Like many small communities in the South, Buffalo Island can trace its roots back to an extensive history of agriculture and farming. This is one area of the economy that has changed greatly over time, as mechanized farming has been introduced. As the practices of industrialized farming have grown, so has the Buffalo Island community alongside it. 

Cotton farms have always been  an important aspect to Buffalo Island. Many locals might recognize staples in the cotton industry, such as  The Adams Land Company cotton gin, which  was built in Leachville in 1992, as well as the Sanders Seed & Fertilizer Company which sits right beside the gin. These giant operations are a modern approach to the cotton industry, but king cotton has always been prominent in the area, even if it was farmed in much simpler, more hands on methods. 

Mr. Jack Gathright began farming with his family since the age of 18. He is an immensely important farmer in our area, especially with farming being one of our most important aspects. He recently turned 80 years old and is still farming to this day. Before row cotton pickers were introduced, cotton was picked by hand. As time continued, it began to get harder and harder to pick cotton. At that time people could hardly pick more than 300 pounds in a day by hand. Now they are able to pick between 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of cotton with new industrialized multi row cotton pickers.

In the Monette area, cantaloupes were grown, being shipped by rail to several places. In the 1950s, Monette was known for growing strawberries and watermelons as well as cotton. “My family grew watermelons. Also, fruits and vegetables. I’ve raised a lot of watermelons in my time. I started in 1980 with watermelons,and  it was a good crop for me. I had some last year, but they didn’t do very well. I was afraid we would not have the labor this time to pick them. I raise a lot of peanuts now, it’s my main crop,” said Mr. Gathright.

 Industrialization has made the work less physically demanding, although it is still quite difficult. “They came out with a one row cotton picker and took the place of people working. Whenever people picked cotton most couldn’t pick much more than 200-300 pounds, but with a cotton picker you could pick about 8 or 10 bales of cotton a day. Industrialization has made things much better. I don’t really know how much cotton pickers used to pick but now they’ll pick over 100 acres a day. They picked up round bales and kept everything dry. It makes it a better kept crop”.

As agriculture will most assuredly change, our small community will change alongside it. The future of agriculture is uncertain, and we will continue to celebrate our agricultural history here on our small slice of land. 

Thank you to Mrs. Nan Snider for her assistance with this project, as well as access to her photo collection.