The Covington Digital News Digital Edition June 12, 2015 | Page 6

IN DEPTH

Friday, June 12, 2015

A Tale of Two
Newton Farmers
BY SANDRA BRANDS

One, 21, has been farming for three years.
The other, 75, has owned a farm that had been in the
family for generations.
But both Jacob Pope and Alexander “Sandy”
Morehouse have something in common. They both
believe that farming is vital, a way of life and a hard
way to make a living.
“Farming is not a good business,” Morehouse said. On
the day he was interviewed for this story, it was sultry,
hot and a storm was brewing. “We’re supposed to be
combing (harvesting) wheat. The wind and the rain laid
the wheat down making it difficult to combine. If it gets
too wet, it gets moldy and can’t be sold.”
Farmers are dependent on the moods of Mother
Nature, Pope agreed. “Every farmer knows this:
whenever you get an operating loan of $35,000 to a
million, you have to rely on Mother Nature. It’s scary, a
pretty big hole to jump into.