Bethel farmer added to Ag Hall of Fame
Ted Carr (right), past president and board chair of Bethel Rural Community Organization, inducts Bill Holbrook into the 2018 Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame. Donated photo
Haywood County farmer Bill Holbrook has been inducted into the Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame for his tireless efforts as a community organizer and advocate for farmers in WNC, dedicating his career to preserve the rural way of life in the mountains.
Holbrook owns Cold Mountain Farms in Bethel and is part of six generations who have farmed in Haywood County. A fulltime farmer since 1993, Holbrook was born and raised in Buncombe County and moved to Haywood in 1973 after taking a job with Waynesville’s Dayco Corporation in 1968.
Since becoming a fulltime farmer, he has worked diligently to promote agriculture locally and statewide. Holbrook is one of the founding members of the Bethel Rural Community Organization and has served on the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund and the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. His awards and accolades include designation as a River Friendly Farm by the Tri-County River Friendly Farmer Program, designation as a North Carolina Century Farm for 100 years of continuous agricultural heritage and numerous awards from the Haywood County Farm Bureau and Haywood County Soil and Water Conservation District. His was the first Good Agricultural Practices-certified farm in the county.
