Image(s): Shelley E. Huguley
Froese quit school at 12 to bag peanuts for a local farmer, later leased his own land, and over the past 22 years built an operation that now spans organic and conventional peanuts, cotton, livestock and a 16-acre vineyard, earning him the 2026 Peanut Efficiency Award for the Southwest, according to Farm Progress.
Henry Froese was told he couldn’t farm without family ties, couldn’t grow organic crops in Gaines County’s sandy soils, and certainly couldn’t grow grapes there. His answer was always “Why not?
In 2004, farm boss Brett Woods leased him land and equipment, land Henry owns today. By 2012, he produced his first organic peanut crop, yielding nearly 5,000 pounds per acre, setting the course for everything that followed. Farm Progress records that, beyond the farm, he serves on the Loop Independent School Board and the West Texas Peanut Growers Association, and remains a lifelong learner despite formally leaving school at 12; he’s a Peanut Leadership Academy graduate.
Henry’s history in farming began at age 12, when he quit school to load “50-pound bags of peanuts” for a local farmer, simply because all he wanted to do was work. “Not much has changed,” he told Farm Progress. “I’m still doing the same thing today,” except now he loads his own planter on his own land. Marie describes him as someone who’s “never afraid to try something new,” driven not just by his own success but by improving life for his broader community.
Henry credits long-term relationships with buying points for helping him secure peanut contracts even in a year of record US peanut acreage and lower demand.
