Waycross, GA

While he might have grown up in and around agriculture, David Morgan chose a different path from his parents’ tobacco and poultry operation when starting up his own farm. That decision was validated with him, and his wife Lindsey being named the 2023 YF&R Achievement Award winner in their last year of the program, which marks the culmination of a lifelong dream.

“I started as soon as I was out of school. Even before then I was growing produce. I was planting vegetables like squash, zucchinis and just knew I always wanted to farm. So, as soon as I got able to go to the bank and now here we are,” says David. “This is my sixteenth crop, so we’ve got cotton and peanuts and really enjoy what we do.”

“We” is the operative word, as this couple works hand in hand in order to keep this family farm running smoothly.

“I’m the parts runner, the lunch giver, I’ve had to hop on the tractor and help him out before, moved peanut trailers, moved peanut bails; whatever is needed. You can’t survive without teamwork. Even if it’s just emotional support or somebody to vent to or whatever. It’s huge,” says Lindsay..

Crops aren’t the only thing growing on this operation, as the Morgan’s also get a unique opportunity to raise their two daughters, Blythe and Landyn on the farm. It’s a lifestyle neither them nor their parents would have any other way.

“If we’re being a hundred percent honest, there is nowhere else I would rather live. As a teacher, I will probably catch some flak for saying this, but, you know, I love teaching, but there are no greater lessons than living on the farm. My kids will learn far more doing this and living here then they’ll ever learn in the classroom,” says Lindsay.

It’s good to see them walking up and down the rows and picking off the peanuts or the cotton bolls and it just makes a lot of memories. They’ll learn responsibility a lot faster than if they were just sitting in the house and not being able to wander and doing the things that we do,” adds David.

Speaking of learning, the Young Farmer and Rancher program has played a major role in development for the Morgan’s as it nurtures both leadership and communication skills.

As far as lessons, it’s helped us do better networking and meet other people from all around the state and just communicate with what one farm’s doing against what we may be doing and get a good idea from a neighbor and utilize it on our operation,” says David.

Despite all the long hours and hard work put in over the past fifteen years, the passion and pride both David and Lindsay have for growing crops hasn’t waned one bit.

“One thing, that no matter where you go in the world, you can say, ‘Oh, we farm,’ and nobody else does that. There’s only a small percentage of us that farm, that feed the world, that clothe the world and I like being able to go somewhere and claim ‘Yeah, we farm.’ Not everybody gets to do that. It’s just kind of special to me.” says Lindsay.

“I enjoy from the beginning to the end. It’s a fever like I have for nothing else,” says David.

By: Damon Jones