Meet Whitt
A farmer, a butcher, and your neighbor
Whitt Shuford has spent his whole life in Claiborne County — working its ground, making payroll here, and answering to the people who live here.
Photo — Whitt at the century farm
1000 × 1250 px
Vertical portrait for the top of his story. Barn, field, or fence line behind him.
The farm came first
Whitt took over the family's century farm in 2009, after his uncle passed away. For a while he worked it alone — before daylight, after dark, and every weekend in between. That's where he learned what a budget really is: you plan for the year you're going to have, not the one you hope for.
He carried that thinking to the University of Tennessee, where he earned his degree in Agricultural Economics. It's the same math either way — land, labor, and what's left over at the end.
Whitt's Place
Whitt's Place started with a single cooler in the barn. Neighbors wanted beef they could trace to a pasture they'd driven past, and word got around. The cooler became a counter. The counter outgrew the barn. Today Whitt's Place operates out of the renovated farmhouse, selling beef raised right here on the farm alongside locally raised pork, chicken, lamb, bison, and a whole lineup of other local products — and signing the front of paychecks instead of the back.
Running a small business in a small county teaches you something no seminar can: every dollar you spend came off somebody's table first.
Eight years on the County Commission
Whitt has served eight years as First District County Commissioner, including as Chairman of the Finance Committee. In that seat he pushed the county toward long-range budget planning, won new fund balance guidelines that protect taxpayers in lean years, and sponsored the resolution to cut the commission from 21 seats to 11.
When residents couldn't get answers about the South Claiborne data center, he asked the questions out loud, in public, until they got them.
Home
Whitt and his wife have been married 25 years. They raised two children in Claiborne County, and they now have one grandson — the sixth generation to run around that farm.
Lifelong Claiborne Countian · Century Farmer · Small Business Owner · Married 25 years · Two children, one grandson
Photo — Whitt with his family
1600 × 1000 px
Horizontal. Family photo, or Whitt behind the counter at Whitt's Place.