By Lura Roti
Reflecting on his childhood, fourth-generation Valley Springs farmer, Kevin Scott said for him and his cousins, farm life was idyllic.
“We were one farm with 10 kids, so there were enough of us to play baseball if we wanted,” explained Scott, adding up his five siblings and four cousins. “Plenty of work, but also lots of fun. My older siblings and cousins would say they did most of the work and I had most of the fun — and I would agree.”
It was a great place to grow up, but with older brothers and cousins, Scott knew there would not be room for him to return to farm with his dad, Richard, and uncle, Ron. So, in 1979, he headed off to South Dakota State University.
And then his future father-in-law, Dean Gage, offered him a job. Jannell’s dad asked Scott to work with him on his farm.
“Until this time, I did not think farming was in my future. I became highly motivated, changed my degree to general agriculture and signed up for all the classes at SDSU that I thought would prepare me for farming,” Scott said.
Scott explained he was intrigued by the labor-saving farming techniques Gage was implementing in 1981. “My dad was always tinkering in the shop to make equipment work for our farm, and Dean was the same way. At planting, he had a tiller with a corn planter mounted on the back, so he would till and plant at the same time. His sprayer had a controlled droplet applicator, innovative for the time as a way to cut back on volume and still maintain excellent weed control.”
Scott farmed with Gage for two years. In 1983, he and Jannell began farming on their own. Scott continued the innovative approach to farming his dad and father-in-law exposed him to.
Source : sdstate.edu