Thanks for Your Service, Jeff Futrell!

Believe it or not, retirement is not new for Jeff Futrell, Marshall and Livingston County YFA Advisor. As of June 30, 2026, Jeff retired, again, as an Adult Ag Instructor. Jeff has made a huge impact in his community, and the Adult Ag Program is grateful to have had his expertise and support for the past several years.

Born into a farming family in Land Between the Lakes in 1961, Jeff's family found a new home in the Fairdealing/Olive community due to relocation orders when the LBL area became designated as a National Recreation Area by President John F Kennedy. He moved at the young age of 6 with his parents, brother, and sister in 1967. During his childhood and young adult life, his family made their mark on their new land in Kentucky and became pillars of their new community. Farming hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans, tobacco, hay, silage, milo and more, the family embraced the new land they were blessed with. Over the years, the family began to grow their operation and gained many acres along the way. He was brought up like many farm kids, being taught hard work, the value of a dollar, and the value of family and what the word "home" really means. After high school, he graduated from the Murray State School of Agriculture.

At the young age of 23, he began working for the state of Kentucky as the Marshall and Livingston County Adult Agriculture Coordinator and Young Farmer Association Advisor and has served in that position for 41 years this year. Through his own adult life he has farmed row crops, tobacco, hay, hogs, cattle, yearly gardens, and whatever dogs his wife and girls might bring home. His wife of 37 years and 3 daughters were beside him through it all, setting tobacco, playing in the dirt from the gardens, riding around to check fences, and bringing weak calves into the house on a cold winter night. Clearly, his family and love for the land has been his "why."

He still resides in Fairdealing, just houses down from the home he first knew outside of LBL, farming hay and beef cattle, while his brother and nephew still farm cattle and row crops just a few miles down the road. His daughters reside close, on the same roads or just a few miles away, all still embracing the farming life that they were taught to love and know just like he was. Farming is not an easy life, but he is the best example of someone who holds on and keeps going, doing it all out of pure love for land, community, and family.

KCTCS is going to miss Jeff, but we know that retirement is not "goodbye", it's simply just "until next time." We look forward to seeing him in town, on his farm, and with his family.