Alabama Farmer of the Year Darrel Haynes, left, congratulates Arkansas Farmer of the Year Steve Cobb after Cobb was named the 2023 Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Tuesday at the Expo. Arrayed with them are the other eight state Farmers of the Year who competed for the honor.

MOULTRIE — Steve Cobb of Lake City, Ark., was the winner of the Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award, announced at the 45th Annual Willie B. Withers Sunbelt Ag Expo Luncheon Oct. 17.

On receiving the award, Cobb said, “Indulge me, let me breathe for a second. That was honestly overwhelming.”

Cobb spoke to the audience about the importance of “family” in farming, which seemed to be the core of his success, growing up on a family farm himself.

Cobb recalled in an earlier interview for the Sunbelt Expo’s show publication, “I was born on a subsistence farm where my parents owned 40 acres given to my mother by her father. Over time they rented another 200 acres. Our family farm looked like ‘Old McDonald’s Farm’ that you see in children’s books.”

“I can talk farming and I can talk agriculture and the love I have for this industry forever with you but I kinda like to do it sitting on the tailgate of the pick-up or out at the pig pens,” he told the audience and went on to say that what he had been thinking about was that the award starts at the county level and, in Arkansas, it’s the County Farm Family of the Year.

He said his daughter was the one who convinced him to participate in the award after she found out that he had turned down the county award more than once without telling his family. He said she asked him if he was ashamed of his family and he told her no and agreed to participate in the local award.

“I am so proud of that family. They should be up here with me. … They are why I am standing up here. Why I’m talking to you,” he said. “We talk about this as ‘farm family.’ It’s the ‘family’ part that makes the difference.”

He said looking at the other state winners and looking at their profiles, “It’s the same way for everyone.”

According to his profile on the Expo’s website, Cobb Farms is a partnership enterprise that began over 50 years ago. Today, on a total of 4,500 acres (2,500 rented and 2,000 owned), it grows row crops, produce, and show pigs. A true family affair, it’s managed by Cobb’s son, Aaron and his wife Cassandra, daughter, Leslie Lyerly and her husband Erick; and long-time employee, friend, and now partner, Darin Owens, and his wife Leigh Ann Owens and their daughter Taylor and her husband, Kyle Outlaw. Their daughters, Emily and Bailey, and Bailey’s husband, Caleb Dunbar, also pitch in. Steve and Terri Cobb’s oldest son, Jarrett, practices criminal, personal injury, probate and agricultural law. His wife, Ashley, is a licensed clinical social worker and mental health therapist at True Hope Counseling in Jonesboro. “Those other nine guys are every bit or more deserving of this honor than I am,” Cobb said.

The annual award highlights the winner’s “excellence in agriculture” in the areas of agricultural production, marketing, business management, applied research, environmental innovations, community service and contributions to industry-related organizations. The nominees for the award include farmers from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The winner of the award receives a cash award of $15,000, the use of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a year, a HAYS Smoker/Grill, a Henry Repeating Arms American Farmer Tribute Edition rifle from Reinke Irrigation and the iconic Sunbelt Ag Expo jacket.