Mecklenburg County farm uses aerial technology to save time and money
March 2025
From left, the Callahan family; Jarrett, Eddie, Jimmy, Ryan, Ryan’s son Easton, and Louis. They operate Opie Farms Inc. in Opie, Va. (photo by Michelle Greene Dean)
by Michelle Greene Dean, The Delmarva Farmer
In rural Southside Virginia, it’s rare to see a drone dropping cover crop seed on a field of soybeans, especially when they are already sprouted and ready for harvest. But that’s precisely what Opie Farms is “up” to in Opie, Va., near South Hill.
“This process saves time and money,” says Jarrett Callahan, a fifth-generation member of Opie Farms Inc. “Sometimes the cover crop is already coming up when we start harvesting the soybeans.” Cover crops, sometimes called green manures, are seeds for plants grown to improve soil health, rather than for harvesting.
Jarrett’s uncle, Eddie Callahan, purchased a DJI T40 model drone and a 17,500-watt Generac generator to help with the fuel and labor costs of planting cover crops.
“We have had the drone for about two years. We also apply fertilizer with the drone,” says Jarrett’s father, Jimmy. “It only takes about five minutes to outline a field on an app on your phone,” Jarrett, also one of the farm’s drone operators, says. “It then is downloaded to the drone controller. It isn’t like a GPS in your car.”
When asked the deciding factor in purchasing the drone, Jarrett says it’s “timelier to spray and spread, also more cost-efficient application over existing crops. We switch out in rotation batteries to keep it going, a total of three batteries. The battery will last about 10-15 minutes or two hopper loads.”
A DJI T40 model drone used by the Callahan family to help with fuel and labor costs associated with planting cover crops. (photo by Michelle Greene Dean)
Brothers Eddie, Jimmy and Louis Callahan formed Opie Farms Inc. in 1990. Jarrett and Eddie’s son Ryan, who joined the operation after college, are the fifth generation.
The elder Callahans have worked the land since they were very young. Farming is in their genes, they say. Both sides of their family were also farmers.
Their grandfather, Eddie Lee Callahan Sr., was the second-generation farmer to begin tilling the land that Opie Farms now works. Eddie Lee Sr. and his wife Mattie raised seven children and farmed the land about four and a half miles west of South Hill, Va. Eddie Sr. died at a young age, but Mattie and their seven children managed to keep the farm going.
Eddie Lee Callahan Jr., known as Pete, worked hard to make a good life for his wife, Jean Green Callahan, and their four boys, on the land he worked after returning from his service in the U.S. Army. The boys have worked in the fields from a very young age and haven’t stopped.
This is a legacy for this fifth-generation farm. Their grandparents started with a mule and plow. Opie Farms uses emerging technology and is a multifaceted operation that grows tobacco, corn, wheat and rye, and operates a cow/calf business.
Over the years, they added more acreage and currently farm in both North Carolina and Virginia. For Jimmy, “taking on what Daddy did” and “hoping that the younger Callahan generation will continue,” makes him smile.
Cover crop seed used by Opie Farms to improve soil health. (photo by Michelle Greene Dean)
This article comes from The Delmarva Farmer, an agricultural newspaper for the mid-Atlantic region.
