Source: NCDA&CS, 5/6/21


The coronavirus pandemic has certainly presented challenges for people in all walks of life, and those in agriculture are no exception. However, it also brought an increased demand for many local agricultural producers across the state – producers like Honeycutt Farms in the Coats area of Harnett County.

When stay-home orders and supply chain issues just began affecting people last spring, Curt and Ashley Honeycutt had just begun some direct-to-consumer selling of beef from their cattle. Demand for their beef immediately skyrocketed. They got so many orders, that in March of 2020, they were backlogged to January and February of 2021. They relied on in-state meat processors, which were also seeing a huge increase in demand. So it took until this April to fully catch up and deliver beef that was ordered during the backlog.

The boost in business was a pleasant surprise for Curt who grew up with uncles on both sides of the family farming. He started helping the uncle on his mother’s side around age 14, when his “granddaddy” hung up his farming hat.

“My job was to get up and feed the cows before school,” Curt said. “It wasn’t so much work to me then, and it’s not so much work for me now.”

That goes to show how much he enjoys farming, which he’s been doing himself for about ten years now. The farm is about 800 acres, including pastureland, hay fields (of alfalfa and hybrid Bermuda grass) and row crops (of corn, wheat, soybeans and occasionally cotton).

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