Concord farm honored as region's best WSOC TV

CONCORD, N.C.,None While thousands of chickens, hogs and brood cattle are raised on the 900-acre Porter Farms, Inc., on Mount Pleasant Road in Concord, the owners say it's still very much a family operation where you are likely to find three generations working the farm together most days.

CONCORD, N.C.,None — While thousands of chickens, hogs and brood cattle are raised on the 900-acre Porter Farms, Inc., on Mount Pleasant Road in Concord, the owners say it's still very much a family operation where you are likely to find three generations working the farm together most days.

Tommy and Vicky Porter, owners of the farm, were honored by Cabarrus County commissioners last week for being selected as both the North Carolina Farmer of the Year and the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Award earlier this year.

The Farmer of the Year Award recognizes excellence in agricultural production and management, along with leadership in community and farm organizations. The award also honors family contributions in producing safe and abundant supplies of food, fiber and shelter products for U.S. consumers.

"This has been a very humbling experience," Tommy Porter said. "It's a very big honor for us to have received this award. This is a family operation."

The Porters have two grown sons and a daughter. Tommy Porter said he and one of his sons were busy working on the farm Monday before rushing home to change so they could be honored at the meeting.

"We had to go home and get cleaned up. We worked a little longer than we should have," he said.

Commissioner Jay White congratulated the Porters and said he's been to the farm.

"One of the times I was out on your farm you had your daddy working weed eating," White said.

Porter said his father, who turned 90 in May, still works on the farm with him, his wife and his children.

"Everyday he is out on the farm," Porter said. "He can ride the tractor. He can mow the grass. He helps a lot. We're very fortunate that he is able to help us at 90 years old."

White said, "You all have done a lot for the farming community and you all have done a lot for Cabarrus County."

The Porters have won several environmental awards over the years that include the National Environmental Stewardship Award for Poultry presented by Tyson Foods in 1999, and again in 2004. They were voted Conservation Farm Family of the year in 1999 by the N.C. Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, named Sunbelt Farmer of the Year for North Carolina in 2006 by Swisher Sweets, and recognized by the N.C. Pork Council in 2009 as the N.C. Outstanding Pork Producer.

Vicky Porter has an Associate's Degree in Applied Sciences and worked as a licensed dental hygienist for several years before leaving that profession to raise her children and assist her husband with the farming operation. She now serves as a N.C. Water and Soil Conservation commissioner at the state level and currently serves as vice chair of that commission. Tommy Porter has served as Chairman of the Cabarrus County Watershed Improvement Commission. He also is a former board member of the Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District and currently serves as an associate member.

"This is a regional award. We're very proud of them. There was a lot that went into the award. It had a lot to do with the management of their operation. It had a lot to do with their environmental side. This is a culmination of a lot of these different activities," said Dennis Testerman, the Cabarrus Soil & Water Conservation District supervisor.

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