At 35, former National Football League player Cody White is already inspiring the next generation of farmers.
White, who farms corn and soybeans in Maroa, was named one of the 2023 Illinois Soybean Association’s 20 under 40 young leaders. Winners excelled in a variety of fields, including the beef, corn and pork industries, Illinois Farm Bureau, conservation, and community efforts.
“It’s always nice to be recognized, hopefully for doing new things,” White said.
A standout at Normal West High School and Illinois State University, White signed with the Houston Texans in 2012 as an undrafted free agent. He suffered several injuries, including a torn Achilles tendon, and retired his jersey after the 2015 season.
His motivation is not for the recognition, he said, but for excelling at his passion and inspiring others in the process.
White was nominated for the honor by Clinton farmer Jered Hooker, a longtime member of the American Soybean Association board of directors who is also active in the state association. Hooker works land his family has owned since 1875. He strives to improve sustainable production through a combination of conservation, soil and plant health, and water quality — values that also influence White’s approach to farming.
That said, they didn’t meet because of farming, but instead because of a shared passion for Illinois State University football.
Hooker was the specialty teams coach while White played offense from 2007 to 2011. They were aware of one another but didn’t work closely together.
“Then in 2016, when my professional football career was over, I saw Coach Hooker in a field with my father-in-law,” White said.
White had returned to Central Illinois to farm with his wife’s family and make use of the education he received with his ISU degree. And it turned out that White’s father-in-law, Verneil Leggett, had farmed for years with Hooker, the former coach.
This was six years after White and Hooker first met on a football field.
“We had no idea we’d meet again in a different field,” White said of the coach who has become a mentor.
White himself is now a youth coach and motivational speaker to young athletes.
“Cody has been successful in everything he sets his mind to as in athletics and now in farming. Because of that, I see his leadership potential,” Hooker said. “He’s a hard worker, dedicated and developing leadership skills for the future in front of him.”
White said it has been a huge advantage to be able to work alongside his father-in-law.
“We each have our own operation but work together. It has helped me as a young guy to build equity,” he said of the chance to share equipment in a business that has huge startup costs.
White also shares some of his up-to-date skills and education to help Leggett Farms.
He looks to the future of his farm in Maroa, where he and his family moved earlier in July. He and his wife, Mallory, are setting roots for their three children, ages 2 to 7. That’s a contrast for White, whose father worked for State Farm Insurance; the family never lived anywhere long when White was growing up.
White was born in Ohio in 1988 and moved seven times, including to Arizona, Colorado and Indiana with his family before fourth grade, which likely helped him build social skills, he says.
The community where he ended up also sparked his inclination to major in agriculture, as he saw there was a wide range of agriculture-related job opportunities.
Like the experienced farmers he admires, White uses reduced tillage, variable rate nitrogen for side-dress application, and variable rate phosphorous.
In coaching and supporting youth, he tells them that sports teach us how to handle failure. He talks about the habits that helped him find success in farming and sports.
Start with little things and build on them each day, he encourages.
Source : The Pantagraph