Overton County farmers and their families celebrated

What a great evening at the Overton County Farmer Appreciation Dinner. Nearly 150 farmers and family members attended the event, and we hope each one left feeling nourished with food, fellowship, and a few tools to help make life a little easier on the farm. The evening entailed a fantastic pulled pork dinner courtesy of 1806 General Store graciously covered by our sponsors, Farm Bureau Insurance Overton - Livingston Agency, Ag1 Farmers Co-op - Livingston, Farm Credit, and Tennessee Pork Producers.

Dinner was followed by two skits that portray common instances of farm-related stress with some good-hearted humor and a little friendly advice. Some familiar faces in Overton County performed the readers theater including; Diane Upchurch, Jason Garrett, Caroline Holt, Nick Raab, Linda Clouse, Darrel Beason, Alyssa Anderson, and Rob Halfacre. Many attendees commented on how relatable the skits were to instances in their lives but it was accompanied by plenty of laughter.

The audience had an opportunity to hear from a panel of long-time farmers sharing good and tough times with the group and advice they have for new or younger farmers. Additionally, Alan Galloway from UT’s MANAGE program shared about the upcoming Farm Legacy event UT/TSU Extension Overton will be hosting May 16th and 18th to help education and building relationships with farm families on farm succession planning.

The evening wrapped up with opportunities for Overton farmers and their families to have access to items that will help them around the farm as a token of gratitude for what farmers deal with providing food and commodities for us all to use.

A huge thank you to Southern Ag Exchange Network of Tennessee for offering USDA/NIFA grant funding to our communities to celebrate our farmers, relieve them of some burdens, and encourage education around farm stress.

An additional Thank You to our committee that helped organize this event-

Purina Livestock Production Specialist Alyssa Clements, Rob Halfacre, Wanda Krantz, Wayne Krantz, Dr. Tiffany Krantz, Kim and Daryl Colson, Caroline Ellis Holt, Alyssa Anderson, Jason Garrett, Christina Swallows, Nicole Marrero Bettencourt, Becky Smith, and Amy Coffee.

Representative Ed Butler joined our event and recognized the importance of our farmers in this community.

Event flowers were beautifully put together by 40:8 Flower Co.