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Over a decade ago, Jason Brown was once the highest-paid player of his position when he signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the St. Louis Rams in 2009.
Three years later and $25 million richer, he left everything behind to become a farmer. His agent told him he was making the biggest mistake of his life. Others told him he was stupid to walk away from millions of dollars. Once he told his wife (Vay), she was shocked. They didn’t have any empty lots to their name and Brown had zero experience harvesting crops.
Many people already consider making an NFL roster a successful career, not to mention the possibility of making millions playing the sport you love. Brown, a fourth-round pick in the 2005 NFL draft, had both. But success to him was always different, drawing inspiration from his older brother who died serving the country in Iraq in 2003.
By owning a farm, he believed it would be his best opportunity to donate food to those in need. Despite receiving offers from the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, and Carolina Panthers, Brown officially retired from the NFL in 2012 at the age of 29.
He immediately went back to his hometown of North Carolina together with his wife and eight kids to look for land. Their search ended when they discovered a 1,000-acre farm in Franklin a few months later.
They named the farm “First Fruits Farm” – a moniker of Brown and his family’s mission of donating the first fruits of every harvest to food pantries. To have enough funds to develop the land into a real farm, Brown sold his 10,000 sq. ft mansion in St. Louis. He even admitted in an interview with CBS that he learned most of his knowledge about farming from watching YouTube videos.
“Get on the internet, watch YouTube videos,” Brown said.
Since then, Brown and his family have given away over 500,000 lbs. of sweet potatoes and 50,000 lbs. of cucumbers, but he knows the job is far from finished.
Working as a farmer won’t earn him the same paychecks he once had in the NFL. However, to him, love is the most wonderful currency you can give to anyone. Brown’s true calling not only changed his life, but changed the lives of millions of others around him.
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