Champaign County Farm Bureau

Champaign County Farm Bureau Member Reaches Milestone after Lifetime Dedication to Agriculture

CCFB Member Reaches Milestone after Lifelong Commitment to Agriculture

A farmer at heart, James Ralph Stayton, still worries about the weather and its effects on the productivity of his crops. At the age of 100, and a farmer for life, Ralph Stayton still has the rural air in his lungs and a special place in his heart for his Champaign County farm.

Born on June 15, 1907 to a farming family, Ralph Stayton always knew that he wanted to be a farmer, and upon graduation from Ogden High School in 1926, Stayton joined his father on the family’s farm just two miles west of town. Farming was the natural profession for Stayton, it was all he ever knew and the only profession that he ever considered.

Farming alongside his father at the age of 19, Stayton began his agricultural career with just 160 acres of family land planted in corn, oats and wheat with the help of his two-horse team. With what would be considered a small farming operation by today’s standards, Stayton admits that the farm was actually quite self-sustaining. Complete with a flock of sheep, one or two milking cows, chickens, turkeys and hogs for butcher, the Stayton family always had enough extra meat to sell to neighbors for additional profit. Add in a large garden and an orchard of grapes, apples and peaches, and Ralph and his family were never at a lack of work.

Stayton admits that farming in the 1920’s and 30’s was much different than it is today. The family’s 160 acre field would be planted two rows at a time with a wire-guided planter run by the farm’s two horses, Frank and Ruby. Fertilizer was applied and nitrogen was side-dressed for added fertility. At harvest time, the Stayton farm was shucked at the rate of eight rows per day and yielded just less than 75 bushels per acre. A steam-engine powered threshing machine owned by Stayton’s father and three other local farmers was used to thresh the crop prior to its placement in the corn crib. The corn was then shelled throughout the winter for use around the farm.

Ralph Stayton has seen many great advances in the agriculture industry; the most important Stayton says was the tractor. Stayton recalls his first tractor, a Fordson, purchased prior to World War II. “The tractor changed everything on the farm” Stayton said. Looking back, he isn’t sure how he was able to work without some of today’s conveniences; however he must admit that he “didn’t know any differently”.

With his wife Jane by his side, Ralph Stayton retired from farming after the 1980 harvest of the same 160 acres he began farming on nearly 55 years earlier. The land once settled by Ichabod Freeman in 1851 became a centennial farm in 1984 and is now farmed by extended family member, Jim Esworthy. In 2006, the farm yielded over 160 bushels per acre, a great improvement from Ralph Stayton’s early days on the farm.

Although James Ralph Stayton no longer lives on his Ogden farm, he celebrates his 100^th birthday on June 15 with fond memories of his simple life on the farm. With great friends and family surrounding him to celebrate this milestone, what more could Ralph Stayton want for his 100^th birthday? Rain for his Champaign County crops.