Producer Profile

Channing Gooden – Bennett Place Nursery

Channing, along with his father, David Gooden, owns Bennett Place Nursery, a four-house pig nursery and C&D Brooder Farm, a two-house brooder farm, both contracted with Prestage Farms. On their 300 acre farm in Bladen County there are: 16 finishing houses, four nurseries, two brooder houses, and 150-175 brood cows.

Channing also grows bermuda grass for hay and pastures; approximately 10 acres of corn for silage, 30 acres for grain and five acres of sweet corn, which they sell to the local community. They also grow an acre of "pick your own" strawberries.

Channing grew up working on the family farm. “When I was little I remember helping my grandfather and father on the farm, which then consisted of 100 sows, 25 cows, 100 acres of row crops, four acres of strawberries, four acres of sweet corn, and my grandmother's chicken coop. We marketed about 2600 feeder pigs a year,” Channing explained.

In 1992, his father began contracting with Prestage Farms and built six finishing houses. In 1994, he built six more and, just before the state moratorium on new hog farm construction, he built four more finishing houses. In 2000, Channing and his father purchased four nurseries.

“At seven-years-old I worked everyday after school; I became a paid employee at 16,” Channing said.

As a young, but experienced pork producer, Channing believes the greatest challenge he faces is trying to do his part to educate those around him about the facts regarding the hog industry in order to gain support for the pork industry and, in turn, protect his livelihood.

He believes misunderstanding and misinformation is also the greatest challenge facing the pork industry as a whole. Channing explained, “Our industry is currently faced with the challenge of informing and educating the public on the truths about our industry when they are being saturated with so many sources of misinformation.”

As part of his efforts to further educate the public, Channing is taking an active role in the leadership of the pork industry. He was elected to the North Carolina Pork Council board of directors in 2009 and is active with the Bladen County Livestock Association. In cooperation with their county's extension office, Channing’s family currently offers tours of their farm as well as shadowing opportunities. He also is a member of the North Carolina Cattlemen's Association.

Channing’s parents are David and Pat Gooden of Elizabethtown. He and his wife, Lauren Womble Gooden have two children, Anna (two-years-old) and Witt (three-months-old). Channing and Lauren are members of Elizabethtown Baptist Church.

When asked what his favorite restaurant is, Channing said, “my favorite barbecue restaurant is right here at home, or more specifically out at the shop, where my father makes my favorite pork dish - his homemade barbecue!”