Continuing to Thrive for Six Generations
Maud Farms took root in the late 1800’s when JW Lake started plowing and planting a couple hundred acres of cotton in north Mississippi. His great-great grandson, Justin Cariker now oversees those original two hundred acres plus another 8,000. Cotton is the main crop, but Cariker also has rice and soybeans in his rotation.
Cariker left the farm to pursue a business degree from Mississippi State University and thought the farm was to be left in the rear view mirror. After graduation in 1989, he came home “temporarily” to help his father on the farm. That temporary plan turned into a permanent situation and today Cariker works the family farm with this sons, Conner and Leland.
“When I was in high school, I really didn’t enjoy working on the farm that much,” says Cariker. “I had no intention of coming back to farm, but here I am over thirty years later.”
The initial plan when he returned to the farm after college was to improve on what his great-great grandfather had started and his father had multiplied.
“When I came home from Mississippi State in 1989, we were farming 2,000 acres without any irrigation,” says Cariker. “I started farming with my dad (the late Clarence) and knew we had to grow and get things bigger and better and here we are over 8,000 acres with ample irrigation.”
Years ago, Cariker’s father, Clarence came home from being in the Air Force the farm to work the land with his father-in-law.
“My father went to Mississippi State and then was in the Air Force as a pilot, then he and my mom moved back to Tunica to farm with her dad,” he says.
The sixth-generation and Mississippi State-educated Carikers are working the same ground their great-great-great grandfather toiled in. Connor and Leland both have their degrees in Ag Science.
“They’ve taken on different roles,” says Cariker. “One is over all the spraying and the other is over polypipe and irrigation. They are truly best friends. They lived together in college and now they live together at home and it is by choice.”
Maud Farms does have plenty of other help as well.
“Will Watson is my farm manager and I have two additional salaried employees, Andy Hamrick and Simon Weir,” he says. “I also have seven local hourly employees. I’m very blessed and fortunate we haven’t had to go the H2A employee route. All of my employees are older. The youngest is forty-five and the oldest is seventy-five and he works right along beside all of us. I’m very blessed with my hourly crew. We also have a great bookkeeper, Jennifer Goff, who works four days a week and keeps things running in the office.”
The farm was built on cotton acreage and the mix continues with that dominance today. Maud Farms has 4,200 acres of cotton of which eighty-eight percent is irrigated, 2,800 acres of beans and 1,100 acres of rice. Cariker did try his hand at peanuts one growing season a decade ago but got out of it the same year.
“It didn’t really fit in our operation,” he says. “The harvest is so slow and it ties up too much equipment and not enough acres for me. We did get a good price for what we did harvest so we were lucky. I dabbled in cattle for a little while with my brother Chuck, who is the former mayor of Tunica, but got out of that.”
For a long time all of the equipment on the farm were primarily John Deer. Cariker says shift to Case IH machinery was made possible by a local dealer – Mid South Ag and Equipment.
“We were all green for a very long time but switched over to them about six years ago,” he says. “We have a great relationship with them and roll equipment over every two years or so. Everything is red except the cotton picker. We were 100 percent green seven years ago. We had knocked off for the winter and I had my tractors all waxed and lined up and Mid South Ag came up with a proposal to trade them and we did and haven’t looked back since. We’ve had great results.”
His current equipment lineup gets the job done for Maud Farms.
“We have two Case sprayers, one Case 5500 Trident fertilizer applicator, one Case combine, seven Case tractors, one John Deere track tractor and two John Deere 690 cotton pickers,” he says.
Cariker’s brother, Chuck, recently retired from farming but kept his combine and will help Justin and his crew with custom cutting this harvest season. And when his spray rig and Trident aren’t working his acreage, they will be used for custom work as well.
Farming is a great lifestyle and we have been fortunate,” says Cariker. “It’s a great way to raise a family. It’s a lot of hard work, but you do get a lot of family time as well. Every day is a different day. It’s like putting out fires every day. Some days you’re babysitting seven employees trying to make sure everybody is getting along and the next day you’re poking holes in polypipe.”
When they’re not farming, the Carikers enjoy duck and deer hunt and are part of a hunting club behind the Mississippi River levee. Justin and his wife, Shelby, like to take the family to Arkansas to relax at Lake Hamilton.
“We’ve got a pontoon boat and have friends in our condo complex and just go over there and relax which is much appreciated before, during and after each farming season,” he says.