MARK BYRD
Plantingfor the Harvest BY C A R O LY N D R I N KA R D Mark Byrd is a first-generation farmer who owns Byrd Farms in Danville, Alabama, in Morgan County. With his wife Sandy and their two sons, Rodney and Perry, Mark runs a family operation called “The Valley Boys.” Mark Byrd grew up on a small hobby farm, where his father owned four to five cows. At 14, he bought a tractor and equipment and started his own business baling hay for other farms. Mark believes that his love of farming came from a greater calling, one that he answered very early in his life. “In high school, my guidance counselor called me in to talk about my future,” he laughed.
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