~ About Us ~

	Whitaker Farms was started by Richard and Faylene in 1975 on rented land with a 140 tractor and a $40 tobacco setter. Today they farm over 500 acres, including flue cured and burly tobacco, field tomatoes, strawberries, and pumpkins. Whitaker Farms also consist of flower houses, green house tomatoes, farm tours, and a tree planting business. Not long after marriage, they had two handsome sons, Shane and Travis. Richard and Faylene have worked incredibly hard in order to expand the farming operation so that if their sons chose, they could one day return to family farming. Today they enjoy travelling, spending time with their family, riding ATV’s, and best of all….farming!
	Shane, Richard and Faylene’s oldest son, graduated from Eastern Randolph High School in 1993 and attended Guilford Technical Community College and A&T University. In 1997, he joined the family farm full-time claiming “there was nothing else he could imagine himself doing". He married Asheboro native Kelly King in 1998. Kelly attended N.C. State University for Civil Engineering. She now works for Randolph County as a Soil & Water Engineer. The two now live on one of the Whitaker’s tobacco farms in Climax in a two-hundred year old house they remodeled. She also works on the farm in her spare time…especially in the flower greenhouses. Shane and Kelly enjoy horseback riding, water skiing, snow skiing, riding ATV’s, and just about anything else they can do together. Shane and Kelly are proud parents of Chase and Payton.
	Travis graduated from Eastern Randolph in 1995 and from Elon College in 1999.While at Elon, Travis played both football and basketball and traveled all over the country. In 1998, following in his father’s footsteps, Travis also married his high school sweetheart, Shannon Craven of Franklinville. Travis and Shannon live at the Franklinville location of Whitaker Farms in a beautiful log house. After teaching for two years, Travis too decided to join his family at the farm full time. Shannon, who graduated from the University of N.C. at Greensboro with a degree in Marketing currently works for Misys HealthCare Systems as an Inside sales/support representative. Shannon enjoys pitching in on the farm when she can. In their free time Travis and Shannon enjoy riding ATV’s, water skiing, wake boarding, snow skiing, volleyball, and basketball. They have 2 daughters, Lilly and Kenly.