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Former ag commissioner dies
OBIT - Ed Porter
Ed Porter 1935 - 2016

Former state agriculture commissioner, local nurseryman, and community activist Ed Porter died Thursday. He was 80.
“He was a man of integrity,” said longtime friend and Capitol Hill colleague, former state Rep. Ivey Hillis who served with him after Porter was appointed as agriculture commissioner by then-Gov. Ray Blanton in 1975. “He served the people of Tennessee well and was a real credit to his home Warren County.”
Porter began his career in the agricultural industry with a bachelor of science degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Tennessee in 1958. He worked for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as a field entomologist before assuming the role of office manager at Forest Nursery in McMinnville. In 1966, Porter joined Triangle Nursery and became owner in 1968.  In 1995, he sold Triangle nursery and established Porter Farms.
An accomplishment of Porter’s dedication to the industry is the establishment of the Tennessee State University Nursery Research Station in McMinnville.
The creation of the Nursery Research Center is a direct result of his foresight, initiative and perseverance.
“He was a joy to be around,” Hillis noted, adding Porter never compromised his beliefs and was always a man of his word. “He was a dear friend.”
Porter served more than 50 years in the nursery industry and was a leader championing the causes and issues that kept the nursery industry strong and growing. He has held numerous positions in ANLA, including holding the positions of past president, board member, Tennessee governor and lieutenant governor. Porter also was a member and past president of ANLA's Wholesale Nursery Growers of America division.
 He also has served as the chairman of the Legislative Committee for the Southern Nursery Association, member and president of the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association, and member and president of the Middle Tennessee Nursery Association. In addition to his posts in various industry associations, Porter also has held posts as the Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture under the Gov. Blanton administration, state chairman of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee, secretary-treasurer and vice president of the Southern Association of the Tennessee Depart-ment of Agriculture, and chairman of the Tennessee Forestry Commission. Porter has also held many community leadership positions.
Porter received many honors recognizing his contributions to the nursery industry including the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association's Wholesale Nurseryman of the Year, the Farm-house Fraternity's Daryl Snyder Award for service in agriculture, Emeritus Trustee at the University of Tennessee; the McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Free Enterprise Award, The Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association’s Hall of Fame Award, and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture naming its diagnostics laboratory building after him, The Edward S. Porter Animal Indus-tries Building, the ANLA Hall of Fame Award (2002), and SNA’s Slater Wight Memorial Award (2003). Most recently, in 2015, he was honored by the Southern Nursery Association with an honorary membership award for his outstanding contributions to the nursery industry.
As for work within the local community outside the nursery industry, Porter was a member of the Rotary Club where he was a Paul Harris Fellow. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 125, where he was a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. He was also a deacon at First Baptist Church.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community