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Patrick Mudge has lived a life of service and tragedy. After serving in the military he lost a friend in the line of duty. Now Mudge takes the grief from that loss to speak to Gold Star Families, and also his newfound passion for agriculture. He recently spoke at the Tennessee Young Farmers and Ranchers annual meeting.
Thomas Capps
Veteran turned CEO focusing on agriculture and Gold Star families. Hello and welcome to Tennessee Home and Farm Radio. I’m Thomas Capps.
Patrick Mudge
Without farmers, none of us have a future.
Thomas Capps
Patrick mudge has lived a life of service and tragedy. After joining the military after 911 and Mudge served in the Middle East during the War on Terror. After leaving the military to focus on family one of his close friends he served with died in the line of duty. Mudge eventually took the grief and pain of his loss and used it to speak to Gold Star families to help them through their grief as well.
Patrick Mudge
It just happened that I did one time, and it was well received. And I just kept getting called to come do it again. And then I was speaking at Boeing and other organizations and I’m like, okay, is this the route I want to go down
Thomas Capps
Now Mudge is the CEO of cooler company ICE Tech and lives in West Tennessee, where he and his wife have a small farming operation on the side while he still engages and advocates for Goldstar families. Promoting and protecting agriculture is another passion of his. He recently spoke to the Tennessee Young Farmers & Ranchers
Patrick Mudge
Anything when it has to do with farmers or gold stars. That’s on me working with state legislatures. We’re trying to preserve that land to be farmed here in Tennessee, not just Tennessee, but the whole nation right now land for sale land costs. In Texas, we’re dealing with this right now. There’s little to no money in cattle anymore. And land has gotten so expensive that it’s going to affect beef prices. It’s going to affect a lot of things. It’s gonna affect what we eat and what’s in that beef when it hits the shelf. We have big issues that if we don’t address them now there’s no going back. Everything comes back to this. So these young leaders, this is it’s an honor to be able to give them advice and help them grow to be even more successful.
Thomas Capps
Mudge says it’s critical. We have a strong military and strong agriculture industry for national security and seeing the number of young farmers in Tennessee is something that gives Mudge hope.
Patrick Mudge
I’m really really optimistic that my children have a future because of these guys.
Thomas Capps
For Tennessee Home and Farm Radio I’m Thomas Capps.