Fisher-shaffer Farm inducted into Arkansas Century Farm Program
from around the state who met the criteria for inclusion.
The program was developed by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture in 2012 to recognize Arkansas family farms for their contribution to the state’s vital agriculture industry. Inclusion in the program hinged on Shaffer’s ability to show proof that their farm consists of 10 or more acres that have been in the same family for at least 100 years.
Shaffer’s son, Gunnar, filled out the application for the program and did all the genealogical research needed to verify that the original 10acre plot is still in the family. “It took awhile to find all the documents and deeds and the who, what, when, where and how—the hard part is, you can’t just say, ‘Hey, we’re an old barn.’ You have to prove ownership,” Gunnar stated.
Shaffer’s maternal greatgreat-great grandfather, Thomas Fisher, set up shop on the parcel of land southwest of Malvern in 1850. The farm was bequeathed down the ancestral line until Judy Fisher Shaffer, Mickey’s mother and only child to Millard and Georgia Fisher, passed away unexpectedly in 1994. Her parents passed shortly thereafter, leaving grandson Mickey—also an only child and now, sole heir—in charge of the estate.
At the time, Shaffer was a coach in Caddo Hills and residing in Hot Springs. He tried to balance work and home with spending every spare moment on the farm in Friendship, but the routine was too much for one man. He decided that he had to quit his coaching position and move to the farm, even though he loved his job and didn’t want to give it up.
He told his wife one evening that he would be resigning the next day. At work the following morning, as he readied himself to speak with the principal and announce his tough decision, something remarkable occurred. “This is one of the biggest acts of God that ever happened in my life,” Shaffer said.
Before he had a chance to resign, then-superintendent of Poyen School, Jerry Newton, called Shaffer out of the blue. “I had never talked to him in my life, not one time, and he said, ‘I was just wondering, you know, I know you’re from down around this area, if you had ever been interested in moving back this direction?’” Shaffer recalled.
The timing couldn’t have been better. After meeting with Newton in person, Shaffer jumped at the opportunity. The move was seamless for the elder Shaffer, but son Gunnar had a harder time initially because he went from a busy, kid-filled suburban neighborhood in Hot Springs to a huge farm with no friends close enough to visit. He soon adapted to life on the farm and is now a vital part of the day-to-day operations.
Their original 10-acre settlement has increased over the years to approximately 850 acres today. Shaffer still works as hard as he ever did in his youth to keep the farm running smoothly. “We have, at any given time, 150 or so head of cattle. [We] bale hay, average baling about 11- to 1,200 bales a summer, and we have 150 or so acres in pine timber,” said Shaffer of he and his son’s efforts. He also added that they sharecrop around 100 acres of wheat and beans.
Perhaps the most interesting feature on the property is a 30-foot-tall Indian burial mound that is said to have been the cultural and ceremonial center for hundreds of Caddo Indians local to the area between 1100-1700 A.D. Researchers from Henderson State University will
be conducting geophysical mapping of the mound in the next few days.
Shaffer splits his time on the farm with his regular duties as teacher and Activity Director at Poyen High School, where he coaches the girls’ basketball team. When asked how he manages both, he said, “Well, I just get it done. I mean, you know, I got through feeding last night about an hour after dark, and it’s really not as bad as it sounds, that’s what I say when my wife says ‘ you work all the time,’ but I enjoy it.”
Shaffer’s son, Gunnar, is a tremendous help to his father when it comes to getting the work done on the farm. “He helps me out a lot. He’s got a full- time job himself in Little Rock, plus another side job he does, a company he owns, but we get it done,” Shaffer said.
The Fishers have made a name for themselves off the farm. Thomas Fisher donated lumber for the construction of the original Methodist Church in 1884.
Mickey’s grandfather, Millard Fisher, was a big name in the community as owner of a trucking company and a cattle barn in Malvern, school board president at Ouachita for many
years, and board president for the Hot Spring County Water Association. Mickey is a well- respected coach among his peers and has kept the family business thriving, and Gunnar is a rising star in the Arkansas agricultural scene.
Gunnar is currently an engineer with Southwest Power Pool in Little Rock, aiding in the management of bulk power for the entire Midwest. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Renewable Energy Power Systems from John Brown University and went on to earn a master’s in Renewable Energy with a specialization in Energy Storage from Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany.
Gunnar said he feels fortunate to have had the foresight to see renewable energy as a good course of study. “I thought it was futuristic and something that would be the future, and sure enough, it is. Now everyone’s talking about it,” he said. But he missed the farm and working the land in the summers, so after earning his degree in Germany, he moved back to Arkansas and continued in the family tradition.
Gunnar’s interest in renewable energy began when his family started using solar power on the farm. “We started using solar panels back in probably, 2003, 2004, 2005,
somewhere in there, and we were using them for doing electric fencing for the cows,” he stated. “When you’re a mile away from the grid, and you’re trying to power a little electric fence, solar panel and battery was the only option, really, beside charging batteries and such.”
Gunnar quickly saw the potential for this type of energy source. “And I thought, wow, if it’s working for this, it’ll probably work for a bunch of other things.”
Moving to the big city for his education opened his eyes to the need for alternative farming methods. “I’ve been growing things since I was a kid,” said Gunnar. “I had a garden, I didn’t play much Playstation, so I had a garden, that’s what I did. So I was used to growing things. But it’s hard to grow when you’re in college, or when you’re in a city on a balcony. Not everyone is living on a farm.”
Gunnar created a vertical farming system in college that gained attention when others saw the potential in his design. What started as a class project bloomed into his own company, Agrowponics, LLC, which sells vertical farming systems for commercial or personal cultivation. The systems use less water, allow for year- round cultivation, and provide grow
ing options in areas where arable land is scarce.
The United Nations reported in 2019 that the world is losing 24 billion acres of arable land, or land suitable for farming, each year. The U. N. expects world population numbers to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, with the potential to reach 11 billion by 2100. This means more mouths to feed, with less farmland available, which makes Gunnar’s company a pioneer in solving the world’s problems of tomorrow— and shaping the face of modern agriculture.
Shaffer gets constant support from his loving wife, Lynn, and their daughter, Alex, although the ladies aren’t as eager to bale hay as the men seem to be. Lynn works full- time as a dental hygienist, and Alex is a nurse and student, pursuing a degree at UAMS to become a nurse practitioner.
The Fisher- Shaffer Family Farm has made a significant contribution to the state’s economy, providing a multitude of resources for other Arkansas families for generations. They embody the best Arkansas agriculture has to offer, and Governor Hutchinson said it best when he stated, “The work ethic, common sense, and family values that are the bedrock of a family farm are a model for all Arkansans.”