The “Maverick” of our farm team, Jacob handles most of the farm sales. Jacob is the person that our wholesale customers lean on, trust and want to work with. He is the person selling our farm to the corporate managers, partnering with other local farmers to find outlets and is truly the momentum of our operation. What we are planting, where we are planting, schedules for irrigation and fertigation; he is the final checkoff. The leader and patriarch of HomeGrown Direct.

Jacob is probably the most ambitious of our farm team; no challenge is too big, and “no” is typically never the last word. From roadside selling to corporate meetings, much of our growth comes from his determination and goals of what our farm operation can look like. He focuses each season on the effectiveness of our business and how we should shake things up year after year to get closer to our end goal.

Jacob attended Western Kentucky University but always found his way back to Scott County for the growing season. He learned to “long distance” problem-solve between classes while networking with farmers in the southwest part of the Commonwealth. I would feel confident saying that if you are a produce farmer, you know Jacob and the huge waves he is making in the industry.

With the onset of the pandemic, Jacob knew early on the importance of partnering with local food banks and non-profit organizations to ensure our neighbors, community and state had food availability. HomeGrown provided literal tons of pounds of produce for these organizations when it was of the upmost necessity. Jacob maintains those relationships and makes sure that HomeGrown Direct is in the forefront in caring for families in need. He has the ability to see future needs, prioritize those needs for the upcoming seasons and do it with finesse so it is easy for our customers and a smooth transition for us on the farm (most of the time).

You guys have gotten to watch Jacob bloom into fatherhood, embrace our CSA program and make an appearance or two in some of our social media posts; who could have guessed that would happen in a matter of 4 years? The farm was a place or comfort that Jacob was able to work side by side with his late father. We know that he watches over our shenanigans every day but would be so proud of the current day HomeGrown Direct.