WWII veteran farmer Paul Smith O’Dell featured in debut of video series

In the debut of her agricultural video series, called Time Changes: The Life of a Farmer, Nashville recording artist Stephanie Nash meets Paul Smith O’Dell, a World War II veteran and farmer from Laurens, South Carolina. O’Dell is 97 years old and found his way back to the farm after the war ended — he even still uses a Farmall tractor he bought in August 1946. He talks about how much of a struggle farming can be, with outside forces such as the weather impacting a producer’s livelihood. 

“If you’re going to be a farmer,” he said, “you have to be with it 24/7. If you’re not out in the field working, you need to be thinking about the farm and what does it need.”

Nash, a fourth-generation farmer, is using her video series to travel across the country and hear the stories and struggles of American agriculture.