[330] GIBSON COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 25, 2009
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

GIBSON COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Carroll-Richards Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Carroll-Richards Farm in Gibson County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
In 1886, Stephen Carroll founded a 58-acre farm near the town of Dyer. Married to Adaline Carroll, the couple had two children, J. R. and Callie. During their ownership, the farm produced cotton, corn, cattle and mules.
The next owner of the property was Stephen and Adaline’s son, J. R., who acquired the farm in 1888. He and wife Mary owned the property for more than 50 years. They were the parents of Fred, Mallie and Claude.
Mallie Carroll and her husband J. W. Richards purchased the farm in 1942. In their turn, they owned and farmed the land for 55 years. Their son, James E. Richards and his wife, Doris, acquired the family acreage in 1997.
Currently, James and Doris manage the operation, although much of the land is worked by Johnny Phillips. The farm produces corn, beans and wheat.
A four-room farmhouse that was built in the 1800s still stands and water still can be drawn from a well that was dug in the 1940s.
The Carroll-Richards Farm is the 25th Century Farm to be certified in Gibson County, Hankins said.

About the Century Farms Program

The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today, the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least

—more—



FARM
Add 1

10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee. There are more than 1,000 Century Farms across the state and all 95 counties are represented.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.



—30—


ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with the farm’s current owners or secure a jpeg of the farm for editorial use, please contact Caneta Hankins at 615-898-2947.