Clemson Graduate Named Southeast's Top Farmer

Kevin Yon has built his life around family and farming, who recently celebrated landmark moments on both fronts.

On the same day Yon’s first grandchild came home from the hospital to the family farm in Ridge Spring, he was named the overall winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award for 2018.

“It was very special,” said Yon, a first-generation angus breeder. “And I got to be there for the birth prior to going to the banquet, so that was good, too.”

But Yon’s accolade wasn’t just a milestone for his family, it was also one for Clemson University. He is the first Clemson alumnus to garner the event’s top prize and only the third South Carolinian to win the award in its 29-year history.

And the Clemson connection isn’t just a footnote, the Yons are — quite literally — a Clemson family. All told, the family includes six graduates of Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

Kevin and wife Lydia met while undergraduates at the Clemson University Block and Bridle Club, and Kevin eventually proposed at the Clemson bull-test station, at what later became the T. Ed Garrison Arena. All three of their children, Sally (’13), Drake (’14) and Corbin (’16), are also Clemson alumni, as is Drake’s wife, Nicole (’14).

After being named the South Carolina winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award this summer, Kevin was named as the overall winner at the Willie B. Withers Luncheon held on the opening day of the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Georgia. He was chosen as Farmer of the Year over nine other state winners who were finalists.

But while his name is on the award, Yon said his family and employees deserve much of the credit. And Yon Family Farms, as its name indicates, is nothing if not a family business.

All three Yon children grew up on the farm, and all three have returned to work on the farm as adults, along with two of their spouses, Nicole, and Sally’s husband, Reid Harrison.

“They call it the Farmer of the Year, but for us it is the entire family and the entire farm and also extended family members who are longtime employees as well,” Kevin said. “It was nothing to do with Kevin Yon; it was about the whole Yon Family Farms team. Everybody has special talents and contributes in their own ways — just like a team.

“So it was very gratifying for the team to be recognized, or the entire farm. And it’s humbling because getting to meet those other nine state winners, they were so passionate about what they do. Each one of them, to me, could’ve been a winner.”

The Yons’ operation has grown into one that is listed among the country’s 25 largest purebred operations by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, but it started from scratch. Yon was 12 when his parents loaned him the money to buy his first steer and heifer. By high school, he’d purchased a small crossbred herd he kept in a leased pasture in Anderson County, close enough to care for when he left for Clemson to pursue a degree in animal science.

These days, the Yons sell about 450 bulls and 200 females each year in two on-farm sales. They also sell cattle in private treaty sales, and their herd includes about 1,200 registered breeding-age females, 590 commercial breeding-age females and 90 steers and heifers that are fed out. The Yons retain ownership on calves not sold for breeding and feed most of them in a Kansas feedlot. They also feed out calves on their farm that are marketed through an Augusta, Georgia, processing facility.

But it is also an operation that has grown well beyond just cattle. Forages are among the most extensive plantings on Yon’s farm, which has successfully grown alfalfa and corn and has become a new grower of soybeans, pecans and grain sorghum. The Yons also own a retail store in Ridge Spring where they sell pecans and beef from their farm, along with other South Carolina-grown products.

The Southeastern Farmer of the Year award recognizes excellence in agricultural production and farm management, along with leadership in farm and community organizations. The award also honors family contributions in producing safe and abundant supplies of food, fiber and shelter products.

“Something else that was really special about it is our Clemson University Extension agent, Travis Mitchell, was the nominator,” Kevin said, “and we credit his help and his predecessor Phil Perry’s Extension help for the success of our farm. We’ve worked hand in hand with those guys since the very beginning, and they’ve been so good to us and helped us in so many ways.

“So credit for the award also goes to all of Clemson Extension, but especially our county agents, Phil Perry — who is retired — and Travis Mitchell, who was right there with us every step of the way preceding the award and even during the award.”

John Miller, president and chief executive officer of Swisher International Inc., of Jacksonville, Florida, praised Yon for his farming accomplishments.

“Kevin is an outstanding farmer who has become a role model for others who want to farm,” Miller said. “It is an honor for our company and our Swisher Sweets cigar brand to recognize Kevin for his farming accomplishments.”