Source: Taylor Parrish, NCDA&CS, 5/18/22

We Are Agriculture is a year-long series that will highlight the hard-work done by employees across the Department of Agriculture. Tony Haywood, Retail Marketing Specialist with our Marketing Division, is one of those employees. Stay tuned each Wednesday here on the blog or any of our social media accounts and join us in honoring those who continue to drive our state’s agriculture industry forward each day!

The North Carolina mountains can instill a sense of pride in agriculture and love for Christmas trees in anyone, including Retail Marketing Specialist Tony Haywood. Tony grew up in the middle of the state on his grandparent’s farm where he learned how to care for a variety of crops.

His love of agriculture eventually led him to pursue a degree at Appalachian State University in Boone where he learned how diverse our state’s agriculture industry is. He also fell in love with the Christmas tree industry there. “It’s funny that I work with Christmas tree growers today because I distinctly remember a time in college where I looked around at all the beautiful trees being grown in that area and thought to myself, 'I bet it would be fun to work with those on a daily basis,'” he said, “and here we are!”

For more of this story, click here.