer of the Year,” Mills said during an interview after the luncheon. “I hope it inspires other young people with passion to follow their dreams. This award isn’t just about me, it’s about encouraging people to follow their hearts.”

Mills said he was lucky to live in the part of the county whose school had a rural agriculture class.

“I decided that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “This (day) is just incredible.”

The other state winners were: Alabama, Chris Langley; Arkansas, Mark Morgan; Florida, Mark Wilson; Georgia, Everett Williams; Kentucky, Mike Bach; Mississippi, Mike Sturdivant; North Carolina, Van Hemric; South Carolina; Kemp McLeod; and Tennessee, Mike Robinson.

During an interview prior to the luncheon, Moultrie Mayor Bill McIntosh gave his thoughts on the annual farm show that has been held in Moultrie since 1978. McIntosh has welcomed visitors at the luncheon on behalf of  the City of Moultrie for 35 of the 40 years the show has been held here, and said he probably attended the other five with former mayor Withers.

“They just keep growing and (there are) so many people every year,” he said. “I’ve seen tags from lots of states just driving out here. These are agri-business people and farmers.”