Dixie Dusters
February 13, 2012 Mark Kimmel and his father-in-law David Branhan own Dixie Dusters, an aerial application service near Itta Bena, MS.
When cotton took its dramatic dip in acreage, everybody in the cotton business was worried about the infrastructure, and for good reason. For example, if a gin closed, the fear was that it was closed for good.
Logically you would think that with less cotton and the inherent insect problems that have to be taken care by aerial applications, Kimmel wouldn’t be cranking his Dixie Dusters ag plane.
“We were scared because where we are, cotton was always our number one crop that we sprayed. We sprayed roughly 25,000 acres of cotton, repeatedly. That was our customer base,” says Kimmel “We were getting ready to tighten our belts. But it just didn’t happen.
“We dropped down to 6,500 acres, but for some reason, our gross kept going up every year. People spent more money on beans; people spent more money on corn. With the price of beans and corn being up, they treated it better,” he continues. “We never faltered at the flying service, which was amazing. We have one plane, and that’s the way I want it. We could get bigger, but we’re full and I don’t want anymore.”
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