At 55 years old, Willie Scott has been farming ever since he could walk.

“The first thing I learned to drive was a tractor at seven,” said the Collins, Georgia native.

His 800-acre, third-generation family farm in Tatnall County was passed down from his grandfather to his father and eventually to Scott. The farm has been in the family since his grandfather purchased it in the 1940s.

In the more than 30 years that he has run his commercial farm, Scott has seen some high moments, like the surge in cotton prices around 2021, a past partnership with Target, and simply doing something he loves for a living, he said. However, being in this business also has its low moments. Just this past month, he has been hit with a challenge that neither he nor researchers fully understand.

It’s tiny—smal

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