Take a look at what's happening with the North Carolina Farm Bureau across the state this winter:
Excellence in Agriculture Award Winners
Neither Jacob nor Candice Morgan of Jones County grew up on a farm, though Jacob scouted cotton and tobacco through high school. Candice, on the other hand, was raised on an “asphalt farm” in Cary. She majored in psychology and elementary education and received a master’s degree in special education. Jacob majored in agronomy and received a master’s degree in Extension education, and started working for NC State Extension. The couple’s business, Morgan Meats, began when one of Jacob’s farmers through Extension gave him a pig. Despite living in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association, Jacob and Candice started raising pigs. They eventually moved to a 12-acre farm where they raise about 50 pigs per year, selling to a select few farmers markets, grocery stores, restaurants and a CSA out of Raleigh. Jacob still works as an Extension agent and farms on the side, while Candice teaches English courses online to Chinese students and stays at home with their two children.
This year, Jacob and Candice received the N.C. Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Excellence in Agriculture Award, which spotlights young Farm Bureau members who are agricultural enthusiasts but do not earn a majority of their income from farming.
