Kendall Rae Johnson is making history again. First time, it was for becoming certified as Georgia’s youngest farmer, and now, the talented agronomist has earned a full-ride scholarship to South Carolina State University, not for sports, but for agriculture.
According to her website, the 10-year-old began cultivating her love of watching fruits and veges grow at the age of three-years-old. This love of nature stemmed from her great-grandmother Laura “Kate” Williams.
“She started to see it go from a seed, to a plant, and then die and come back. She saw the plant life cycle of that and was like, wow,” Kendall Rae’s mom, Ursula Johnson, told 11 Alive in a previous interview.
To continue to grow alongside her garden, Johnson started her own farming business called aGROWKulture. Fast-forward to the present and she has not only become a certified farmer in the state of Georgia but she is now a future student at South Carolina State University.
“I’m the first 10-year-old to get a full-ride scholarship!” Kendall Rae Johnson told 11 Alive in a recent interview.
She told the outlet that her ultimate goal is to have a 100-acre farm with cattle, chickens, and various other farm animals. “It’s living with the ceiling open,” Johnson’s mom, Ursula, said. “We have no idea where we’re going, but we’re just following.”
As a USDA National Urban Agriculture Youth Ambassador, Johnson is a role model, encouraging other young people to follow in her footsteps. “I want to tell them to keep growing. Keep going. Keep being amazing. You do you!” the young farmer said.
A recent article in the Guardian, highlights the staggering reality of the decline of Black farmers. Per the article, in 1920, there were nearly a million Black farmers, whereas today, there are just 45,000 Black farmers throughout the country. With young ambassadors like Kendall Rae Johnson, hopefully these statistics will be on an upswing in the near future.
Photo Credit: Kendall Raek Johnson YouTube; aGROWKulture.com