For Five Generations, The Legacy Continues…
⋅ BY CARROLL SMITH ⋅
EDITOR
DREW HARRIS
When a young, north Alabama girl wakes up to see ice forming in the glass on the bedside table, she knows they are living in hard times. Despite those early childhood circumstances, fourth-generation cotton farmer Elizabeth “Liz” Spruell recognizes there’s something special about the crop that drives them to make it work from day to day.
The storied family’s agricultural beginnings date back to 1947 when Liz’s great grandfather started Spruell Farms in Mount Hope, Alabama. His son eventually joined the operation, but when times got tough in the late ’70s and early ’80s, her grandfather went on the road as a truck driver for a while and owned one of the local gas stations in Mount Hope.
“He wasn’t involved in the day-to-day farm operation but was always around to help out,” Liz said. “When my father, Sam Spruell, took over the farm in the early ’80s, it was in a deficit. We were very poor, but Dad worked the farm out of bankruptcy and restored it to the vision his grandfather would have had.
“I grew up going to work with my dad and riding in the fields. As I got older, I drove a tractor hooked to a grain cart or operated a bush hog or some other type of implement. I always knew I would come back to the farm, but I wouldn’t start out there.”
Coming Full Circle
Sure enough, after her senior year, Liz went away to school in Birmingham, got involved in treasury management and built an executive career in banking for the next 22 years. Then, as she had envisioned before leaving Lawrence County, the Alabama native had the opportunity to return to Spruell Farms, work alongside her father and run the operation in two of the five counties where Spruell Farms is located.
Sam Spruell, who has been characterized by many in the cotton industry as “larger than life,” is described by his daughter, Liz, as “very funny, very loyal and extremely intelligent. He always fought for the underdog and was active in a policy setting. He did it all from making decisions at the farm to advocating for the betterment of the entire industry. Dad always saw the big picture even if it didn’t necessarily benefit his own operation.”
Sam passed away in 2021, but his legacy lives on through the present-day partners: His wife, Lynn Spruell; son Jonathan Spruell; daughter Elizabeth “Liz” Spruell; and granddaughter Madilyn Rhodes. Spruell Farms typically plants a crop mix of cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat. With double cropping, that would amount to about 9,000 acres. This year, however, they decided not to double crop but to plant 4,000 acres of cotton and 2,500 acres of corn.
“For us, the price wasn’t there for soy and wheat, so I didn’t want to plant a loss,” Liz said. “My banking career made me very risk-averse, but it also helped me develop the mindset of providing a career for our employees. We provide things like health care, uniforms, insurance, a 401k and investment opportunities. We make this investment because we depend on our employees heavily and want them to enjoy working here.”
Jonathan, Sam’s son, describes his day-to-day role on the farm as making the decisions and implementing the production practices on the “dirt side.” Once these pieces are in place, Chase Wilson, the farm manager, organizes the labor to keep the operation running smoothly, and their crop consultant, Clay Cook, scouts the fields and keeps Jonathan informed about what he sees out there.
A Well-Oiled Machine
After his father passed and Liz had come back home, Jonathan went out and worked in the corporate world for a couple years to expand his perspective.
“He came back with a set of eyes similar to what I had for those 20-something years,” Liz said. “It has made us a much stronger pair. We communicate well, but he is the one getting it done out in the field.”
Liz said from a management standpoint, one of the best decisions she ever made was hiring Will Gotcher as the farm’s chief financial officer.
“Will is a huge asset to this operation,” Liz said. “He was my dad’s John Deere precision ag specialist for our fleet and had a very special relationship with my father. He was like another son to him. After working for John Deere for a while, Will worked for Alabama Farm Credit as a lender. After three years, I was able to hire him from the bank. Will has a passion for this business just like my brother, myself and my daughter.”
Although Gotcher typically works from the office, he is available to bring his technical expertise to the field to troubleshoot any precision ag issues that may arise with the equipment.
“We do a good bit of variable-rate seeding and fertilizer applications, so Will and my brother work together to load the prescriptions into the machines,” Liz said.
A Source For Retail Brands
At Spruell Farms, variety selection is very important because their cotton is sourced by retail brands, such as Vanity Fair, Vann’s tennis shoes, North Face and Victoria’s Secret. Although Peter Bunce, the cotton marketing specialist at Indigo Ag, works with The Fashion Pact to connect Spruell Farms with the first three brands, Liz said Victoria’s Secret has a completely separate, independent relationship with Spruell Farms.
To produce a crop for a quality market, Liz said they need a “Pima-like, Upland cotton.” For example, they have a very defined contractual relationship with Victoria’s Secret. In the contract, the company states how many bales they will commit to purchase with specific quality guidelines that Spruell Farms must meet.
The lingerie, clothing and beauty company said it initiated its Cotton Journey a few years ago to source cotton “from U.S. family-owned farms” to provide transparency in its product line. This is how the Victoria’s Secret website explained the strategy to its customers: “The direct-source partnership allows us to ensure our cotton is grown responsibly — from the fields of Alabama to your top drawer.”
Today, the Victoria’s Secret growers include Martin Farm in Courtland, Alabama; Spruell Farms in Mount Hope, Alabama; Blythe Cotton Co. in northwest Alabama and Bridgeforth Farms, which also is in Alabama.
Variety Selection
“This year, we are growing PhytoGen varieties because we believe they can deliver the quality we are looking for,” Liz said.
To help determine which varieties they will choose to grow in an upcoming season, Jonathan said he is a strong believer in trial data.
“I look at the trial data from all the seed companies for the different crops we grow, and we do our own test plots and trials, too,” he said. “I take that information coupled with trial data from other locations and heavily weight my decisions based on those numbers.”
From an agronomic standpoint, Jonathan said he is comfortable with the decisions he has to make when “known” factors are involved. It’s the uncontrollables — labor, weather, markets — that are tough on everyone.
Think Outside The Box
“I have worked on the farm all of my life,” Jonathan said. “My father was a big influence on my way of thinking. He always challenged us to look further than what is right before us and to think outside the box.”
This career farmer is also a pilot who is looking beyond the turnrow to develop an airpark where residents own and store their private aircraft in hangars that are often adjacent to their homes.
“Somehow, I always seem to turn my hobbies into a job, so that is what I am doing,” he said. “Building an airpark seems like a good way to share with others who want to live the same type of lifestyle.”
Today, Sam Spruell’s legacy remains strong. His boots sit in a place of honor in the farm office, perhaps as inspiration for “walking in high cotton” or maybe as a symbol of what Liz calls her tagline — “What got us here won’t get us there.”
One thing is for certain. On all fronts, Spruell Farms appears to be on the right track for continued success in achieving their ever-evolving goals.