SUMTER, S.C. — Cotton harvesting is underway around the rural areas of the Midlands, including in Sumter County.
For a lot of famers this can be a team effort that requires other farmers like Glenn Smith in Dalzell to help.
"This is about the last of what we’ve got for the year," Smith explained.
Smith has been growing cotton for the past five years. What started out small has quickly grown to 1,100 acres of cotton that he plants, grows and harvests each year.
After planting, Smith goes through the fields to spray fertilizer on the crops.
"Around this area, if you have a farm, someone will help you," he shrugged. "That’s farming."
That’s a lesson Smith was reminded of this season.
When his picking machine broke down, his farmer friend came to the rescue. He allowed Smith to use his picker to cut and bale his remaining crop.
The machine picks the cotton from the plants and then combines it into a large bale. Smith drives around the fields to collect the bales, which he then moves to the side of the farm near the road.
Trucks come by periodically to collect the bales and take them to the cotton gin. Preparing the bales wouldn’t have been possible without help, Smith tells me.
"It takes a lot of stress off of you, knowing if you have a problem, you can lean on somebody around and they will help you, 'cuz I mean they can lean on us and we would help them," Smith shared. "There’s no competition in farming. You’re not competing against your friends, your neighbors. You have farmers that farm in the area but you’re not competing against them because you both trying to grow the same crop and the world’s gonna tell you what they’re gonna pay you for it."
He goes on to say, "There’s no competition in farming. You’re not competing against your friends, your neighbors. You have farmers that farm in the area but you’re not competing against them because you both trying to grow the same crop and the world’s gonna tell you what they’re gonna pay you for it."