He quit school at 12 bagging peanuts; now runs a Texas farm and 16-acre vineyard

Image(s): Shelley E. Huguley Henry Froese was told he couldn't farm without family ties, couldn't grow organic crops in Gaines County's sandy soils, and certainly couldn't grow grapes there. His answer was always "Why not?" According to Farm Progress, Froese quit school at 12 to bag peanuts for a local farmer, later leased his own land, and over the past 22 years built an operation that now spans organic and conventional peanuts, cotton, livestock and a 16-acre vineyard, earning him the 2026 Peanut Efficiency Award for the Southwest.From bagging peanuts as a boy to running his own operationHenry's history in farming began at age 12, when he quit school to load "50-pound bags of peanuts" for a local farmer, simply because all he wanted to do was work. "Not much has changed," he told Farm Progress. "I'm still doing the same thing today," except now he loads his own planter on his own land. In 2004, farm boss Brett Woods leased him land and equipment, land Henry owns today. By 2012, he produced his first organic peanut crop, yielding nearly 5,000 pounds per acre, setting the course for everything that followed.Building Y Knot Farms and a 16-acre vineyard from marginal groundToday, Hen...