LOUISBURG, NC -- One of the best centers in the NFL, who had a five-year, $37 million contract with the St. Louis Rams, decided to walk away from football to farm in North Carolina.
"My agent told me, 'You're making the biggest mistake of your life.' And I looked right back at him and I said, 'No I'm not. No I'm not,'" Jason Brown told CBS News’ Steve Hartman.
Jason Brown
So what could possibly trump the NFL?
Brown said he quit football to be a plain, old farmer -- even though he'd never farmed a day a in his life.
When asked how he learned to farm, Brown said he learned how to farm by watching YouTube video.
Thanks to those videos and some good advice from other farmers in Louisburg, Brown finished harvesting his first, 5-acre plot of sweet potatoes this week.
"When you see them pop up out of the ground, man, it's the most beautiful thing you could ever see," Brown said.
Brown's North Carolina farm.
The former football player said he has never felt more successful.
"Not in man's standards, but in God's eyes,” Brown said.
Browns’ plan for this farm, which he calls, "First Fruits Farm," is to donate the first fruits of every harvest to food pantries. He recently harvested 100,000 pounds of sweet potatoes from his five acres.
"It's unusual for a grower to grow a crop just to give away," admitted Rebecca Page, who organizes food collection for the needy. "And that's what Jason has done. And he's planning to do more next year."
Sweet potato harvest.
Brown has 1000 acres, which could go a long way toward eliminating hunger in this neck of North Carolina.
"Love is the most wonderful currency that you can give anyone,” Brown told Hartman.
