By Pam Pyle
My husband, Kim Pyle, and I are 5th generation Georgia farmers from Blakely, where we sit in the southern part of Early County (Cedar Springs, Hwy 273, about 2.5 miles east of Cedar Springs) in Southwest Georgia’s peanut country.
Early County is frequently ranked the highest among peanut producers for peanut quota and production. We own land as well as renting from friendly neighbors. Here is how the Pyle family generations have unfolded.
1st generation — Kim’s great-great-grandfather, Everett V. Pyle (1831 -1866) and Hellen Mary Monk, purchased the first acres of land in approximately 1845 and began farming grains for the cows and hogs and family food. The land was here in the southern part of Early Co (Cedar Springs) right where we live today.
2nd generation — Everett was followed by his son, George Everett Pyle (1866 – 1942), and Beulah Elizabeth Barfield, utilizing the same farmland while increasing the acreage. Their family also grew grains as well as corn and cotton.
3rd generation — George’s son, John Sibley Pyle (1902 – 1969), and Agnes Houston, actually began growing peanuts during his farming career. He grew grains, corn and cotton as well.
4th generation — Kim’s father, George Edgar Pyle (1934 – 2002), and Jane Reese. He had two sons — Keith and Kim — and one daughter, Karla, who all grew up on the farm and helped in almost every aspect of the farm except the paperwork. They even used horses and dogs to gather the cows when needed.
As a young, elementary age farmer, George and his father tried to plant as many peanuts as possible to help create the peanut base. He even utilized some of the pastureland to be successful with the peanuts. Georgie purchased even more land and cleared and cleaned the new ground. Many, many roots were picked up by the hands and his children — Keith, Kim, and Karla.
George also grew grain, cotton, and cows. Keith became a crop duster to help support his family and farming neighbors, but lost his life June 1981 while he was crop dusting one of their fields. This field is still farmed today by Kim, which is now K & P Pyle Farming Partnership since George passed away in 2002.
In September 1981, Kim lost his right leg when he hit a peanut trailer that was on the edge of the road. He was traveling on a four-wheeler to go meet the working crew that were picking peanuts. Yes, this was a difficult farming year, but with God’s help, the church, family, and friends, they continued their farming journey that year and thereafter.
5th generation — Kimberly Reese Pyle (1964 -) and Pamela Johnson. Kim and I met at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia. I was then headed to the University of Georgia in Athens because my father had been a student and a professor there.
Kim came right along and finished his engineering degree — all while we came home almost every weekend to help on the farm and then we got married. By the way, Kim was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist and declined the offer because he wanted “to go home and be a farmer and take care of the land.”
After we married, I moved to Kim’s Early County farm in 1988.
SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES
We have farmed peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, milo, cows, and a few acres of sunflowers. We also have purchased land and grew the farm, which included GPS driving tractors, electric irrigation motors, and controlling irrigation pivots on Kim’s cell phone app.
In 2015, K & P Pyle Farming Partnership was selected as the Agricultural Producer of the Year.
Kim and I discuss most everything happening on the farm daily because there is always a story whether it’s about a cow, or weather, or an employee, or equipment, or irrigation. Together, we make decisions about employees and purchasing land, paying the bills on the computer, attending farm meetings, and picking up parts.
Kim makes the decisions about where to plant what crop, purchasing/selling equipment and cows, controlling the irrigation directly in the field and some on his cell phone apps, directing employees, dealing with the bank and accountant when needed, and physical labor.
We have a son (Kollin Reese and Natalia M. Pyle) and daughter (Richard H. and Ashton P. Jester) who help as well by keeping records on the computer, making decisions, and purchasing equipment.
Kollin is currently a commercial airline pilot while Rick and Ashton built their home on the farm and help whenever they can around their professional medical careers. They prepare land, plant crops, tend to cows, and are even growing their own peanuts this 2026 growing season.
We have been blessed, and the love of farming goes deep in our souls as it is our pride and joy and daily challenging joy.
PRESERVING THE PAST
We hear of the stories about how the earlier generations of the Pyle family hand picked cotton, made very few trips to town, had daily struggles keeping the equipment in productive working condition, and stacked the peanuts on a pole after the peanuts were dry.
They actually would drag the peanuts on slides (two poles) with mules pulling them to the stationary peanut picker. In other words, the picker was stationary, and the peanuts had to be dragged to the picker.
We heard of Kim’s hardworking grandmother, Agnes, who physically worked on the farm, milked cows, prepared all the meals and then churned milk to make butter very late at night.
GROWING THE LEGACY
Our grandson, James Henry Jester, enjoys the peanut farming life and just may be our 7th generation farmer. He and his family, Rick and Ashton Pyle Jester, have built their home on the farm right across the road, so James has not missed very much of the farming life thus far. If James farms, he would be a 6th generation farmer on the Jester side.
Believe it or not, his first word was “trac-ta.” It is also a treat to hear him say “peanuts” and call the cows. Of course, James loves to eat the peanuts and pull at the cotton as well and doesn’t often miss riding/driving the tractors with Gpa Kim.
Again, we feel blessed each day to have this opportunity to utilize the land to help others in our great USA!!
