By Lea Hart
Worth Williams doesn’t remember a time in his childhood when he wasn’t on the family farm.
His mother, Donna Williams, had a pack-and-play for him in her office soon after he was born. The family jokes that she timed his birth for a Friday so she wouldn’t miss payroll the following Thursday.
He’s the sixth generation in this long-standing tradition of life on the farm at Worthington Farms near Greenville, North Carolina. Isaac Worthington bought land there in 1837.
And over the course of nearly two centuries, each generation has proven its ability to adapt with the times. Worthington Farms initially produced tobacco, later adding row crops, livestock and poultry, and then a plant nursery. In 1990, it became the first North Carolina nursery to adopt “pot-in-pot” container production, which allows plants to be transplanted safely during the growing season.
So it comes as no surprise that Williams’ approach to innovation is no different. In 2019, he expanded his role as farm manager to kick-start Worthington Farms’ next innovation: PhyllaTech LLC, a tissue culture lab that propagates plants primarily for the commercial berry industry.
His success in both roles comes, in part, from a degree in horticultural science from NC State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and later attending CALS’ Executive Farm Management Program, which laid the groundwork for turning a seed of an idea into PhyllaTech.
Source : ncsu.edu