This story is the first of five profiles of the people selected as the DTN/Progressive Farmer's 2026 America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers program. Today, we introduce Layne and Ryane Miles of Miles Farms in McGehee, Arkansas.

See Layne and Ryane Miles' America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers video profile at https://bcove.video/….

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A thick blanket of heat and humidity smothers the southeast Arkansas Delta long before sunrise. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for this July day, the heat index expected to touch 114 degrees Fahrenheit. And it does. The corn harvest is a point or two of moisture away from starting. On Miles Farms, just outside McGehee, Arkansas, four John Deere combines crawl through a newly opened field of soybeans.

Layne Miles, 30, a fifth-generation farmer born and raised on this land, steps into the shade of a lone tree to escape the heat. He bow hunts, golfs, cooks and is working toward his pilot's license. But he did not see "farming" as a line on his resume. "It's not something I really thought I would do," he says.

By age 21, there he was, farming and learning farming alongside his dad, Matt. All those summers laying poly pipe and clearing blockages in untold numbers of irrigated furrows had paid off. Destiny had caught up with him.

"As far as my expectations for Layne, the ability to work side by side and him truly be my best friend is the biggest blessing a father could ask for," Matt says. "Losing my father at a younger age, I knew the importance of teaching him all I could as early as I could. In his younger years, I took him into every meeting I had. I wanted him to learn all the good and bad of the business side, as well as the in-depth agronomy I was short on. He continues to amaze me on a daily basis with his unique abilities. He is a better farmer at 30 than I was at 50. He is my rock star."

As operations manager today, Layne coordinates logistics, monitors the crops, manages inputs and resources, and works closely with employees. His wife, Ryane, says Layne "farms outside the box. He loves all things technology."

Layne credits his employees. "We've got a fantastic group of people that work with us. I consider them family, our family. We have our trials, but in the end, this is a fulfilling."

CULTURE SHOCK

Layne is married 10 years now to Ryane, a nonfarming girl. She grew up in Crossett, Arkansas, about an hour south of Layne. She played second base on the Crossett High School softball team and was a cheerleader at Friday night football games. The couple has two young boys, Luke, 8 (hangs with dad, early inklings about a farming career), and Owen, 5 (hangs with mom, class clown). One or both sons will grow into a sixth generation to one day manage Miles Farms. They are already learning, spending after-school hours with Ryane at the farm. "They get to see what our guys do," she says.

Ryane's dad was director of operations at Georgia-Pacific. He worked Monday through Friday. He grew tomatoes in a pot. When she met Layne's dad, he was on a cotton picker. "That was just a culture shock, a very different way of life," she remembers.

Miles Farms is 16,000 acres -- cotton, corn, soybeans, all of which is furrow-irrigated, and wheat -- with up to 2,500 acres of rice, all spread across four counties. "Rice is fun to grow," Layne says. "But, when it gets ready to harvest, it's one of the hardest crops to harvest. If a good storm comes down, people think that cutting downed wheat is bad; cutting downed rice is three times worse."

Irrigation water is pumped from wells or from bald cypress bayous. There is much water around, but water management is critical. "We know that water restrictions are coming," Layne says. "While preparing for that, we work with the EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) and build reservoirs. We try to capture all the water runoff possible." He says they use EQIP to build water-recovery systems and improve land by way of pipes and land forming. "We manage as many acres as possible, reusing all the runoff we can."

DIVERSIFYING THE RISKS

Farming is one arm of a diversified business. Production agriculture runs in tandem with Advanced Ag Products (chemical retail), Alpha Engines (diesel repair) and the 16 semitrucks of Big Daddy Farms trucking business.

"We try to keep our toes in a few different buckets so we're not solely dependent on just the farm," Layne says.

Ryane works across all the businesses. "I do the payroll, accounts receivable and payables. We just hired a trucking manager, so he was able to take a lot of the trucking tasks off me so I can start to learn more of the farm side. I hope to move forward with doing more with the farm."

Layne's mother, Sherrie Kay, mentors Ryane. "Sherrie Kay, your mom, is the top-tier farm wife," Ryane says with a nod toward Layne. "She knows all the ins and outs, and she's been teaching me, from chemicals to planting to harvest. It blows my mind every single year just how she wraps her mind around all this."

MARRIED PARTNERS

Layne and Ryane are well-matched in their support for each other. "We've been together since I was 16 and you were 15," she says looking over at Layne. "And I've watched him grow up. I mean, as a kid who's working here, he was low man on the totem pole and doing everything that they tell him to do. And now it's totally opposite. He has earned their respect, and he treats them with respect. He's taught me how to treat people when things are hard, to go through life with this positive attitude. You won't see him in a bad attitude. Most people don't. If they do, then it's been a pretty rough day."

Adds Layne: "Whether it's work, or it's personal, no matter what, she's always right there with me. She is going to bat for me. I try to remember her in my working relationship with my guys. I'm not the only one in town with an idea. I need to be encouraging, be there for that person. That's her personality. I may come home just wired and really mad about today. And she's like, 'Babe, you got tomorrow.' Same with my guys. We got tomorrow. We can fix it tomorrow."

GUIDED BY LEGACIES AND MENTORS

The legacy of Miles Farms weighs heavy on Layne. But he has had the blessings of good people around him.

First, his father. Matt's mantra is "productive consistency."

Matt is a founding member of XtremeAg (https://xtremeag.farm/…), a membership-based organization managed by Matt and a half-dozen other farmer-partners who share their practices, successes, failures, advice and agronomic strategies.

Matt has brought to Miles Farms a reputation for soybean and corn production. He has notched 100-bushel-plus soybean yield state records several times. Matt also owns several state National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) National Corn Yield Contest wins.

TRIO OF MENTORS

"My dad is ultimately my best friend," Layne says. "I get to work side by side with him every day. He guides me to be a better farmer but also a better husband and a better dad. My love for farming came from him, and I hope to instill this in my boys."

Mike McGregor, who runs a large business delivering chicken litter to farms across the Delta, is Layne's sons' "Godpaw." "He teaches me time and time again the values a person should have. He's one of the most business-minded people I know. I call him often when I have work-related problems and when I have spiritual problems. He is truly a man who loves God. I am grateful he treats me like his own son."

Billy Garner was the premier farm manager at Miles Farms and knew farming, managed the work and was the well-known jokester just to keep things light. "I mean, he would pull a prank on somebody ... throw firecrackers inside the bathroom. He made sure work was fun."

Garner died in an accident in 2019. "He was my dad's best friend, as well as mine," Layne says. "I was just beginning to figure out how to manage the farm. I spent hours with him in the truck learning to do what he did. I owe a lot of what I know to him."

The day Billy died, Layne's life changed. "I was a glorified tractor operator the day he died," Layne says. "I had about 12 hours to grieve, and then the next morning, I had to wake up and be a different person."

QUESTIONS IN THE FIELD

Layne grapples with many questions, seeking answers. He's highly concerned about the future. "It's my biggest question," he says. "We've had a big turnover in farming, and you don't want to be that person (who doesn't make it). You want to be the person who at least gets to push through and fight another year. We hope to fight another year."

The struggle is in the field. Layne and his father focus on in-field research to improve yields, on drainage and tailwater recovery, on irrigation projects and reduced tillage. They have been integrating cover-crop systems into the operation. "We take pride in making sure every acre is tended to in the same manner," Layne says.

STRUGGLE IN THE GROCERY AISLE

The struggle is in the grocery aisle, as well. In fact, Layne thinks it is his and farming's biggest oncoming challenge. "The suburban mom wants to know where her food comes from, not just that it is organic or non-GMO. They want to be able to go to the box of cereal and see the picture of a farmer on it. A QR code tells them about the farmer, that there is actually a person behind it, growing it."

It's not an unreasonable request. Layne and Ryane raise their boys the same way. "They know where their food comes from," Ryane says. "Daddy grows corn, and it goes to a chicken, and then we eat the chicken. That's what consumers want to know. They want to know the guy who grows the chicken. They want to know what's going on."

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Editor's Note: This is the first of five profiles of our 16th class of America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers sponsored by DTN/Progressive Farmer. They are among the best of their generation who have chosen agriculture as a profession and lifestyle. The annual award recognizes five farmers and ranchers under 40 who best represent the pioneering promises of American agriculture: Farmers and ranchers who are innovative, imaginative and who work to improve their communities. Nominations are judged on the operations' overall business plan, as well as the farmers' involvement in the community and the ag industry. We're already seeking nominations for our 2027 class. If you know someone (you can nominate yourself or family member) or would like more information and a nomination form, contact Progressive Farmer Senior Editor Dan Miller at dan.miller@dtn.com and cc DTN Social Media and Young Farmers Editor Susan Payne at susan.payne@dtn.com.

To hear more about this year's class, check out DTN's Field Posts podcast, Episode 275: 2026 Best Young Farmers and Ranchers at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF

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