Truckers and farmers have always been like first cousins, having a lot in common ranging from being hard workers, good mechanics out of necessity and tending to be patriotic and conservative. In fact, sometimes you find them to be one and the same.
This is the case with Mack Hamilton, a former owner operator who still drives a truck. He also does some farming and drives a truck for M&S Farms of Vidalia, GA. M&S is the trucking arm of Stanley Farms, a well known and respected grower, packer and shipper of sweet onions.
Mack, who has 33 years of trucking under his belt was an owner operator from 1998 to 2005. He owned KMH Transport and had his own truck with three trailers hauling heavy equipment for auction companies based in Florida and Georgia. He worked with three primary companies.
“I don’t plan to become and owner operator again,” Mack states. “I’ve got it made working here.”
He job is never boring getting to do a lot of different things. For example, he only put in five hours the previous day, but had a 23.5-hour day previous to that. The driver says he averages about 60,000 miles a year.
On this particular day in late March, Mack had picked up a load of peeled onions in Lyons, GA and delivered it to the Atlanta State Farmers Market. Vidalia sweet onions have just started in the past week or so and volume is now building. In the off season Mack may be hauling onions imported from Peru or Mexico.
He also operates farm equipment for Stanley Farms, plus he grows field corn for his cattle at his own farm at Soperton, GA.
The 54-year-old Georgian on this day was driving a 2002 Petebilt, powered by a 550 hp Cat engine with a 13-speed tranny. He was pulling a 48-foot Great Dane trailer with a Carrier Transcold reefer unit.
Meanwhile, Mack enjoys his career of mixing trucking and farming, without any desire to become an owner operator again.