It’s hard to imagine finding your life’s purpose before you’re even 10 years old, but in the case of Kendall Rae Johnson, that’s exactly what happened.
Starting when she was 3 years old, after her great-grandmother taught Kendall how to keep from wasting food by propagating collard greens from the grocery store, she knew plants, land and soil would herald her journey.
What started as growing collard greens, led to Kendall asking to grow more, says her mother, Ursula.
“We realized this was an interest of hers, and it didn’t look like it was going away. She started asking for bigger stuff, saying, ‘I want to grow muscadines; I want to grow blueberries; I want to grow fruit trees, nut trees …’ and we knew this was not going away,” Ursula says.
Kendall’s accomplishments grew quickly, and by the time she was 6, she was recognized as the youngest certified farmer in the U.S. At 9, she received a full-ride scholarship in agriculture from South Carolina State University — the youngest to receive this honor as well. She’s gone on speaking tours, written a book and is about to publish an accompanying workbook, launched a marinara sauce and plans to create a natural skincare line. Then in 2023, a Georgia resolution declared that March 23 would be recognized as Kendall Rae Johnson Day. All by the ripe old age of 10.
When asked how it felt to receive the news of the scholarship, Kendall says, “Well, I just felt happy and excited that someone believed in me enough to give me a full-ride scholarship to college at only 10 years old.”
Once she’d found her passion for agriculture, with the help of her father, Quentin, the home-schooled Kendall started a 1-acre garden. Ursula says a typical day for the 10-year-old involves schoolwork with her dad while mom tends to emails and proposals. After schoolwork, Kendall and Quentin tackle farm work before it gets too hot, Ursula says. Once it’s too hot to work outdoors, Quentin and Kendall start working on ideas for future projects. In the evening, Ursula says the duo are back on the farm to work with the animals and other chores. In addition to the garden, Kendall has nine chickens, two ducks, a farm rabbit and two farm dogs.
When asked her father’s role in the farm, Kendall says, “He helps me by taking care of our farm animals and making sure that we don’t have any bad bugs on the farm,” adding that they maintain organic practices on the farm.
Kendall is surrounded by support from her parents and the community. For a fundraising event she holds in the fall, Kendall sells collard greens she grows. Since she’s limited to a 1-acre garden for now, local farmers offered her land to grow collard greens.
“These farmers, with hundreds of acres, told Kendall, ‘We understand you can’t grow all the collard greens for the city, so we’re going to help you out,’” Ursula says. “So, all she had to do was go pick out a spot, and the farmers helped her plant them and showed her how it’s done on a major scale — and then they took care of them from there. She just had to go pick them once they were ready.”
As a USDA National Urban Agriculture Youth Ambassador, Kendall says she wants to share her experience to help other youth achieve their dreams.
“I want them to know they can dream big and with the right tools and support, we can make those dreams come true,” Kendall says.
To educate other youth about agriculture, Kendall created a book, “My Farm Biz,” that includes the steps to getting a USDA Youth Loan.
It’s so important to learn about agriculture, Kendall says, because: “Everything is made as an added-value product from farm products, whether it’s a lemonade stand, cosmetics or even the cotton for the clothes we wear.”
The goal, she says, is to understand how to take raw products and make value-added products.
“I do believe that some adults are going to use this book, but teaching kids that there are so many ways that agriculture plays a part in business is her goal,” Ursula says.
Even with so much accomplished already, the future looks just as bright for the young farmer.
“I want 100 acres. I want to silvopasture cows. I want long corn, and I want to have my own skincare products,” Kendall says.
She adds that she plans to study agriculture in college and become a soil scientist. One can only imagine what she’ll have accomplished by then.
When asked what it has been like watching Kendall grow into this role and receiving national recognition at such a young age, Ursula says it has been a roller coaster of emotions.
“Emotionally, we have joyful tears, right? But at the same time, we have to have our joyful tear moment, and then we have to get back on the grind,” Ursula says.
“The goal is not for Kendall to be the only child in the world that has this accolade,” she adds. “It’s for us to get more kids excited about agriculture in some form or fashion, because the career paths and the pathways that it can ignite are everything.”
