BY MARY ELLEN POWELL DBJ Contributing Writer

As a teenager, Charles Coghlan realized that farming was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. It was a career that he loved then and still loves today. He enjoyed the outdoors and watching the crops grow. Now, many years later, those are the same things that he still enjoys. In fact, he can’t imagine himself doing anything else.
Coghlan grew up in the Delta in a sharecropper’s family where his father farmed near the area where he leases and farms approximately 6000 acres today. He and his wife kept up the family tradition by raising two daughters in the farming way of life. They felt it was a good way to raise children and, even though the girls may not have thought so then, his daughters see now that they benefited from their upbringing on the farm.
When he first started out, Coghlan grew wheat and soybeans, gradually increasing the number of acres farmed over the years. Approximately 20 years ago, he began growing cotton and has increased its production from year-to-year.
Coghlan has made beneficial changes in the way he farms over the last several years. One such change came in 1990 when he began planting 30-inch wide rows of cotton in place of the traditional 38-inch rows.
“In cotton, the thinner row matures a little earlier and yields a little more,” Coghlan explained. “The plants are placed more symmetrically and intercept a little more sun than the wide plants.”
Another change came in Coghlan’s choice to plant soybeans in March instead of later in the year. This was a practice that very few farmers had adopted last year when Coghlan first chose to plant at that time, but this year many more farmers have followed suit. In fact, Coghlan’s change to planting in March earned him the 2000 Soybean Achievement Award from Delta Council.
Coghlan explained, “If you plant in March, you take advantage of the moisture that you get in April, May and June. Last year it was an especially good move because of the dry weather conditions in July and August.”
Planting in March was a calculated risk for Coghlan, but it paid off for him last season and encouraged other growers to do the same this year.
Even though farming is Coghlan’s chosen profession, he realizes that these are tough times for farmers throughout the U.S.
“The farming industry is in pretty poor shape at this time,” he says. “All the prices of the commodities we deal with are depressed. Usually when you grow two to three crops, you would have one depressed crop, but now all of them are depressed.”
Low commodity prices are compounded by higher expenses than ever before, according to Coghlan, and the future is unclear as to how the farming industry will be able to adjust to these hard times.
“Every input we have is increased while our commodities go down and we have no control over that.”
Coghlan also sees the massive impact that global communication and competition has made on farming.
“The world is so small now with communication-there are no mysteries anymore. We are aware of growing conditions throughout the world; if it rains in Pakistan, we know it in the next few minutes,” says Coghlan. “We are also trying to compete in a world market and the playing field isn’t level. Other countries subsidize their growers more than in the U.S. and we are having to compete with those growers.”
In tough times such as these, many farmers continue to stay with the life they have always known.
“This is all we know to do,” he says. “You hang in there as long as you can and plant every year with a hope and a prayer.”
But, even with all the hardships that farming involves, Coghlan, like many farmers, just can’t imagine doing anything else.
“I love farming,” he says. “I get to be outside and I enjoy being outdoors. I enjoy watching the crops grow and making the day-to-day, moment-to-moment decisions. It’s all I’ve ever done, all I’ve ever wanted to do.” DBJ