Owners look to carry on farm’s family heritage. Randy Smith clacks a white plastic bucket against the fencing in his backyard and calls for three calves standing on a distant hill. These three calves, about 8 months old, will soon join the more than 20 other cattle the Smiths have grazing in their pastures. Randy and Megan Smith, who run Sweet Grass Farm, were recently chosen as recipients of a Grant Award: $6,000 Western North Carolina AgOptions grant for the second year in a row. “If it wasn’t for these grant programs,” Randy Smith said, “a lot of people, especially younger people like us, wouldn’t be able to get into agriculture or keep a family farm alive.” —Tryon Daily Bulletin, February 10, 2012. (Read more).
