Will Cannon – Jasper County

There’s a juxtaposition to the first decision Will Cannon made as a farmer…

He decided to hire his neighbor to do his planting that spring. Sounds odd, we know. But let us explain…

Conservation is in Will’s personality, he hates seeing things wasted or not taken care of (ask his wife, Cassie, who’s the first to know that it annoys him if they don’t put recyclables in the recycling bin!).

When Will graduated high school, his dad told him and his brother that in order to buy him out, they were going to have to step up on the farm and from that point forward that’s exactly what they did.

He quickly learned that he was going to have to be a little smarter and a little sharper than other farmers to grow his operation from something small to something you can make a living off of.

14 years, 2 degrees, and 1 minor later he was able to meet his goal of being a first-generation full-time farmer.

Here’s where the juxtaposition comes in…

The do-it-yourself farmer mentality got overshadowed by Will’s conversation mindset of leaving the land better than you found it.

Guess what? This is instilled in his land with the first decision he made on the farm. He hired his neighbor to do the planting because he had the equipment to do a no till plant.

Will is always working towards:

• Improving practices to leave a smaller environmental footprint

• Meeting sustainability goals, and

• Being the best conservationist possible.

He is the first one to tell you that he’s a Hippie Farmer… especially with what he’s trying to do with cover crops at the moment.

Does Will know what’s next for the future of farming? No. But that’s what excites him to keep evolving his farm.

>>He enjoys the research process and changing innovations and being his own boss so he can do it himself and the way he wants to.<<

Well, it looks like that juxtaposition just came full circle.