Buckingham County, Virginia -- First-generation cattle farmer Allen Gooden grew up outside Birmingham, Ala., attended college, and then served in WW II in the South Pacific. In addition to working as a school principal, he has been farming since 1946. He purchased his in-laws' farm with money borrowed from them; after paying them back, Gooden purchased another 60 acres and started a tree farm. "It's the best thing that has happeened to me," he says of farming.