– Every Farmer has a Story with Mike Anderson –
Shared experience
Mike Anderson found his calling while serving farmers
Story and photos by Glen Liford
– Every Farmer has a Story with Mike Anderson –
Shared experience
Mike Anderson found his calling while serving farmers
Story and photos by Glen Liford
Like many Co-op employees, Mike Anderson spent a good portion of his Co-op career farming on his own. After helping farmers at work all day, he would come home and take care of his own cows and calves or put up hay. He found farming to be more than a vocation — it was a lifestyle, and something he enjoys to this day.
Mike put those agricultural experiences to work in the Co-op system daily, offering gentle, but informed guidance as he helped customers to identify problems and offer solutions to enhance the efficiency and increase the productivity of their farming operations. This work was before the development of Co-op’s brand statement “Driven to Serve,” but the sentiment was characteristic of Mike’s career.
Mike came to his calling in a somewhat meandering way, he says. He fell in love with farming as a teenager working on a neighbor’s farm.
In 1977, he started at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, majoring in animal science, on what he calls “the seven-year plan.”
“I left in 1981, and stayed out for three years, working various jobs, including some time as a policeman and a volunteer fireman, before I decided I wanted to go back,” he explains.
He graduated in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree, after working at the UT dairy farm, and went to work for Conagra in Sweetwater Valley. He stayed there several months, but intense competition from local Co-ops spurred him to move back to his hometown of Kingsport where he went to work at a local dairy as herdsman.
“We milked around 150 cows and farmed about 800 acres between Kingsport and Limestone,” he says. “Due to some life changes, I ended up single and wanted to do something different. I went to work with Southern States Cooperative in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where they sent me to close a store.”
After the assignment was concluded, he was moved to a location in Carrboro, N.C., before relocating again to another store in Gate City, Virginia, where he stayed for three years.
“Agriculture provided me a good living and some great relationships. I have customers that I will be friends with the rest of my life. And I’m glad to see Ryan working in agriculture. It's my passion, and I hope it will be his one day, if it's not already.” — Mike Anderson
He was hired at Washington Farmers Cooperative in Jonesborough by future James B. Walker Cooperative Spirit Award Winner James Wright in 1996 as a livestock specialist calling on local dairies. Those relationships were beneficial both to Mike and the customers.
“We'd sit down, talk about the cows,” Mike recalls. “My goal was to [help the customer] to better utilize his forages and make more milk. We would go look at this cow or go look at this corn over here and try to determine the best solutions.”
When James Wright retired and Tom Bible was appointed manager of the Co-op, Mike was tapped to become assistant manager. His desire to help continued to thrive in that role as he further cultivated the relationships with his customers.
When Washington Farmers Co-op bought Southwest Virginia Farm Supply in Castlewood, Virginia, in 2003, Mike accepted the role of manager of the location. He spent 23 years in the position, serving the farmers in the area, and retired in 2023. He wasn’t content to stay away from the Co-op world for long, however, and recently joined the ASM Ag Services location in Bristol, Virginia, a venture founded in late 2021 through a partnership between Augusta Cooperative Farm Bureau in Staunton, Virginia, and Smoky Mountain Farmers Co-op, based in Sevierville, Tennessee. Mike is working on a part-time basis for the business as needed a few days each week.
He still lives in Kingsport and farms across the state line in Scott County, Virginia, maintaining a cow-calf operation and growing hay. He and wife, Cathy, a former educator and school principal, are catching up on time spent together, traveling a bit, and recently, even attended a Metallica concert. The couple have two sons, Ryan and Browden and recently welcomed their first granddaughter AnnaLee. Browden is an engineer who recently completed his Masters of Business Administration at UT. Ryan served as a rescue technician and EMT for six years and worked as a surveyor for a brief stint, before joining the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative Training Program in February 2024. He graduated this summer and went to work at Hawkins Farmers Cooperative in Rogersville. Ryan had worked at the Co-op for his dad as a teenager and had good memories of those times.
“He was as green as grass when he started working for us at the store,” says Mike. “Browden knew his direction when he was younger. Ryan went through a metamorphosis to get to where he is today. I’m proud of them.”
Ryan Anderson, right, recently joined Hawkins Farmers Cooperative after graduating from the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative Training Program, following the example set by his father Mike, who worked with farmers and cooperatives throughout his long career.
Story by Glen Liford,
Contact gliford@ourcoop.com