Food Bank Farmer Bill Hering provides more than 2 million meals each year for local families — growing produce exclusively for the Food Bank.

He fears many farms will go out of business if we don’t pass stronger state and federal investments in agriculture partnerships.

Bill Hering’s farm in Faison, NC  has grown fresh vegetables and herbs for the Food Bank for close to a decade.

Our work wouldn’t be possible without local farmers like Bill Hering, who provide enough fresh produce to fuel millions of meals each year for families facing hunger.

We’re incredibly proud of our partnership with Bill, who grows 100% of his produce for the Food Bank. For close to a decade, Bill has gone above and beyond to provide nutritious, culturally familiar foods like turnips and collard greens. This produce is grown on his family farm at the border of Sampson and Duplin County.

Carter Crain and Bill Hering smile at the camera in a kitchen with podcast microphones

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with the Food Bank for several reasons. One, it kept me doing what I enjoyed and the need is there for our food. It’s changed my whole perspective on what we have in that field and how it can be utilized. It ain’t what you get for it. It is the value of that food.”

-Bill Hering, Food Bank grower

When walking Bill’s farm in Faison, NC,  your shoes may sink into place. That’s because the produce is grown on sandy clay loam soil — what Bill considers to be “the best soil in North Carolina for draining water while retaining moisture”.

Bill’s commitment to soil management has yielded impressive results. During a recent Food Bank tour, wooden crates were stacked into towers at the entrance of his farm. These crates are for Bill’s sweet potato harvest, which yiels hundreds of thousands of sweet potatoes each year for local families. Every crate is stamped “FBCENC” for the Food Bank, and goes directly to our central distribution centers to be sorted into bags for local food pantries and meal sites.

At his 300-acre farm, Food Bank grower Bill Hering shared what farmers are facing and why he grows 100% of his produce for the Food Bank.

We visited Bill’s farm at a time when federal cuts and rising costs are shrinking the resources we need to produce fresh food for our neighbors. Bill has seen all of this unfold as farmers in his community fall behind on loan payments. Our conversation with Bill explored what farmers need right now to sustain their family business and end hunger for good.

Oh, that’s born and bred in me. I can’t give up farming, I can promise you that. I was actually growing cattle. My grandfather helped me get started when I was probably 10, 11-years-old. I had responsibilities before I went to school and when I got home. I was bottle feeding a bunch of calves, sometimes as many as 30 or 35. My granddaddy bought me a machine and we could actually feed six calves at a time. It’d take about two and a half hours. I had a lot of responsibility as a child, which was my choice.

I actually had reached out to Carter [Crain, VP of Food Procurement]. Somebody told me [the Food Bank] were buying stuff and you know, I had a few watermelons in the field and [Carter] agreed to buy ’em and it kind of started from there. I started with maybe 15, 20 acres, I think it was watermelons and wound up within two years doing that plus sweet potatoes. And it’s kind of expanded from there. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with the Food Bank for several reasons. One, it kept me doing what I enjoyed and the need is there for our food. It’s changed my whole perspective on what we have in that field and how it can be utilized. It ain’t what you get for it. It is the value of that food.

The human factor plays a part in it for me. Right this minute we employ two full-time guys. I employ probably 15 seasonal guys on and off throughout the season. 

We try to keep our costs down and what we do is give the Food Bank the whole package. We don’t give them just the pick outs. We give ’em number one. The Food Bank is able to take number one stuff and use it instead of taking stuff from a repack house that they’re paying really a full price for. Instead of focusing on what I can sell to increase my bottom line, I focus on how I can produce and then do it cheaper. And that has kept the price down. So that makes me feel good is that we’re able to do that. Because I see the need and you know, it’s working. Seems like it’s working to me anyway. 

We grow a lot of greens in the winter months. We do a lot of collards, turnips, and turnip roots. This year we’re gonna experiment with some broccoli. Actually this year if everything goes well, we’ll put cilantro in and red radishes. We’re actually putting ’em in this spring. The weather went from too hot to too cold for it this year. We’re doing butternuts, sweet potatoes, sweet corn. Actually we were doing string beans this year. We lost them, but we invested in a harvester. We done beans last year and hand-picked them. And for the price we sold ’em to the Food Bank was more than I felt fair. So we’ve invested in a machine, got the machine up and running, and hopefully we’ll have some of them in for the fall crop and we’ll be able to probably cut the price in half of harvesting, for this upcoming season with green beans. 

Right now a couple things that’s really hurting is the weather, the extremes of weather is one of the things, the cuts and funding for a lot of these programs is another. To give you a good example, a lot of these farmers have seen damage from [Hurricane] Helene and drought conditions last year in North Carolina and South Carolina. And the money that was appropriated in December has still not been paid to these guys as of today. The signup has started, but none of it’s been paid. 

Banks are a little reluctant to loan money this past spring. So they were extending them credit again this year assuming they’d already be paid for this program, but that hasn’t been the case. And the interest rates are not helping. At one time you could borrow money for what, 3 or 4%? I don’t know. Now just say if I wanted to build new turkey houses…I don’t even know if I could get 6.5% interest. There’re gonna be some problems. And you’re going to see it come December.

So what’s going to happen this year, the banks is going to cut their operating notes and return’s gonna cut their acres in some cases gonna cut ’em slam out. I know guys right now that their acres was cut by 2000 acres. And the banks wouldn’t give ’em funding this past year. I know a farmer — if he don’t have a halfway decent year this coming year, he’s already so far behind the eight ball, he’s out. So you may see a lot of people get out of farming. I can only tell you what’s coming this year. With rising input and weather costs plus cutting government programs, it’s a combination of a perfect storm, if that makes sense. It’s everything at one time. We got a mess in the farming community right now.

I think, you know, in my personal opinion, the subsidies for crops need to be taken out because they’re not done fairly. We are exempt as a produce farmer from subsidies. I can tell you, you’ll get an earful about that from me because we are held to a different standard and do not get the funding for specialty crops that everybody else does. I do have a NAP program that will pay me a percentage of my losses. Yes, I do have a whole farm policy, but if I ever lose that kind of money, I’m out of business. So it don’t do me no good. The perfect Farm Bill would treat every crop the same. Subsidize everything or don’t subsidize anything. Let it go. But put some kind of safety nets in place for uninsured crops, which are your vegetables, which to me adds more value.

SNAP don’t need to be cut if you want my honest opinion. If you want to do something right, take SNAP out the agriculture bill and let it be a standalone. That way the agriculture bill doesn’t get tied up with [delays in legislation], which can take away from what farmers need. It’s two different things, and a lot of reform needs to be done in these policies.

The Food Bank needs to be included in on this stuff. There’s a lot of produce wasted out there that the Food Bank can benefit from if agencies worked together. The bill needs to be aimed toward fighting hunger. I see more need now than ever before. And the funding’s probably at the least amount I’ve ever been involved with a food bank. From what I see and what I hear, I do think that needs to be changed.

The best way you can support local farmers is for everybody to get on board and speak with our Congress or Senate and garner support for ways that we can come up with funding, whether it be crop insurance, because there’s so much food that’s getting wasted. Farmers are being penalized for letting the food bank take these crops by counting the production and the revenue against them. So, of course, if that’s going to happen, they’re not going to donate it. So there needs to be some kind of tax credits so that the crop insurance companies are not holding that against them.

And the only way we’re gonna get that done is with this Farm Bill coming up; and I think you’ll have to do it through lobbying with your local representative, your politicians, committee members, whatever the case may be; that’s a big need for years.

This interview was edited for length and clarity. If you want to learn more about the importance of Farmer Bill’s partnership with the Food Bank, listen to Episode Three of our Path to Ending Hunger podcast.

Are you a local farm or business interested in donation or sales opportunities? Learn more about our food industry partnerships.

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