A family with ties nearly 100 years old in the Allentown community were named the Santa Rosa Farm Family of the Year.

Jimmy and Angela Ward accepted the honor during the 48th annual Santa Rosa County Farm Tour on behalf of their family from Santa Rosa County Commissioners Don Salter and Bob Cole.

The farm tour highlights the impact that agriculture plays in the Santa Rosa County economy. This year’s tour highlighted the peanut industry in Santa Rosa. Stops on the tour included the Roy Ward Farm, the UF/IFAS Jay Research Farm, Chumuckla’s Living Truth Church for lunch and presentations, the Mickey Diamond Farm, Golden Peanut Company and Holland Farms.

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Santa Rosa County Agriculture (2013)

Total Planted Crops 73,665 acres.

County Gross Value $75,427,801.

Livestock Gross Value $11,736,100.

*Includes Horticulture Nurseries

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Agriculture was worth a little more than $76 million to the Santa Rosa economy in 2012. The top crops in the county are peanuts and cotton.

In 1917, James B. Ward settled his family and began farming along what is now State Road 89. By the late 1950s four of his six sons; Joel, James, Lamar, and Charles were expanding the family farming tradition and grew corn, cotton, peanuts, soybeans, various grains, abundant vegetables, and raised cattle until the early 1990s.

The Ward brothers passed on a legacy of hard work, integrity, and generosity to the next generation of family farmers. Jimmy Ward, son of Lamar Ward, is the third generation of Wards farming in Allentown.

He continues to farm most of the family’s land. Ward and his wife, Angela, have raised the three sons on the same land his father and grandfather farmed and raised their families.

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Farm Tour sponsors

Gold sponsors: Farm Bureau Insurance Services, Farm Credit of Northwest Florida, Floyd Crop Insurance, Johnson Ford, McKenzie Buick GMC, Three Rivers RC&D Council, and United Bank.

Other sponsors included: Birdsong Peanuts, Burkhead Gin Company, Coastal Machinery, Crop Production Services, Downs Paint and Body Shop, Escambia River Electric Coop, Golden Gin & Warehouse, Griswold Peanut Company, Gulf Power Company, Jay Area Chamber of Commerce, Jay Peanut Farmers Coop, John L. Burkhead Inc., Lowry Farms, Publix, Resource Management Services, Santa Rosa County Farm Bureau, T.R. Miller Mill Company and Taminco.

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Their sons, Jamie, Justin, and Dustin, as well as other family and friends in the community are still part of Ward Farms today.

Also during the farm tour, Dr. Barry Brecke, UF/IFAS WFREC Professor Emeritus, and Janis Simmons, extension office secretary, were recognized for their dedicated service to the farm community.