A Tribute to Mike Grizzard. The Last of the Original Cotton Farmers in Virginia
4-20-2026
Last week a bunch of us lost a good friend. Mike Grizzard began farming around 1990 (+/-) and was one of the first 5 farmers to grow cotton in Virginia after the boll weevil took the crop away in the 60’s & 70’s. This was a group that included George Prince, Eddie Partridge, Bobby Darden, and Philip Rose (perhaps Jarvis Howell was the 6th). Mike was the last of these originals and he leaves a big gap in his local community in Southampton as well as the Agricultural community. While he was one to learn from because of his budgeting expertise and business analysis creating great success on what I would call a small family farm, his greater legacy is based on his reliability, character and faith as a friend, son, father, husband, citizen and christian. He was also a master of using a flip phone if you didn’t know. Young people might not even know what that means. Raise a glass to Mike Grizzard. Gonna miss you brother.
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