Ag Leaders Comment on the Life of Jimmy Carter

 Agri-Pulse's Philip Brasher reported that "Jimmy Carter, the former president and statesman who died at 100, was famously proud of being a peanut farmer and is being remembered for working to address food insecurity through modern farming practices and technology, and for giving time to help his old industry. Carter and the non-profit organization he founded, The Carter Center, later collaborated with fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, scientist Norman Borlaug, to promote improved agricultural practices in Africa," Brasher reported. Reuters' Will Dunham reported that "Carter lived longer than any U.S. president and, after leaving the White House, earned a reputation as a committed humanitarian. He was widely Jimmy Carter and sons Chip and Jeff on a tractor in Plains, Georgia. seen as a better former president than he was a president - a status he readily acknowledged." "Through the years he was generous with his time, graciously meeting with many international trade delegations and sharing his knowledge about peanut farming and the industry. These gatherings always proved to be the highlight of the tours and a cherished memory for participants," the American Peanut Council said in a statement. Successful Farming's Lisa Foust Prater reported that "at age 4, Carter and his parents, Earl and Lillian Carter, moved to a 360-acre farm in Archery, Georgia, a small hamlet out side the city of Plains, southeast of Columbus. His father grew peanuts, cotton, sugarcane, and corn commercially with the help of tenant farmers, plus vegetables for the family. He also raised livestock and cured his own hams, pork shoulders, and sausage to sell." Five-year-old Jimmy got his start in business selling boiled peanuts for a nickel a bag on the streets of Plains, according to the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. He would earn up to $1 a day, and up to $5 on Saturdays. "At that time, three acres produced one ton of peanuts, which brought $60," Foust Prater reported. "...As a boy, Carter had many chores on the farm, including hauling cotton to the gin and watermelons to the railroad. The chore he enjoyed the least, the National Park Service said, was mopping cotton. During the 1920s, cotton buds needed to be poisoned to kill boll weevils. Boys would carry a mixture of arsenic, molasses, and water up and down rows of cotton in a bucket, using a rag tied to the end of a stick to dab the poison onto the buds of each plant." Carter on his peanut farm Carter served as secretary of the Plains High School FFA Chapter, Foust Prater reported. "He is the only FFA member to be elected U.S. president. In 1977, he was presented with a lifetime membership plaque. In a speech at the National FFA Organization's State Presidents' Conference in 1979, Carter said about his role as FFA secretary, 'I can vouch for the fact that it's good preparation for the highest elective office in our nation." Foust Prater reported that "upon hearing of Carter's death, Scott Stump, chief executive officer of the National FFA Organization, said: 'We are deeply saddened by the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Carter lived out our FFA Motto, 'Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve,' every day of his life. We are grateful for the example he Jimmy Carter, age 13, with his jeans rolled to the knees, at FFA camp. set for FFA members and our next generation of leaders.