A Louisiana Family Tradition

⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Ronald Rawls planted his first crop of cotton in 1979. Since then, his three sons Neal, Ryan and Chad have joined him in the operation as fourth-generation growers, and they have excelled at adopting new technologies and at working hard to keep growing the farm.

About The Farm

The Rawlses farm about 5,000 acres across a 30-mile stretch between West Carroll and Richland Parishes around Rayville, Louisiana. 2,500 acres of their crop mix is cotton, with the remainder split between soybeans and corn, of which 95% is irrigated.

From left to right — Ryan, Neal, Ronald and Chad Rawls standing in their 2024 cotton crop.

“My mama’s dad on the Thornton side was a real deal cotton farmer. He owned the first mechanical cotton picker in this country,” Ronald said. “He’d take it down to South Texas and pick cotton. He did that for years.”

In 1964 — the year Ronald was born — his dad started farming cotton in North Louisiana before Ronald’s first crop in 1979.

The Rawlses and two other workers split up their responsibilities throughout the season. Ryan Rawls, Ronald’s middle son, does all the spraying, while Neal and Chad focus more on harvest.

Insect, weed and disease issues range on the farm. They have Roundup-resistant grass as their main issue weed-wise and pigweed, which they currently tackle with dicamba.

They have all their cotton acres in Deltapine ThryvOn varieties, and they no longer have to spray for thrips. As far as plant bugs go, they are seeing an immense decrease in pressure.

“There was one year we had to spray seven or eight times [for plant bugs],” Ryan said. “We were spraying every week, then last year we only had to spray three times.”

They also have some nematode pressure but work with that through crop rotation with corn and soybeans. “We try to keep it all in rotation so they don’t build up,” Ronald said.

Advancements Across The Board

Over the past few decades, the Rawlses have noticed a multitude of changes in farming. Some of these include the steep hike in input, equipment and fuel prices, but a lot also include the increase in speed and overall efficiency in agriculture. They, in turn, have adopted many new technologies to aide in efficiency on their operation.

“We use all the latest John Deere equipment technology like JD Link now,” Ryan said.

One of their favorite recent additions is an ExactEmerge high-speed planter purchased in 2022. “That really has made a major difference,” Ronald said.

“We still have one regular planter, too,” Chad said. “We plant faster and we harvest faster.”

Ronald said harvest is much different compared to when he first started out farming as far as the timing goes. “Back then, you didn’t put a lot of money into your crop until the tail end, so if your crop didn’t look good, you could cut it off. Now, when you buy that bag of seed, you’ve paid for all of that upfront, but these new varieties are so much better than what we used to have.”

Chad noted the increase in irrigation efficiency as well after they went from 12 pivots to four. “We got rid of a lot of pivots and have a lot of leveled ground now.”

Struggles on the farm include the ever-changing weather, labor shortages and again, weather. “I’ve been farming since 2004, and this is the worst spring I’ve ever experienced weather-wise,” Neal said. “That’s the big advantage of our planter because you may only have a two-day window between weather activities, but you could plant a lot in that short period of time.”

This year specifically, with the weather pattern that was in North Louisiana, the Rawlses cotton had a wide planting window. Chad noted they had cotton planted from April 24 to June 9.

On the flip side, having the flexibility to work their own hours is rewarding to each of them. “A good crop and a good price with it always helps, too,” Chad said.

Looking To The Future

“The biggest priority in 20 years is that this is still a family farm,” Ronald Rawls said.

Farming in North Louisiana has its challenges and rewards like anywhere else, but the Rawlses have made the best of what they can control in order to improve their operation.

Short-term plans for the farm include making and paying off long-term investments.

“I’d like to see the rest of our ground get leveled and our equipment paid off,” Neal said.

“Aside from that, there isn’t much we can control,” Chad said. “You can’t control the weather, inputs or price.”

Some of their more long-term goals comprise of getting the next generation of Rawlses involved on the farm.

“We have one grandson who — there’s no doubt about it — he’s interested in it,” Ronald said.

“I hope my kid is out here driving that spray rig for me,” Ryan said.

“The biggest priority in 20 years is that this is still a family farm,” Ronald said.

At the end of the day, the Rawlses enjoy getting to produce a crop year after year.

“I like planting as much as I do harvesting,” Neal said.

“It can be a blessing or a curse getting to see all the hard work you put in at the end or watch Mother Nature take it,” Chad said.

“I like the harvest,” Ronald said. “When we defoliate the cotton and it’s all white — I just love that time of year.” 

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