Jake Dubose of the Banks community began helping his dad, Mike Dubose, with different chores on the farm at an early age. It was then that he acquired the desire for farming.

“I guess I’ve always known that I wanted to farm,” Dubose said. “I didn’t know if I would farm fulltime or not, but I knew that I would always be involved in farming some way.”

Dubose received the 2011 Pike County Farm-City Young Farmer Award at the banquet hosted by the Pike County Chamber of Commerce Farm-City Committee and the Kiwanis Club.

Dubose got into farming because he enjoyed the lifestyle and the rewards that farming can bring.

“Farming keeps you close to the land and you’re your own boss,” he said. “I grew up on the farm and it’s great place to grow up. It’s a great place to raise your own children. I love the farm and farm life, and I’m really blessed to be able to stay on the farm.”

Dubose works with the Troy Fire Department and works 24 hours and is off 48 hours.

“So I’m able to have a fulltime ‘paying’ job and farm, too,” Dubose said, with a smile. “Farming is like gambling. You plant a crop in the spring and then you have to hope and pray that it makes. If it rains when you need it, you’ve got a chance. If it doesn’t, then you don’t.”

In 2006, he planted his first crop, 75 acres of peanuts. In 2011, his farming operation included a 50/50 share in 135 acres of peanuts.

“Last year was a bad year, but you have to stay positive,” Dubose said. “There’s always next year, and all farmers believe that next year will be a better year. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of farmers around.”

Dubose admits that farming is a demanding job, especially for a young man with a wife and children.

“With two jobs, I don’t have a lot of time to spend with my family,” he said. “I eat and sleep at the house during planting and harvest seasons. But, to able to farm, it’s all worth it.”

Jake’s goals in farming are to continue to grow, prosper and keep his family involved in farming.

Dubose and his wife, Sondra, have two sons, Braxton, 4, and Mason, 7 months. They attend First Baptist Church of Troy.