Drew Echols

Drew Echols has been farming since he can remember. A graduate of East Hall High School, Drew worked for the Georgia Power Company for 2 1/2 years before returning to Jaemor Farms to help bring a 21st-century vision to his family's 105-year-old farming operation. 

For the last 22 years, Echols has helped expand his family's peach and apple orchard to include strawberries, pumpkins, and other small produce items that are popular at the market. In 2006, Drew, along with his father and uncle, opened a corn maze at the farm, which is now an annual fall attraction for consumers in northeast Georgia. Jaemor Farms has become a tourist destination for nearly one million visitors annually. 

Outside of his work on the farm, Drew Echols has served his community and state in several capacities. He has been involved with Leadership Hall, Hall County Farm Bureau, and he has also served as president of Hall County Farm Bureau from 2009-2014. In 2010, Echols was named to the state Department of Agriculture's steering committee. He also served on the Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmer Committee, was president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Grower's Association from 2021-2022 and currently serves on the Executive Committee, UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Advisory Council, Georgia’s Soil and Water Commission board. Drew was a part of the 2015 Leadership Georgia class, a program chair in 2017, and served on the Board of Trustees from 2019-2022. Drew currently serves as a member of the Georgia Agribusiness Council board of directors, as well as the Georgia Peach Foundation for Public Education. 

In 2014 Drew and his wife, Shelly, won the Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmer Achievement Award and placed in the top ten Nationally. The Featherbone Communiversity named Drew a Master Entrepreneur in 2015. He was named Gainesville Jaycees Young Man of the Year in 2017, was awarded the Riverside Military Academy Sandy Beaver Entrepreneurial Leadership Award in 2019, and received the Junior Achievement of Northeast Georgia Rising Star award in 2023. 

In May 2024, Drew won the primary election for State Senate District 49, which includes most of Hall County. Drew looks forward to serving in the Georgia General Assembly in January 2025. 

Drew lives in Alto, Ga., with his wife Shelly (married 24 years), daughter Chloe (20), and son Cohen (16). The Echolses are active members of Level Grove Baptist Church.