Best Young Farmers/Ranchers-1 01/06 12:18

   The Weight of Legacy on Young Arkansas Farmers

   Layne and Ryane Miles look at a future of their diversified farm that will 
be won or lost in the grocery-store aisle. They operate Miles Farms in McGehee, 
Arkansas.

Dan Miller
Progressive Farmer Senior Editor

   This story is the first of five profiles of the people selected as the 
DTN/Progressive Farmer's 2026 America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers 
program. Today, we introduce Layne and Ryane Miles of Miles Farms in McGehee, 
Arkansas.

   See Layne and Ryane Miles' America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers video 
profile at https://bcove.video/444eJks.

   **

   A thick blanket of heat and humidity smothers the southeast Arkansas Delta 
long before sunrise. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat 
warning for this July day, the heat index expected to touch 114 degrees 
Fahrenheit. And it does. The corn harvest is a point or two of moisture away 
from starting. On Miles Farms, just outside McGehee, Arkansas, four John Deere 
combines crawl through a newly opened field of soybeans.

   Layne Miles, 30, a fifth-generation farmer born and raised on this land, 
steps into the shade of a lone tree to escape the heat. He bow hunts, golfs, 
cooks and is working toward his pilot's license. But he did not see "farming" 
as a line on his resume. "It's not something I really thought I would do," he 
says.

   By age 21, there he was, farming and learning farming alongside his dad, 
Matt. All those summers laying poly pipe and clearing blockages in untold 
numbers of irrigated furrows had paid off. Destiny had caught up with him.

   "As far as my expectations for Layne, the ability to work side by side and 
him truly be my best friend is the biggest blessing a father could ask for," 
Matt says. "Losing my father at a younger age, I knew the importance of 
teaching him all I could as early as I could. In his younger years, I took him 
into every meeting I had. I wanted him to learn all the good and bad of the 
business side, as well as the in-depth agronomy I was short on. He continues to 
amaze me on a daily basis with his unique abilities. He is a better farmer at 
30 than I was at 50. He is my rock star."

   As operations manager today, Layne coordinates logistics, monitors the 
crops, manages inputs and resources, and works closely with employees. His 
wife, Ryane, says Layne "farms outside the box. He loves all things technology."

   Layne credits his employees. "We've got a fantastic group of people that 
work with us. I consider them family, our family. We have our trials, but in 
the end, this is a fulfilling."

   CULTURE SHOCK

   Layne is married 10 years now to Ryane, a nonfarming girl. She grew up in 
Crossett, Arkansas, about an hour south of Layne. She played second base on the 
Crossett High School softball team and was a cheerleader at Friday night 
football games. The couple has two young boys, Luke, 8 (hangs with dad, early 
inklings about a farming career), and Owen, 5 (hangs with mom, class clown). 
One or both sons will grow into a sixth generation to one day manage Miles 
Farms. They are already learning, spending after-school hours with Ryane at the 
farm. "They get to see what our guys do," she says.

   Ryane's dad was director of operations at Georgia-Pacific. He worked Monday 
through Friday. He grew tomatoes in a pot. When she met Layne's dad, he was on 
a cotton picker. "That was just a culture shock, a very different way of life," 
she remembers.

   Miles Farms is 16,000 acres -- cotton, corn, soybeans, all of which is 
furrow-irrigated, and wheat -- with up to 2,500 acres of rice, all spread 
across four counties. "Rice is fun to grow," Layne says. "But, when it gets 
ready to harvest, it's one of the hardest crops to harvest. If a good storm 
comes down, people think that cutting downed wheat is bad; cutting downed rice 
is three times worse."

   Irrigation water is pumped from wells or from bald cypress bayous. There is 
much water around, but water management is critical. "We know that water 
restrictions are coming," Layne says. "While preparing for that, we work with 
the EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) and build reservoirs. We 
try to capture all the water runoff possible." He says they use EQIP to build 
water-recovery systems and improve land by way of pipes and land forming. "We 
manage as many acres as possible, reusing all the runoff we can."

   DIVERSIFYING THE RISKS

   Farming is one arm of a diversified business. Production agriculture runs in 
tandem with Advanced Ag Products (chemical retail), Alpha Engines (diesel 
repair) and the 16 semitrucks of Big Daddy Farms trucking business.

   "We try to keep our toes in a few different buckets so we're not solely 
dependent on just the farm," Layne says.

   Ryane works across all the businesses. "I do the payroll, accounts 
receivable and payables. We just hired a trucking manager, so he was able to 
take a lot of the trucking tasks off me so I can start to learn more of the 
farm side. I hope to move forward with doing more with the farm."

   Layne's mother, Sherrie Kay, mentors Ryane. "Sherrie Kay, your mom, is the 
top-tier farm wife," Ryane says with a nod toward Layne. "She knows all the ins 
and outs, and she's been teaching me, from chemicals to planting to harvest. It 
blows my mind every single year just how she wraps her mind around all this."

   MARRIED PARTNERS

   Layne and Ryane are well-matched in their support for each other. "We've 
been together since I was 16 and you were 15," she says looking over at Layne. 
"And I've watched him grow up. I mean, as a kid who's working here, he was low 
man on the totem pole and doing everything that they tell him to do. And now 
it's totally opposite. He has earned their respect, and he treats them with 
respect. He's taught me how to treat people when things are hard, to go through 
life with this positive attitude. You won't see him in a bad attitude. Most 
people don't. If they do, then it's been a pretty rough day."

   Adds Layne: "Whether it's work, or it's personal, no matter what, she's 
always right there with me. She is going to bat for me. I try to remember her 
in my working relationship with my guys. I'm not the only one in town with an 
idea. I need to be encouraging, be there for that person. That's her 
personality. I may come home just wired and really mad about today. And she's 
like, 'Babe, you got tomorrow.' Same with my guys. We got tomorrow. We can fix 
it tomorrow."

   GUIDED BY LEGACIES AND MENTORS

   The legacy of Miles Farms weighs heavy on Layne. But he has had the 
blessings of good people around him.

   First, his father. Matt's mantra is "productive consistency."

   Matt is a founding member of XtremeAg (https://xtremeag.farm), a 
membership-based organization managed by Matt and a half-dozen other 
farmer-partners who share their practices, successes, failures, advice and 
agronomic strategies.

   Matt has brought to Miles Farms a reputation for soybean and corn 
production. He has notched 100-bushel-plus soybean yield state records several 
times. Matt also owns several state National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) 
National Corn Yield Contest wins.

   TRIO OF MENTORS

   "My dad is ultimately my best friend," Layne says. "I get to work side by 
side with him every day. He guides me to be a better farmer but also a better 
husband and a better dad. My love for farming came from him, and I hope to 
instill this in my boys."

   Mike McGregor, who runs a large business delivering chicken litter to farms 
across the Delta, is Layne's sons' "Godpaw." "He teaches me time and time again 
the values a person should have. He's one of the most business-minded people I 
know. I call him often when I have work-related problems and when I have 
spiritual problems. He is truly a man who loves God. I am grateful he treats me 
like his own son."

   Billy Garner was the premier farm manager at Miles Farms and knew farming, 
managed the work and was the well-known jokester just to keep things light. "I 
mean, he would pull a prank on somebody ... throw firecrackers inside the 
bathroom. He made sure work was fun."

   Garner died in an accident in 2019. "He was my dad's best friend, as well as 
mine," Layne says. "I was just beginning to figure out how to manage the farm. 
I spent hours with him in the truck learning to do what he did. I owe a lot of 
what I know to him."

   The day Billy died, Layne's life changed. "I was a glorified tractor 
operator the day he died," Layne says. "I had about 12 hours to grieve, and 
then the next morning, I had to wake up and be a different person."

   QUESTIONS IN THE FIELD

   Layne grapples with many questions, seeking answers. He's highly concerned 
about the future. "It's my biggest question," he says. "We've had a big 
turnover in farming, and you don't want to be that person (who doesn't make 
it). You want to be the person who at least gets to push through and fight 
another year. We hope to fight another year."

   The struggle is in the field. Layne and his father focus on in-field 
research to improve yields, on drainage and tailwater recovery, on irrigation 
projects and reduced tillage. They have been integrating cover-crop systems 
into the operation. "We take pride in making sure every acre is tended to in 
the same manner," Layne says.

   STRUGGLE IN THE GROCERY AISLE

   The struggle is in the grocery aisle, as well. In fact, Layne thinks it is 
his and farming's biggest oncoming challenge. "The suburban mom wants to know 
where her food comes from, not just that it is organic or non-GMO. They want to 
be able to go to the box of cereal and see the picture of a farmer on it. A QR 
code tells them about the farmer, that there is actually a person behind it, 
growing it."

   It's not an unreasonable request. Layne and Ryane raise their boys the same 
way. "They know where their food comes from," Ryane says. "Daddy grows corn, 
and it goes to a chicken, and then we eat the chicken. That's what consumers 
want to know. They want to know the guy who grows the chicken. They want to 
know what's going on."

   **

   Editor's Note: This is the first of five profiles of our 16th class of 
America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers sponsored by DTN/Progressive Farmer. 
They are among the best of their generation who have chosen agriculture as a 
profession and lifestyle. The annual award recognizes five farmers and ranchers 
under 40 who best represent the pioneering promises of American agriculture: 
Farmers and ranchers who are innovative, imaginative and who work to improve 
their communities. Nominations are judged on the operations' overall business 
plan, as well as the farmers' involvement in the community and the ag industry. 
We're already seeking nominations for our 2027 class. If you know someone (you 
can nominate yourself or family member) or would like more information and a 
nomination form, contact Progressive Farmer Senior Editor Dan Miller at 
dan.miller@dtn.com and cc DTN Social Media and Young Farmers Editor Susan Payne 
at susan.payne@dtn.com.

   To hear more about this year's class, check out DTN's Field Posts podcast, 
Episode 275: 2026 Best Young Farmers and Ranchers at 
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/videos/field-posts-podcasts.

   Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

   Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF




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