Aaron Henderson

Aaron grew up working on his family’s farm operation in Smith County, MS.  The area mainly consists of poultry operations, cattle operations, and pine timber.  As a young boy most of his time was spent outdoors working in chicken houses and caring for and showing livestock.  “If my brother and I were not working, you could almost always count on finding us at a fishing hole somewhere!”

After graduating high school in 2002, Aaron joined the Mississippi Army National Guard, where he served 16 years in the National Guard with a deployment to Iraq from 2004-2005.

Upon completing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at Mississippi State University in 2009, he began employment with the Department of Defense in June 2009. “Even during that time, I had a strong desire to get back to the land and the world of agriculture. I enjoyed my time at the Department of Defense, but left in 2011 for a career with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Clay County Mississippi as a Soil Conservationist.”

During his time at NRCS, Aaron worked hard to identify resource concerns for farmers and worked to meet their needs and goals by guiding them to the right programs.

“I worked in four other NRCS Field Offices as a Soil Conservationist before being selected as the District Conservationist for Grenada, Mississippi in 2015. Over my career with NRCS, we more than tripled the amount of conservation contracts funded. My goal was always to help as many farmers and landowners as I could.”

Aaron gained a wealth of knowledge about conservation and conservation programs while working for NRCS. Like Barrett Daugherty, Director of Technical Service Providers at STEWARD LINK®, Aaron’s experience and devotion to the farmer and landowner continues to be a perfect fit for STEWARD LINK®.

ƒIn 2017, Aaron joined STEWARD LINK® as the Director of the Conservation Stewardship Program. He assists all STEWARD LINK® consultants with the development and implementation of Conservation Stewardship Plans (CSPs) for clients, designed to meet their goals while also achieving the conservation milestones put out by the NRCS.  “When leading stakeholders to the best practices associated with conservation and NRCS processes, I draw on experiences gained through interaction within an assortment of conservation and NRCS experiences from my time with NRCS and from personal experience as a farmer and landowner. These diverse experiences allow me to assist STEWARD LINK® consultants and clients with putting conservation on the ground.”

“At the end of the day, Steward Link® is about the people we help– the protectors of the land.” 

Aaron and Joni Henderson reside in Poplar Springs, MS with their son Hayes where they run a cow/calf operation.  Aaron and Joni met as young children through the 4-H Livestock Program.  Hayes follows in their footsteps showing lambs.  They work to instill the values of hard work, integrity, the grace of God, and patriotism.