Macon County, GA
It’s a warm, sunny day in Macon County, and the sounds of a busy farm fill the air. From high above, rows of lush crops stretch as far as the eye can see, while in these buildings, chickens cluck and scratch for every last bit of feed. These are the sights and sounds the Tarrer family has come to know and love. And love, is what keeps this family together.
“It is really special. We work together every day. My mom fixes lunch for us every day and many times at supper has the whole family up here,” says Jason Tarrer.
“We work together with twelve poultry houses and we are able to take some time off when we do have chickens – go take it easy, take a little vacation, do some of the things we want to do, and let others tend to the chickens. When Jason leaves, we take care of his. When Daddy leaves, we take care of his. It’s just, it’s a good setup that we have,” says Scott.
The story of the Tarrer family is one of courage, determination, and spontaneity. In 1971, Tony and Linda Tarrer were living outside of Atlanta, and enjoying successful careers at Delta Airlines. Linda, a flight attendant, Tony – a Computer specialist. But one day after visiting family, Tony had an idea, that involved Ideal.
“We had come to visit his parents. We had driven down, and going back, Tony said something about, ‘what if we were to move to Ideal?’ And I said, ‘ideal?’ He said, ‘yeah, let’s, let’s talk about it and think about it.’ He said, ‘we wanna raise a family, what do you think about moving there?’ And by the time we got back to Atlanta, we had decided we wanted to move there,” says Linda.
After two or three years of living up there, the country life didn’t seem so bad after all. I loved my job, and we could fly anywhere we wanted to, but like she said, going back and forth one night to Atlanta, we mentioned about moving down here. My father and brother were building homes and I said, ‘well, that would give us a little bit of money and if we could build a couple of chicken houses.’ And that’s what we did,” says Tony.
At a time when farming was becoming increasingly difficult due to changing markets and technological advances, the Tarrer’s were undaunted. They invested everything they had in their chicken houses and worked tirelessly to make them a success.
Today, their operations are thriving, and they’re known throughout the area for their high-quality production and Birds. So much so, that in 2020 Jason was Tyson’s producer of the year for the South Georgia Complex. Linda, on the other hand, undoubtedly emerges as the driving force behind the entire operation.
Despite being in her seventies, she pilots a tractor with ease, and anchors everyone with her unwavering determination – and no matter who you ask, Tony, Jason or Scott, they all agree, Linda possesses more drive and grit than all three combined.
“We couldn’t do it without her,” says Scott. “We’ve had occasions where she’s had other plans when we’ve been placing chickens and one of us has to get back on the tractor, pull it up a little bit, we start dumping chickens again, stop the tractor, get off. And it’s just a cycle. And it just works a lot better when everybody’s working together.”
“I’m so blessed to have the family that we have because, there’s a lot of families that just don’t get along at all,” says Tony.
So in a world where so many people are disconnected from the land and from each other, the Tarrer family is a reminder of the power of hard work, determination, and sacrifice. It’s a story that inspires and encourages others to pursue their own own dreams, no matter how difficult they may seem, because quite frankly, the Tarrer’s are living the American Dream.
“I’m seventy, I just turned seventy five, and Tony will be seventy-seven in September. Our health is wonderful. We’re very blessed with our children, our health. That’s not to say what tomorrow might bring. You’re only promised today. I just thank God for everything we have,” says Linda.
“To be with your family and to work hard, be involved in our local church – that to me is the American dream. Doing what you love and loving what you do,” says Jason.
By: Ray D’Alessio