30 Apr 2024 501Der Women 2024: Vicki’s victory
By Judy Riley
What does it mean to till the soil and raise food and fiber on an Arkansas farm for more than 100 years? Plenty. For sure, it reflects years of hard work through droughts, floods, poor prices for farm products, hardships in tough times and celebrations in good ones. The Abram family of Wilburn (Cleburne County) has done all that with continued success. They have achieved Century Farm status with Vicki Abram Owens as the farmer in charge.
For Owens, obtaining the Century Farm recognition in 2023 was no easy task. Her father, Clarence Verlon Abram, helped with the application from February to May, but became very ill. He died in September and a month later she was notified that the farm was selected. They were invited to the Capital to be recognized by the governor and the secretary of agriculture. “A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself and clothe itself cannot survive. That is why it is so important to thank and support our farmers,” said Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders during the ceremony.
The timber industry is what brought Owens’ great-grandfather, Clarence Abram, to the forested land bordering the Little Red River, near Heber Springs. He worked for a timber company in St. Louis and came to Arkansas in search of timber of his own. He fell in love with Arkansas and the young woman who would become Owens’ great-grandmother. Together, they bought the original 560 acres in 1921. Over the years, they added land as it became available. The farm is now at 773 acres.
For most of those 100 years, the Abrams raised cotton and cattle, but always there was timber. Today, Owens has 350 acres in pine plantation, in addition to a few chickens and hay for neighboring farmers.
Most notably, for the last 13 years the family has been feeding trumpeter swans who spend winters on their ponds. Lest one think their annual visits are without work, think again. Around 150 to 250 swans arrive at Thanksgiving and stay until Valentine’s Day, bringing a healthy appetite. Owens provides about 25–50 gallons of corn a day. That is roughly 10 tons per winter. The family welcomes visitors to come to see the swans.
By day, she teaches second grade in Heber Springs. As soon as she gets home, she is about farming. She does have some help from neighbors who assist in swan feeding. Mostly, the labor comes from her family, just as it did in generations past. Her husband, James, works by day as shop foreman for Superior Chevrolet in Conway. But evenings and weekends find him helping with farm chores. They have two sons, Peyton, a sophomore at the U of A, and Gauge, a junior at Heber Springs High.
Will their sons return to the family farm one day, continuing this rich tradition? “I hope so, but they get so much value from being raised on a farm,” said Owens. “They learn the pride of accomplishing a task and the value and characteristics of a good work ethic not taught in classrooms. Sure, there are job challenges on the farm. But our sons get to practice real-life problem solving and experience firsthand the cycle of life.”
How to be recognized as a Century Farm
To receive recognition as a Century Farm, there is a process. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture administers the program. It is purely voluntary, with no cost to apply. Since the program began in 2012, there have been 604 families inducted, 124 of those in the 501 area. Qualifications, lists of previously inducted families and information on the application process can be found at agriculturearkansas.gov/arkansas-department-of-agriculture-services/arkansas-century-farm-program.
“The Arkansas Century Farm Program represents Arkansas’s history in the purest of forms – our people and their stories,” said Arkansas Century Farm Program Manager Beth Moore. “When you read an application, it is Arkansas history coming alive through the voices of generations sharing their personal experiences and memories.” Moore’s comment says it all: champion farm families for a century.
