Despite growth all around, Shaw Farms continues a family tradition

Feb. 19—TANNER — There are signs of city growth all around them in southeastern Limestone County, but the Shaw family is interested only in what grows out of the ground like their cotton, corn and soybean crops.

Now in its fourth generation, Shaw Farms has been in its location on what is now U.S. 31 (formerly Beeline Highway) since 1945 when W.B. "Dub" Shaw initially bought 265 acres.

His great-grandson, Brent Shaw, and great-great-grandsons, Cody and Clay Shaw, now farm 4,500 acres, including 900 acres that they own and other acreage they lease, in the Decatur, Tanner and Mooresville areas of Limestone County. Brent's wife, Shantina, and Clay's wife, Kamden, handle the business office.

Shaw Farms covers the corner of U.S. 31 and Alabama 20, with Calhoun Community College and Pryor Field just steps away from their family homes. It's a frequent occurrence to see planes taking off low over their heads.

Brent Shaw said he knows "we are so in the way of progress." Decatur annexed land along U.S. 31 and Alabama 20 in the late 1980s and is building an $18.2 million overpass on Alabama 20 near Interstate 65 meant to spur development.

The Shaws lease 970 acres on the south side of Alabama 20. This includes the Mitchell-Frazier property and the Kimbrew-Jones property. The new overpass leads directly to the Mitchell-Frazier land, and the owner is trying to find a developer for his property.

Huntsville is creeping toward Shaw properties, too. The new Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant is in nearby Greenbrier where the Shaws also lease property.

They've had offers from developers interested in purchasing the land the family owns. Mayor Tab Bowling once talked to Brent Shaw about whether they would sell or be willing to have their property developed commercially or for residential.

"We are here to stay," Brent Shaw said he told Bowling in a recent meeting.

Shantina Shaw said traffic has grown dramatically in recent years, making it difficult for them to move their slow combines, tractors and trailers from one field to the next.

"Drivers do not respond well to farm equipment on the road," Shantina Shaw said. "We have to call dispatch to get the Decatur Police Department to escort us."

Brent Shaw always confers with his family when they get an offer and, so far, the answer has always been a stern, "No thanks."

"We've had discussions," Cody Shaw said. "But for Clay and I, legacy is important. Both of us are very steadfast in wanting to keep this land as farmland and in the family."

However, Brent Shaw said, "Our land could become so valuable one day that we can't refuse an offer."

This steadfast resolve comes after there were times when much of Dub Shaw's future family wasn't always interested in Tanner farm. After his son, Walter B. Shaw Jr., left the military, Walter Shaw Jr. bought virgin farmland in Pecos, Texas.

Unfortunately, the water table in this area of west Texas dropped dramatically from 80 feet to 600 feet in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

"Everybody in the community went bankrupt so my dad (and family) moved back here in 1972," Brent Shaw said. — Lure of farming

After graduating from Tanner High, Brent Shaw went to Calhoun in 1979 with his father pushing him in a different direction.

"My dad begged me to go to Auburn and become a dentist," Brent Shaw said.

However, a conversation one day out in the field with his granddad changed Brent Shaw's future.

"He asked if I really wanted to go to Auburn, but I said I really want to farm," Brent Shaw said. "Then I got my granddad to tell my father. Deep down in the end, I think (my dad) knew that I really wanted to farm."

Brent and Shantina married in 1985. Shantina Shaw admitted that she never thought of farming as a possible future way of life. She got involved in the business when Brent and his father formed the Shaw Farms as a corporation.

"Farming was a whole new adventure," she said.

The Shaws went from doing business out of their trucks to Shantina Shaw creating a business office that's in their backyard just a few steps from their home. She does the accounting.

Cody and Clay Shaw began helping with the farm as young boys. Their dad said the employees got a kick out of it when the 10- and 7-year-old showed up to help them pick the cotton.

Both sons graduated from Decatur Heritage Christian Academy. Like his dad, Cody Shaw planned to enter another field. He graduated from Jacksonville State University with a public relations/communications degree in 2020. He earned his master's degree in sports administration a year later.

Life intervened for Cody Shaw as it did for his grandfather. His college focus was on conducting sports events and operations, but, he said, "nobody was hiring" because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I couldn't even get my foot in the door," Cody Shaw said.

Now 26, Cody Shaw said he uses the management that he learned in college to help run the farm business. He also does the computer work, including managing the grain input and working to make the farm more efficient.

Occasionally, Cody Shaw joins the crew in the field, especially during the all-important harvest season. He runs a combine, tractor or grain truck and does anything else that might be needed.

"I think everyone thought I would eventually end up back here," Cody Shaw said.

Unlike his granddad, parents and brother, there was never a doubt that Clay Shaw would end up working on the farm. The Decatur Daily once ran a feature story on 8-year-old Clay Shaw and the little garden that he grew. A color photo showed the young Shaw using a small tiller.

Now 24, Clay Shaw went to his dad after graduating from high school to talk about his future.

"He wanted to know what my weakness was," Brent Shaw said. "I told him it was electrical."

Clay Shaw earned mechanical and electrical degrees from Calhoun.

Clay Shaw said his favorite part of farming is "I loved to drive everything — anything that's a challenge. It could be a cotton picker, a sprayer or an 18-wheeler."

Friends since childhood, Clay and Kamden, who is from Elkton, Tennessee, married two years ago. She also had designs on another career and earned a nursing degree. However, Kamden, 21, now works with Shantina Shaw in the business office managing payroll.

"It's really handy to have a nurse around," Brent Shaw said.

—

Making a living

Brent Shaw said the five family members all work together to make Shaw Farms as efficient as possible. They have only four full-time employees, and all have been with the farm a long time. Henry Pickett has been with the farm 42 years. Stanley Collins is in his 35th year with Luciano Valdiviezio in his 23rd year. The newcomer of the bunch is Ramone Veleta in his 11th year.

The farm's focus is row crops like cotton, wheat and corn. They rotate each field every three or four years. Some crops, especially certain types of wheat and cotton, do better when they make a switch in a field after a few years, Brent Shaw said.

"With certain crops, particularly cotton, the weeds get resistant to the chemicals we use after a period of time," Brent Shaw said. "Rotation changes the chemistry, and that's good for weed control."

Crop rotation also allows the farm to make sure they produce "an exceptionally clean crop," which Brent Shaw said is a source of family pride.

"We pride ourselves in top quality crops that's not overly dry or too trashy when we take it to market," Brent Shaw said. "That's why we get a lot of calls and have people telling us, 'We want your grains.'"

Some are no-till fields which they plant without plowing residue from the previous year's crop.

"We have some fields, like John Garrett's property (off Garrett Road), that haven't been tilled in over 30 years," Brent Shaw said.

The Shaws have planted cotton in at least one field every year since 1943, although cotton prices severely reduced the amount they planted last year.

"Last year, the price of fertilizer made it difficult to plant cotton, so we were heavy on soybeans" Brent Shaw said.

He said cotton is also harder to work and slower to harvest because the cotton combines are the slowest of all of the farm vehicles.

While they lease 75% of the land they farm, Brent Shaw said they've turned down some offers of land so they can stay as efficient as possible in their operations. They irrigate about 30% of the fields, with water running almost full time from May to October.

"It's a good thing we do irrigate. This past year was one of the worst droughts," Brent Shaw said.

The high-tech improvements now allow the family to know immediately how much each field produces, Brent Shaw said.

Winter is the slow time of the year, although there's always something to repair and, of course, it's almost tax time for the Shaw business office. Spring brings the planting season. Summer is growing season.

Fall is the all-important harvest season where it's everybody out in the fields along with temporary workers brought in to help. They usually bring in two or three temporary employees, including Greg Hester and Joey Barber.

A farmer's work is never done and, when it's a family operation, work rarely leaves their minds.

"The things about working with family is people don't understand our schedule and it's always on our minds," Cody Shaw said. "There are times we'll be talking at 9 or 10 at night about the farm."

Brent Shaw said he loves farming and he particularly loves working with his family.

The Shaw patriarch said all of the family knows the No. 1 rule in farming is "you have to have faith. We have to know that God is going to provide. We might have drought a year and then the next year we know that we have to stretch the money."

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.