At only six years old, Kendall Rae Johnson is acknowledged as the youngest certified farmer in Georgia.
With her mother’s help, Kendall established her own farming company, aGROWKulture, and joined many agricultural associations, including the Georgia Farm Bureau and Georgia Grown, a Georgia Department of Agriculture branch.
With that, she was recognised as a farmer and qualified to apply for loans, grants, and scholarships to expand her farming operation.
“She started in a patio garden, and the patio garden grew from a little bitty something to, by the time her fourth birthday came, we had a full-fledged garden in our backyard,” Kendall’s mother, Ursula Johnson, told Good Morning America. “And then we moved, and now she has a farm.”
Laura “Kate” Williams, Kendall’s great-grandmother, is believed to have instilled in her a passion for gardening. Since then, she has grown various produce, including strawberries, okra, carrots, squash, and zucchini.
Additionally, Mandisha Thomas, a Georgia state representative who discovered and helped Kendall, created a monthly gardening club and provides subscription food boxes. She has raised $85,000 for the cause and aims to use it to educate other families and young, aspirant farmers about gardening and farming.
Kendall wants to collect $10,000 to expand her backyard garden to reach more people in the neighbourhood and grow more fruit. She created a GoFundMe campaign, which has received about $3,000.
