Billy Lee of Boonville – Thank a Farmer

We’ve teamed up with Whites Farm Supply, Case IH and James Wesley to ‘Thank a Farmer.' One farmer will win a $2500 White's Farm Supply gift certificate and a personal phone call from Wesley to 'Thank a Farmer. Today we recognize Billy Lee of Boonville, nominated by his family and friends. 

The friends and family of Billy Lee would like to nominate him because he is one of the most genuine, hardworking, individual who truly loves farming. As a child, Billy spent a lot of time on the family farm working alongside his father and grandfather after school and summers. He then started his own crop farm at a young age, growing and selling pumpkins and sweet corn at his own roadside stand. Today the small roadside stand is still on East Road, visited by many local area residents from August through October. He has one of the largest varieties of pumpkins in the area, from ornamental, to pie, to large carving pumpkins. He enjoys visiting with all the children and families that come to pick out the pumpkins. He finds it comical that the little kids tend to pick the oddly shaped pumpkins.

When Billy first graduated from college, he took a job as a diesel mechanic with a local John Deere dealer. This job took him to many different places in the north country, meeting many farmers through which he gained even more experience.

Currently he is a full time diesel mechanic at the Department of Transportation as well as a full time crop farmer. Each day is spent working and planning for what is next, working around the weather, maintaining the crops, working his regular job, and doing all the repairs on the farm equipment. Over time the crops have grown into about 300 acres, split up between oats, grain and sweet corn, soy beans, winter rye, and pumpkins. As the acreage of crops has grown, Billy also had to construct different grain bins for storage of more and more grains. Crop farming isn't just a job, it's a passion and a constant learning experience.

Even though Billy’s hard work never ends, he still always finds the time to lend a helping hand to a neighbor or a friend in need. At the end of a busy day, an evening of fun for Billy isn’t a trip to town, it’s a cookout and campfire in the backyard with all his farm help and family joining him, along with the Lee farm mascot.

Thank you Billy Lee for what you do everyday. We’ll put you in grand prize drawing for a $2500 gift certificate from White's Farm Supply and a phone call from James Wesley, so he can ‘Thank a Farmer.’