Promise View Acres Farms experienced worse times than the current economic recession.

Alvin Stewart bought 50 acres during the late 1930s, near the end of the Great Depression.

“I don’t know how in the world he did it,” said Alvin’s grandson, Stanly Stewart.

Stanly operates the farm with his father David and Adam. They own and lease close to 2,000 acres, most of which is in southeast Catawba County. The crop production is headquartered on Balls Creek Road in Newton.

“First thing is, you all got to get along,” said Stanly of working with his family. “You have to be a jack of all trades.”

Each family member, he said, understands basic marketing, growing crops and chemistry.

“It’s fun some days,” said Adam. “It’s challenging. I like that I’m not doing the same thing every day.”

And while the economy is bad, the Stewarts said it affects parts of their business.

According to the Stewarts, the crop production market is always changing. The farmers base their products’ prices on projections by the Chicago Board of Trade, and they sell crops “relatively” close to those prices, Adam said.

“When gas and oil prices went up  last year, all prices went out the top,” Stanly said. “The crash didn’t act like the depression or the dust bowl.”

Last year, the Chicago Board of Trade raised the price of wheat to as high as $12 per bushel.

“It affected us for a short time,” said Stanly.

During the $12 high, the Stewarts sold their wheat for $10 and $7 per bushel.

“You have to take care of your product to make sure quality is there,” Adam said.

For the most part, David said there is a certain amount of job security by working as a crop production farmer because people have to eat.

However, prices on farm equipment and necessities have increased, Stanly said. One bag of hybrid corn seed plants three acres, but that bag costs the farm $300.

“The price of input has stayed high,” Stanly said.

The full-time farmers used their creativity to keep down costs. Instead of paying a biochemical expert, Adam contributes his biochemical knowledge.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lenoir-Rhyne University.

“Chemistry has been very useful in farming now,” Adam said.

The farmers use science to determine what pesticides they need for plants and how to grow their product.

However, the family faced its own battle as David suffered from various cancers. He has struggled for many years with cancers, including prostate and melanoma skin cancer.

“He just got back to helping us and riding the tractor,” Stanly said.

Influenced to stay healthy, Stanly runs every day and competes in a race every three weeks.

“Tm serious about it,” Stanly said.

And he is serious about keeping the family farm successful.

Promise View Acres Farms will soon add two new wheat bins and an elevator wheat system, which will lift product to the top.

As Adam follows in his father’s footsteps, he said he is happy with his career choice.

“When I was little, I always wanted to farm with my dad,” Adam said. “He encouraged me slightly. If I wanted to do something else, I wouldn’t have been strapped to farming.”

Adam and his wife are expecting their first child in May.