From NFL Stardom to Family Farming

Photo caption: Jason Brown left the NFL to become a farmer. Photography by Jamie Thayer Jones. Article by Alex Robinson. Modern Farmer – February 07, 2021.

A Q&A with Jason Brown, a former St. Louis Rams player and current farmer who wants to feed the hungry.

Sometimes when Jason Brown gives motivational talks at schools, students tell him he’s crazy.

The former NFL offensive lineman walked away from football in 2012 to start First Fruits Farm in North Carolina, not far from where his grandfather was a farmer. At the time, he had just come out of a contract with the St. Louis Rams that had made him the highest-paid center in the game.

He moved his family from a mansion to an old farmhouse and he gave up material wealth to go into a hard industry he knew very little about. But he ultimately found happiness growing food. Since his first harvest in 2014, his farm has given away hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to those in need.

Brown recently spoke to Modern Farmer about his decision to leave the NFL, his transition to farming and his new book, Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters, which comes out Tuesday and chronicles his journey. […]

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