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Crockett County's Griggs Farm featured on History Channel's 'The American Farm'

Brandon Shields
Jackson Sun
From right, Matt and Kelly Griggs and their three children Paige, Nate and Carter. The Griggs family is featured on the History Channel reality series "The American Farm."

It was about three years ago when Matt and Kelly Griggs were watching the cable reality show “Deadliest Catch” and wondered out loud, “If a reality TV show crew followed us around all day today, what would they have for their show?”

The couple are getting their question answered: This Thursday will mark the third episode of their appearance on "The American Farm" on the History Channel.

“We love watching that type of show, and now we’re on one ourselves, and that’s a surreal feeling as we’ve watched the first two episodes not knowing what would be on each one,” said Kelly.

Matt Griggs is a fifth-generation farmer, and they own 1,800 acres in Crockett and Madison counties.

“The show says we farm 1,500 acres, but we actually gained 300 more acres in Madison County since we filmed this season,” Matt said.

The farm has three full-time people who work those 1,800 acres — Matt and Kelly and Zach Wilson, a longtime friend of the family who’s proven to be a valuable addition to the Griggs Farm workforce.

“There’s no way we could get all this done without Zach being here,” Matt said.

The farm’s shop and barns are just across the Crockett County line in the area between Jackson, Gadsden and Humboldt.

The show centers around five farms in different parts of the country, including Utah, New Hampshire, Virginia and Alaska in addition to the Griggs’ farm. Of the five, Griggs Farm is the only one that strictly grows row crops of wheat, corn, soybeans and cotton.

The Griggs family has three children with the oldest being a student at Bethel, the middle child at Crockett County High and the youngest going to school at Gadsden Elementary, which was a big part of the Griggs’ appearance in last week’s episode when Matt and Kelly got a call about a possible active shooter at the school last May.

“The film crew just happened to be on our farm catching up on stuff they’d shot a few months before, and while they’re here we get that call,” Kelly Griggs said. “So when we get the call, they ask if they can come with us with the cameras on, and we just looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah let’s go and we’ll figure it out later.’”

The Griggs Farm in Crockett County is being featured on "The American Farm" on the History Channel at 9 p.m. on Thursday each week.

Getting on the show

The process of getting on the show took about a year, beginning with filling out an online form and then going through multiple interviews digitally and in person.

“We were told more than 1,000 farms applied to be a part of this, and five made it onto the show, so it took a lot for us to make it,” Kelly Griggs said.

The show’s producers said they wanted to tell the story of farms in America in the 21st century, and they wanted farms that were at least into their third generation.

“As long as they did a good job with it, I was all for it,” Matt Griggs said. “Because I want to educate anyone who watches this show about farm life, what it’s all about and how important it is to life for our country.

“There’s a lot of stuff getting out there about GMOs and pesticides and stuff like that that’s way overblown, and I was all for being on this show if it gave us the chance to clear a lot of that stuff up.”

Educating their friends

“We need people watching,” said Kelly Griggs. “And I’m from Chicago, and I’ve got a lot of friends who are learning so much about farming in Tennessee.

“They’ll call me after an episode and be like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know that’s what you do there.’”

Matt said people in rural West Tennessee who live around farmland have learned some things, too.

“People drive by and see tractors out in the fields, and I don’t think they know what all happens because of what’s going on in that field as they drive by,” Matt Griggs said. “So I really hope this show is a way people across the country can really learn what life is really like for us who work on farms.”

"The American Farm" airs each Thursday at 9 p.m. Central on the History Channel. Past episodes are available through various platforms online including on the History Channel’s website.

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.