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WOODLAND – Located near where Northampton, Hertford, and Bertie counties converge, Dan Bryant’s farming operation mainly consists of growing grains such as corn, soybeans, and wheat.

More recently, he’s added some acres of peanuts as well, working jointly with another farmer who has equipment to handle that crop. In total, Bryant works over 1,200 acres of land with one other employee.

Even though he grew up on the family farm, Bryant didn’t originally intend to follow in his father’s footsteps. After he graduated from NC State University, he spent 10 years working for the timber company, Weyerhaeuser, in New Bern. That work focused on waste management research.

But eventually, he returned home and has been farming ever since.

He recalled how much has changed over the years. On the family farm when he was a teenager, they used to raise tobacco, cotton, peanuts, corn (to feed to the hogs), but not very many soybeans.

“It was smaller acreages back then, and it was just totally different,” Bryant explained.

Another difference is that they used to regularly plow the land before planting, taking care to bed the dirt into rows across each field. But now Bryant does mostly “no-till” farming, which means that they don’t have to disturb the land before planting.

This practice helps the land retain moisture better, Bryant explained.

If you don’t get a lot of rain, he said, tilled topsoil dries out, and then “the seed will be laying there in dry dirt, and it won’t germinate.”

An important part of farm work is taking care of the land, and Bryant does that through cover crops during the winter. Sometimes, he uses wheat as a cover crop, to keep the soil from eroding during the few months before planting season. But this year, Bryant said he’s got a mixture of different grasses that will help replenish nutrients, like nitrogen, in the soil.

The plan is to naturally replenish enough essential nutrients that he won’t need to use as much commercial fertilizer on his crops this year.

Over the years, Bryant has seen how farm technology has evolved and changed how things work.

“It’s just dramatic how the technology has changed. It’s really amazing,” he said.

Tractors, for example, now have GPS guidance and autosteering options. Bryant said people in the older generation have seen things change from using mules to plow the field back in the day to self-baling cotton pickers now.

That technology, however, is expensive, and Bryant said it’s not always worth the financial investment, especially considering that some equipment only gets used a few weeks per year.

As with many industries, farming was also disrupted by the Covid pandemic. Costs to maintain a farm and a crop have gone up with inflation, but the market prices haven’t seen that same increase. Bryant said he thinks it’ll still be some time before things even out again.

That’s a challenge many farmers have to figure out how to face.

It takes more acres and higher crop yields to turn a profit now. Bryant said a large yield from when he was younger would hardly be enough to break even these days.

“It’s just wildly different,” he said of the market.

But, like many farmers, Bryant also has timber land that he manages too. He makes sure to log different parts of the forest at different times, and then replant the land afterwards. Much of that replanting consists of loblolly pines.

Careful forest management is beneficial to wildlife.

“It’s worth the investment in it,” he explained.

On the side, Bryant has also run a hunting lodge for more than 20 years. In addition to making extra money, it also helps keep the deer population under control, which in turn, helps keep his crops from being eaten before the harvest season.

Despite all the challenges that come with farming, Bryant said he enjoys the work.

“You’re working for yourself. You get to set your own schedule. You’re not stuck inside all the time,” he explained.

And it’s a way to experience the beauty of nature in a way other people don’t.

“Everything has its pluses and minuses, but pretty much, I enjoy it,” he concluded.