03/29/2024
Spread the love

By Erin Smith

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At a recent meeting of the Pork Council, a Bladen County farmer was recognized as the Outstanding Pork Producer of the Year.

“It was an honor,” said Charles Gillespie as he recalled the night.

He said when he was approached about being nominated, he really didn’t know the criteria for the award. Gillespie said he quickly learned the criteria included such things as community involvement. He smiled and said that he and his family participate in many community events such as Ag’Em UP Days and Envirothon.

He said they are also involved in many boards and organizations including the Bladen County Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Livestock Association, and the Bladen County Farm Bureau. He and his wife, Joyce, are also active in their church, Baldwin Branch Missionary Baptist Church, to name just a few of the many things with which they are involved.

Gillespie said his foray into farming did not come until he was older. After he completed high school, Gillespie said he studied automotive technology at NC A & T University. When he completed his college degree, he returned to Bladen County and accepted a job at the Ford dealership in Elizabethtown in 1962.

“I worked there (the Ford dealership) for 41 years,” said Gillespie.

During that time, Gillespie said he and his brother decided they wanted to start a farm in 1995. Gillespie said when he was working at the Ford dealership, he would come home in the evenings and work on the farm.

Gillespie said at one time, he had row crops, such as soy beans, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. Gillespie said they also grew tobacco until the Tobacco Buyout ocurred. Now, the row crops have been phased out and he leases that land.

Gillespie said he and his brother were able to obtain a contract with a company then known as Brown’s of Carolina. Gillespie said, unfortunately, his brother also passed away in 1998 and Gillespie said he continued to operate the farm. In 2002 he decided to buy out his brother’s interest in the farm from his widow.

“At that point, I was operating it as an owner/operator,” said Gillespie.

The farm has three houses which can hold 800 hogs per building. He added he does grow hay on his spray fields.

His advice to anyone considering farming as a future, “It is something you really have to want to do and you have got to manage it well to be a successful farmer.”

Joyce Gillespie said she used to assist her husband on the farm with such duties as cleaning the hog houses between shipments. They both remarked how much they enjoyed working together on the farm through the years.

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