When Jay Minter returned home from college in 1995, the Dallas County young farmer assumed he would one day take over management of his family’s cotton farm and gin. But when cancer claimed the lives of his father and the family’s long-time farm manager in a span of about two years, Jay was catapulted into a position of leadership sooner than he had expected.Today, Jay and wife Julia Anne credit the farm’s four full-time and three part-time employees for helping Jay get through those first difficult years. “Jay is the head farmer, but it takes all the people on the farm to make it work,” said Julia Anne. “I feel very strongly about all the people who work here. They are what make the farm a farm.”Jay is the sixth generation of Minters to work the fertile land that lies in a bend of the Alabama River near the railroad town of Tyler. That history, Jay said, is what drives him to continue the farming tradition his ancestors began in 1830.”I’m trying to provide a good living, not just for myself, but for several other families. I feel I have a responsibility to the people who have lived and worked on Minter family land all their lives,” Jay said.Today, Jay, 31, not only has overcome the hardships of those early years; he’s distinguished himself as one of Alabama’s up-and-coming agriculture leaders. He is a graduate of the Alabama Agriculture and Forestry LEADERS Program as well as the National Cotton Council’s Cotton Leadership Program. Earlier this year, Jay and Julia Anne were named the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Outstanding Young Farm Family in the Cotton Division.Jay said he is constantly looking for ways to improve the profitability of his farm. Since taking over management of the 2,000-acre cotton operation, he has installed center-pivot irrigation systems on 850 acres and sub-surface drip irrigation on another 400 acres. He also has diversified the farm to include peanuts and corn.Jay admits, however, that the past eight years have been a learning process. Before graduating from Rhodes College in Memphis, the young farmer said his contribution to the farm consisted of working at the family mercantile in Tyler during summer breaks. In fact, it was not until he had completed half of his coursework for a degree in religion and philosophy that Jay knew he wanted to return to the farm.”I knew by Christmas of my junior year that I wanted to be back on the farm,” said Jay, who recalled going for long drives in the Mississippi Delta just to see cotton fields. “I wanted to be (in a job) where I would be able to work with my hands as well as my head. Farming is a good balance of both.” When asked how a degree in religion and philosophy helps him on the farm, Jay said, “I can pray for rain, and if I don’t get it, I can justify why.”Jay stayed on in Memphis after graduation to attend International Cotton School. He returned home in August 1995 for what he thought would be a slow transition into management. That fall, the remnants of Hurricane Opal ripped through Alabama, and the Minters harvested one of their worst crops in recent memory. The following spring, Jay’s father was diagnosed with cancer, and in February 1997, he passed away–leaving Jay in charge.”It’s not that he had any idea that he was going to die, but he had started preparing me to take over,” Jay recalled. “We spent a lot of time riding and talking. He was passing along unwritten knowledge about the land and about how to run things.”Following his father’s death, Jay managed the business side of the farm and gin, and the Minters’ farm manager, David Casey, managed the crop production and labor. Then, in 1999, Casey, 42, was diagnosed with cancer and died a few months later.”David was like a big brother to me. I always intended for my father to be my best man (when I got married), but when Dad died, I asked David to be my best man. That speaks to how close I was to him,” Jay said. “He was a magnificent cotton farmer. If I had known what would come to pass, I would have learned more from him. I just always thought he would be there.”In the years that followed, Jay reduced his cotton acreage. He also continued to expand his irrigation systems due, in part, to a revelation he had while visiting a cotton farmer in New Zealand during the LEADERS international study tour.Jay recalled that the New Zealand farmer’s cost of production was about 40 cents per pound, compared to Jay’s 60 cents per pound. “That’s when it dawned on me that I’m a young man, and if I’m going to be in farming the rest of my working life with this great resource of the Alabama River right here, I needed to start watering my crops,” Jay said.With that motivation, Jay began installing center pivots before Casey’s death. Soon, the only fields not irrigated were those that were too small to justify a center pivot. That’s when Jay began experimenting with sub-surface drip irrigation. Although the system requires more management, Jay is hopeful his investment will pay dividends.Jay and his new farm manager, Bryant Traylor, also have been able to diversify their crops this year because, following the 2002 crop, Jay closed the family gin, which had operated on the same site for 110 years.”When we were running the gin, we were getting the cart before the horse–the cart being the gin and the farm being the horse,” Jay said. “I was trying to farm enough cotton to feed the gin. Closing the gin allows me to get diversified and put in a good crop rotation.”This year, Jay planted 685 acres of corn, 50 acres of wheat, 315 acres of peanuts and 740 acres of cotton. He also switched to 12-row equipment. “I think peanuts are where the future will be for us,” Jay said. “The production costs for peanuts are about the same or less than they are for cotton, and the return, on average, should be the same or better than for cotton.”Cotton, however, continues to be a mainstay of the Minter farm. Jay also serves on the board of directors of the new MADH (Minter-Autauga-Dallas-Hain) Gin, which was formed by the consolidation of three smaller gins–including the Minters’. Jay said the gin is a good example of how American farmers must work together, if they are going to survive in the world market. “We have to realize that the farmer down the road isn’t my competitor any more. We’ve got to be cooperators so we can compete with the rest of the world,” Jay said.In addition to his work at the farm and gin, Jay serves on the Dallas County Farmers Federation Board of Directors, is a former member of the State Young Farmers Committee and chairs the peanut and cotton commodity committees in his county. Jay and Julia Anne, who is a stay-at-home mom, have two children, Gilley, 5, and Cink (James Anthony Minter V), 7 months.Julia Anne said Jay is a devoted father who wants to give their kids the same opportunity to farm that his father gave him.”One of Jay’s main goals in life is to continue a legacy. Jay is the sixth generation of his family on this land, but he doesn’t see himself being the last farmer. He sees himself as a steward of the land,” she said. “He feels it is his responsibility to take care of the land and pass it on to the next generation.”