FARMING IS IN OUR ROOTS

Meet THE MCGREGERS

Though Preston and Candi’s roots run six generations or more deep in Calhoun County, Mississippi, for most of that history, their families have farmed for sustenance and independence instead of commercial markets. Preston was a young teenager when he got his first job in the sweet potato fields cutting slips for Tim Jack Edmondson. Not long after, Preston’s father Earl McGreger, a former brick mason, began farming in partnership with lifelong friend Paul Norman Edmondson. Preston worked alongside them even as he studied entomology and Integrated Pest Management at Mississippi State University and interned for several years as a crop consultant with Philip McKibben of McKibben Agriculture Services in Maben, Mississippi. In 2005 Preston farmed his first 20 acres with an FSA first time farmer loan and knew that the call of the tractor could no longer be ignored. His education in bug science and the wisdom of his mentors has proven indispensable in his farming career. This mix of traditional and technological knowledge gets applied every day in the fields and passed on to the next generation.

Farming is not for the faint of heart, and building a farm enterprise from scratch has had its challenges. Owning his own packing house has been a dream of Preston’s for a long time. It enables him to vertically integrate the production of sweet potatoes and personally oversee the process from beginning to end. This both guarantees the quality of the finished product and, most importantly, makes the business more sustainable by allowing more dollars to go directly to the farmer during a time when farming has become more and more precarious. Buying directly from farmer-owned operations, quite simply, keeps them in business.

Although climate-controlled packing facilities may have replaced the tater hills of yesteryear, farming is still what sustains this family. They approach it with the same honesty, integrity, and love of the land as their ancestors. Proud of their humble origins, they are dedicated not only to growing excellent sweet potatoes, but growing long-term relationships with buyers who value working directly with farmers. Learn more about our operation or contact our sales and delivery team today.