Nicholas and Ashton Gray with their daughters,
Isabelle and Calle, on their family farm in Roe.
Photo: Michael Hibblen

The Nicholas Gray family has been named the Prairie County Farm Family of the Year as part of the statewide Arkansas Farm Family of the Year program.

Started in 1947, the program recognizes outstanding farm families while highlighting the importance of agriculture in Arkansas. County winners are typically selected by representatives of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service and agricultural industry leaders, including previous Farm Family of the Year honorees.

Nicholas and Ashton Gray farm nearly 5,000 acres of soybeans, corn and rice near Roe through NBG Farms Partnership. Nicholas Gray farms the acreage in a 50-50 partnership with his cousin, Kortney Gray.

The family has been farming for 14 years and reached a major milestone in 2025 when they purchased farmland for the first time, while continuing to rent additional acreage.

They also have increased corn and soybean yields by about 10 bushels per acre. To improve productivity and irrigation efficiency, the family has undertaken dirt work projects each year using equipment purchased for the farm.

Despite the struggles that farmers can face, there is a real passion for the land and a resilience to carry on.

Read our Q&A with Nicholas and Ashton Gray in our Special Section in this issue.

The Grand Prairie Herald asked Nicholas Gray a few questions about this honor.

GRAND PRAIRIE HERALD: How many generations of your family have been farming?

NICHOLAS GRAY: I’m the 4th generation farming the same ground. It’s something I hope to pass down to my kids. It’s something to be proud of. It’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole life and get into. It’s kind of like getting to be a kid in the sandbox, just still playing with tractors on the same piece of ground. I can remember doing these things when I was a kid.

GPH: What is it about this industry, working in the fields that you like?

GRAY: It’s what I grew up doing. I worked for my uncle until I got a chance to start on my own. It’s really the only thing I’ve ever done since I was in elementary school, when I started working on a farm and that’s all I’ve ever done. I’m 41 years old now and it’s all I really know. I enjoy it. I’m my own boss, I get to, in the winters, take off to go hunting. I love planting. I love harvesting, so it’s kind of just in my blood to do what I’m doing. I really don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t doing this.

GPH: What has been the most dramatic change you’ve seen in the industry during your lifetime? I’m sure it’s a lot more computerized.

GRAY: Yeah, I was thinking that, and just from a standpoint of the way we do things. Obviously technology, the invention of poly pipe, that changed the game for row crop farming altogether, just the ease of irrigation. There’s so much stuff, I don’t even know if I could nail down one thing.

GPH: How does it feel to be honored to be named Farm Family of the Year in Prairie County?

ASHTON GRAY: It’s an honor that’s crazy somebody even thought of me enough to even ask. I don’t really think of myself in that high a regard to even be mentioned with some of the people that have received this honor before me.

GPH: Finally, what are the biggest challenges you’re facing today?

GRAY: It’s high prices for inputs and low prices for high commodities. It’s finances and just trying to stay above board. So many people are having their hand forced and having to get out just because it’s hard to make it work right now.

Anybody that’s still farming after the last couple of years we’ve had is doing a great job just managing. I hope these times are going to turn around, but I don’t have a lot of hope they’re going to — it doesn’t look like it. People that can survive this will come out the other side a lot stronger, but it’s going to be rough for a couple more years, I’m afraid.