Tag Archives: Agriculture Careers

A Life Rooted in the Land: Walt Pridgen Honored with 2025 Georgia Farm Bureau Achievement Award

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Pitts, GA |

Walt Pridgen has spent his entire life in agriculture, following a path shaped by family, tradition, and a deep sense of purpose.

“I’ve been in agriculture my whole life, I guess you could say,” said Walt Pridgen, 2025 Georgia Farm Bureau Achievement Award winner. “Went to college, got an ag degree. Went into equipment sales out of college. Had the opportunity to come back and kind of help dad. So, I came back in 2018 and was farming alongside dad and got the opportunity to kind of build my own operation.”

That return to the family farm marked the beginning of Seven Creek Farms.

“So, I bought a herd of cows,” Pridgen said. “Then the opportunity presented itself to build some chicken houses. So, I was like, well, we’re already in the chicken business, so that kind of makes sense. So, I bought my first herd of cows in 2018 — that’s when Seven Creek Farms started. And then built the chicken houses. I signed the contract to build the chicken house the first part of 2020. So, I’ve been farming poultry since 2020, 2021.”

Even with different ventures along the way, Pridgen says agriculture has always been central to his life.

“I’ve been around agriculture basically my whole life in some capacity,” he said.

For Pridgen, farming carries a responsibility that extends far beyond the fence line.

“Knowing that what I’m doing is feeding somebody,” he said. “I feel like at some point you’re probably going to need a doctor. You’re probably going to need a pharmacist. Depending on how your life shakes out, you may need a lawyer. But you’re going to need a farmer at least once a day. You know — food, fiber, shelter, that kind of thing.”

That understanding fuels his passion not only to farm, but to educate others about agriculture.

“Just being able to make a difference and feed the world and educate people at the same time about why we do what we do,” Pridgen said. “It’s something that I never really intended to do. Being in a position where I can go and talk and do the things that I’ve been able to do wasn’t really in the bingo cards, but it’s just how the deck of cards shook out, and here we are.”

Despite the challenges, Pridgen says there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.

“Farming is hard,” he said. “It would be a lot easier most days to just use the degree that I got, sell fertilizer or chemicals or seeds, or I could be a loan officer at AgSouth or something. But there’s just something about being out here on this place.”

That connection runs deep.

“My family’s been here for 200 years farming the same dirt,” Pridgen said. “Even if I had to go back to town, I’d still try to find a way to be out here doing something. It’s an itch that you just can’t scratch unless you’re scratching it to the level that we’re trying to scratch it here.”

Being recognized with the Georgia Farm Bureau Achievement Award, he says, reflects more than individual effort.

“Being recognized for that award in itself is a pretty big undertaking,” Pridgen said. “But I don’t think I can take all the credit for that myself. Farming is a team effort these days.”

That team includes family, helpers, and Farm Bureau support.

“My dad’s on his operation, and he helps me on mine,” he said. “We’ve got a helper that helps both of us. The people in the local Farm Bureau support me with all the stuff that I do. So as much as it’s an individual award, I kind of feel like it was a win for everybody that’s helped me get to this point.”

After nearly a decade of involvement at a competitive Farm Bureau level, the recognition brought a moment of reflection.

“I’ve been doing Farm Bureau stuff for going on ten-ish years,” Pridgen said. “So it was cool to finally kind of see all that come full circle and give those guys opportunities to see their hard work pay off, because they have just as much to do with it as I do, I feel like.”

By: John Holcomb

Kaleb & Kaitlyn Marchant: Passionate Advocates for Georgia Agriculture

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Athens, GA |

Few couples embody the spirit of Georgia Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers program more than Kaleb and Kaitlyn Marchant. Currently serving as the fourth district’s representative on the YF&R committee, each have dedicated their lives to advancing the industry here in Georgia. And for that reason, they were recently named this year’s Excellence in Agriculture winners.

“We were very excited. It was a goal that Kaleb and I have had for several years that we had been working towards. We’ve been really invested in the Young Farmers and Ranchers program for ten or twelve years now. So, to see that kind of pan out into that recognition was really rewarding,” says Kaitlyn Marchant.

“We have a passion for agriculture. I know a lot of people say that, but we really had a passion, and we are ingrained in this industry, and we just feel really glad that we were able to receive this award,” says Kaleb Marchant.

Both Kaleb and Kaitlyn developed their passion for agriculture at an early age growing up around family farms. And it’s a something they are hoping to pass down through Ag education.

“Both Kaleb and I did grow up in families who had been involved in production agriculture, but we didn’t have that opportunity necessarily to inherit or take over those operations, both of us kind of went into careers where we could make sure that those opportunities were still available for future generations,” says Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn, who is also the 2019 GFB Young Farmers and Ranchers discussion meet winner, spent her first twelve years in the classroom as a teacher and recently took on a new role as the North Region ag education coordinator.

“Being in the classroom, I really enjoyed getting to work with students who were passionate about agriculture, and as I’ve transitioned to working with the Department of Education, it’s been being that support person for Ag educators because I did that job for so long and kind of understood some of the struggles and the challenges that are faced by Ag education in the state. Being able to work to promote that on the state level on the government level for teachers has been really rewarding,” says Kaitlyn.

Kaleb is now the farm manager at UGA’s Double Bridges Farm beef and sheep unit, where he not only trains the next generation of large animal vets, but also oversees some cutting-edge research.

“I help assist with hands on learning for students who want to be veterinarians primarily, and also students who want to get into farming. We also do research on beef cattle and a little bit on sheep where we’re looking at different types of feed ingredients and methane production that they do and different grazing experiments as well,” says Kaleb.

Thanks to educators like the Marchants, agriculture has a bright future here in Georgia.

“I feel like in my role as an agriculture educator, and in the work that Kaleb has done working with the University and in research, we’re really working to promote the industry and make sure the industry stays viable in Georgia for many years to come,” says Kaitlyn.

By: Damon Jones