It was 1972 and Bill Nickle was walking the steep mountainside of Hogskin Valley when he realized that his dream was becoming reality.
A dream born in the late 1960’s was starting to come to fruition as his vision of Narrow Ridge was laying before his eyes.

Commitment, complexity, flexibility and sternness are all features you will find in a beef cattle farmer. American cattle farmers are working harder today than ever to be successful in their industry, and it does not come easy. The devotion is met with long hours, rain when you don’t need it and drought when do. Broken fences, leaky barn roofs, breech calves, and flat tractor tires are nails found in the road of cattle farming.

Tobacco once was a way of life and a tradition. It is where people came from and how they grew up. A lot of hard work and pride went into the crop, but over the years it has become a dying tradition for many reasons, with little remaining in East Tennessee.

An outdoor farmers market, like the Union County Farmers Market at Wilson Park, is a wonderful place for a family outing. It should be fun for everyone and a fabulous learning experience for your children. The variety of sights, sounds and smells at the market automatically engage your child’s senses and are a fun way to foster curiosity, teach important skills and encourage them to think about where their food comes from. A few ideas to help you get started on a family outing to the market follow.

Agriculture partners joined forces in a pleasurable and educational event for Paulette Elementary School students on May 15. This was the 25th Annual Farm Day hosted in Union County. The event is hosted at one of the county’s five elementary schools each year, in rotation, so that every student in the county gets at least one attendance.

The May board meeting for Union County Farm Bureau was packed with excitement. Three scholarships were awarded as well as a presentation by State 4-H Council members and Tennessee 4-H Congress attendees.

One of the most important ways to invest in the future of agriculture is to invest in the people who will become tomorrow’s agriculture industry leaders. Students pursuing the agriculture industry often look for careers in planning, implementation, production, management, processing, education, or marketing ag products and services. Tennessee Department of Education predicts that over 60,000 high-skilled agricultural jobs open annually in the United States with just around 35,400 graduates in the Ag, Food, and Natural Resources program studies to fill the openings.

Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Commissioner of Agriculture, Jai Templeton, Deputy Commissioner Tom Womack and Assistant Commissioner, Administration & Grants Larry Maxwell recently visited Seven Springs Farm to Table and The Winery at Seven Springs Farm. Commissioner Templeton was able to view first-hand how much help their valued partnership through the Tennessee Agriculture Enhancement Program and the Tennessee Agriculture Enterprise Grant has been to Seven Springs Farm.

Raising beef is a very complex business. Knowing how to safely and sustainably run a beef cattle operation is key to profit and success. More Tennesseans are involved in beef production than any other agricultural enterprise. There are 79,000 farms in Tennessee and beef cattle are found on fifty-three percent of those. Tennessee is one of the top beef-producing states in the nation. Our great state ranks ninth in the nation in beef cow numbers and fifteenth in total cattle.

In an effort to encourage sharing the positive message about agriculture, November 11 – 17, 2018, will be celebrated as “Agriculture Literacy Week in Tennessee”. Tennessee Agriculture Literacy Week will allow everyone involved in agriculture to focus attention toward our vibrant industry through literacy promotions in local school systems. Volunteers are encouraged to contact local school systems and schedule a visit to read agriculturally themed books to school students. Many segments of Tennessee’s agriculture industry have
strong literacy outreach programs.

The UT Extension Agricultural Committee is set to meet on November 6th to welcome new members. UT Extension is an off-campus division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. Extension is a statewide educational organization, funded by federal, state, and local governments, bringing research based information to Tennesseans where they work and live. Information is available in a wide array of categories including Ag and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H Youth Development, and Community Economic Development.