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[ background music ]
>> Narrator: A pioneer in the development of
center-pivot irrigation and the vegetable industry in Georgia,
Alvin Newton’s intuition and innovative drive made
a lasting and indelible mark on Georgia farmers and
Georgia’s agricultural industry.
>> Mr. Al Newton, son: I guess you’d always have to describe
somebody by their characteristics.
To describe Daddy,
there are a lot of intelligent people in the world and
there are a lot of hard working people in the world and
there are a lot of people in the world with big dreams
but it is rare that you find somebody that has
all 3 of those qualities and Daddy’s one of those people.
>> Narrator: A native of Colquitt, Georgia,
Newton is known as the
“Father of Center Pivot Irrigation.”
He installed Georgia’s
first center-pivot irrigation system in 1967 and
led the way for the adoption of the practice in Georgia
as part of his tractor and farm equipment business,
Newton-Hamrick, Co.
>> Mr. Newton: The week after Daddy graduated from
high school, his Daddy died.
And Daddy had already been accepted to go to
Middle Georgia College;
Uncle Farrell was off in the Navy in the Pacific and
Daddy went on to college and they hired a man
to look after the small farm that they had there.
Pretty soon, Grandmama told him that this guy they had hired
to work the farm was not doing anything
that he was supposed to be doing and
they were going to lose the farm if he didn’t come back.
So he was disappointed but he came back to help
take over the farm that harvesting year.
Seeing the managing and planning,
the thinking side of agriculture,
he said it became fun to him for the first time.
>> Narrator: Newton became interested in the concept
of center-pivot irrigation in 1965.
The following year, he formed a relationship with a
Nebraska irrigation company.
When he installed his first irrigation system in 1967,
he photographed the effects of irrigated crop land
versus non-irrigated.
>> Mr. Eddie McGriff: Mr. Alvin, one of his greatest attributes
was that he was a visionary.
He saw the value to irrigation, center-pivot irrigation,
in Georgia and really went around promoting it
with other farmers, encouraging them to put in
center-pivot irrigation.
It’s really been valuable to them;
most of the farmers wouldn’t be in business today if it
wasn’t for center-pivot systems.
>> Narrator: There are now more than 11,000 center-pivot systems
in Georgia, a benefit to farmers
and agribusiness owners because of Newton’s vision.
>> Mr. McGriff: There is a saying in southwest Georgia
on those sandy soils
“You’re a two days from a flood to a drought.”
Without irrigation, we wouldn’t be able
to be the farmers that we are today.
We have some very high yields and that’s due to the irrigation.
>> Narrator: In addition to his work with irrigation,
Newton owned Green Circles Farms, Inc.
where in the mid-70’s, he began planting sweet corn and
built southwest Georgia’s first hydro-cooler to
extend the shelf life of sweet corn.
>> Mr. McGriff: Mr. Alvin was the first one to
introduce the hydro-cooler for vegetables in Georgia.
This would enable farmers to keep vegetables longer
and to transport them further distances.
>> Narrator: Recognized by University of Georgia
researchers and Extension vegetable specialists as the
forerunner of Georgia’s modern vegetable industry,
Newton shared his knowledge with them,
hosting numerous tours of his farm, packing shed,
and hydro-cooler.
>> Mr. Newton: I also remember him actually
getting out in the field and digging up seeds
to see if they were planted at the right depth behind a planter
in his suit pants and dress shirt over and over again,
getting himself dirty.
He would come home and just be soaking wet from having
walked out in the corn field in a dress shirt and dress pants.
>> Narrator: Later, he became Georgia’s largest
vegetable producer and was honored by the
American Vegetable Grower Magazine with its
“Top 100 Grower Award.”
>> Mr. Newton: One of the things that Daddy always
told me was that if he could be as smart as people around
here gave him credit for, he would really be something.
I think to a large extent the credit that they give him
for innovating and going in new areas where
everybody wasn’t yet is true.
>> Mr. McGriff: Mr. Alvin was a very unselfish and
giving person in that he was always willing to share
his knowledge with other farmers, with other businessmen,
other people wanting to get into whether it be the
vegetable business or agriculture.
>> Mr. Newton: If somebody came to me and said
“You can just make up out of the air an honor for your father,
it could be anything in the world,”
I don’t think I could just think up something that would make him
prouder than being inducted into the
Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.
>> Narrator: The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Alumni Association proudly inducts
Alvin Newton into the
Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.
(c) 2013 University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of External Affairs