Eric Bell grew up on his family’s cattle farm in Carroll County near Huntingdon, Tennessee, where they raised corn and hay, which was fed back to the livestock. From 1985 to 1989, cotton started its comeback in the area. The young boy, son of Roger and Marie Bell, remembers going to equipment sales during the farm crisis in the early ’80s and being amazed by the cotton pickers. He asked Roger why they didn’t buy them, and his dad reminded him they didn’t grow cotton. This obvious revelation didn’t dampen Eric’s spirits. He still enjoyed riding down the road in the fall in surrounding counties, observing all the cotton plants covered in white.
“I have always had a fascination for cotton,” Eric said.