Fourteen Virginia agribusinesses received U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to help them expand production, distribution and marketing of agricultural products.

Among the farmers and rural entrepreneurs that received Value-Added Producer Grants, 13 were assisted by the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Rural Sustainability, an affiliate of Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Companies aided by VA FAIRS received a combined $2.8 million in grant funding for their projects.

VAPG funds can be used by entrepreneurs to develop new merchandise from agricultural products, expand established product lines and increase marketing opportunities for them.

VA FAIRS-assisted clients received grants for value-added projects such as opening creameries, restaurants and tasting rooms. Others received funding to expand direct sales of dairy and meat products, beer, wine and other spirits, shucked oysters and lavender-derived goods.

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Viewers tuning into the Hallmark Channel this holiday season can feast their eyes on a delicious sight. For the first time since 2003, Beef Checkoff-funded “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” advertisements are appearing on television.

The commercials are airing during the channel’s holiday programming. Based on the “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” campaign’s successful 2019 “Drool Log” video of a prime rib slowly roasting over an open fire, the 15-second clips whet viewers’ appetites for beef as a holiday meal.

“The Virginia Beef Council is excited to see “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” aired on television again,” said Stephanie Weiss, the council’s executive director. “With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping more people at home, the Hallmark Channel provides an excellent opportunity to speak to consumers during the holiday season. Beef is a delicious comfort food that reminds folks of happy times with family and friends.”

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County Farm Bureaus, FFA chapters, 4-H clubs and agribusinesses in Virginia created a variety of displays with hay bales to compete in Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s annual Hay Bale Decorating Contest.

Now in its sixth year, the competition is a fun and fanciful way for communities to showcase their love for agriculture. It was sponsored by the VFBF Women’s Leadership Committee and ran from Sept. 1 through Nov. 1. County Farm Bureaus were encouraged to solicit entries from local businesses and organizations such as farmers markets and agricultural school groups.

“It was exciting to receive so many entries this year, considering the pandemic,” said Faye Hundley, chairman of the VFBF Women’s Leadership Committee. “Young groups took advantage of an activity they could do while social distancing and still have fun. The hay bale displays ranged from celebrating community spirit by honoring our first responders to promoting agriculture and their organizations.”

This year’s contest drew 40 entries. Winners each received a $100 cash award and were announced on the VFBF Women’s Program Facebook page.

The winners are:

• Best agribusiness, FFA or 4-H display: Wade’s Orchard in Patrick County
• Best promotional display for agriculture business or commodity: Louisa County 4-H Livestock Club
• Best agriculture-themed display: Three Rivers Soil and Water Conservation District in Essex County
• Most creative display: Botetourt County 4-H Livestock Club
• Best promotional display for community spirit: Fluvanna County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee

Casey Fabris, a business reporter for The Roanoke Times, captured Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s 2020 Ishee-Quann Award for Media Excellence, the top honor in Farm Bureau’s annual Journalism Awards program. Fabris also won in the award program’s daily newspaper category. She has been a reporter at The Roanoke Times since 2015.

Her work in the past year has included coverage of the Franklin County Agricultural Fair; opportunities for cheese processing as demand for fluid milk has declined; Christmas tree farming in a recession; the toll of last fall’s drought conditions on farms surrounding Roanoke; the work of volunteer gleaners to help feed their communities; and a pandemic-related spike in demand for local foods.

The Ishee-Quann Award is named in part for Jeff Ishee, who operates On the Farm, a daily, web-based farm news service, and who is a former serial recipient of VFBF Journalism Awards. The late Homer Quann was WSVA Harrisonburg radio’s farm news director for several decades and was known as the most dedicated agricultural reporter in Virginia.

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Matthew Heldreth of Wythe County has been named the 2020 Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers Achievement Award winner.

Heldreth was recognized on social media Nov. 30 after a virtual competition was held.

The Achievement Award honors young farmers who are successful in production agriculture and provide leadership on and off the farm. Heldreth and his wife, Shelbie, manage a beef cattle operation at Heldreth Farms, with 350 cow-calf pairs on 1,200 acres. He serves as chairman of the Wythe County Farm Bureau Young Farmers Committee.

Heldreth will receive one year’s use of a Kubota tractor of his choice; a farm utility vehicle from Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co.; and cash awards of $1,000 from Farm Credit, $500 from VFBF and $500 from Chesterfield County Farm Bureau. He will compete for the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award at the 2021 AFBF Virtual Convention in January.Sarah Large of Buckingham County was this year’s VFBF Achievement Award runner-up. Large and her husband, Frankie, finish an average of 20,000 breeding gilts annually for Smithfield Foods and own a cow-calf beef operation. She serves on the VFBF Women’s Leadership Committee and the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom board of directors. She will receive $1,500 from Farm Bureau.

The president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation said he’s proud of the accomplishments of farmers and his organization during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that much more needs to be done to give farmers and rural Virginians access to high-speed internet service.

“Just like farms needed electricity and phone service a century ago, rural Virginia will not fully thrive without broadband internet,” Wayne F. Pryor told farmers from across the state on Dec. 5 during the VFBF 2020 Annual Meeting of Voting Delegates. “The nation’s modern economy is totally dependent on this essential service, and anyone offline is missing connections to buyers, suppliers, news, educational resources and vital medical services.”

Millions of dollars in federal grants have boosted efforts to expand broadband internet into rural Virginia in 2020, and farmers are grateful for that, Pryor said.

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Goochland County hay and grain producer Wayne F. Pryor of Hadensville was elected Dec. 5 to an eighth two-year term as president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Elections of officers and directors were held during the VFBF 2020 Annual Meeting of Voting Delegates.

Pryor served as Farm Bureau’s vice president from December 1998 through November 2006 and has been a member of the organization’s board of directors since 1988.

He currently serves on the board of the American Farm Bureau Federation and as president and chairman of the Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. board of directors. Pryor has served on the Jackson, Mississippi-based company’s board for 22 years.

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Franklin County farmer Scott E. Sink of Blacksburg was elected Dec. 5 to a fifth two-year term as vice president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Elections of officers and directors were held during the VFBF 2020 Annual Meeting of Voting Delegates.

Sink chairs the VFBF National Affairs Committee, is a member of the VFBF AgPAC board of trustees and serves on the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Rural Sustainability board of directors.

He is a past chairman of the VFBF Young Farmers Committee and past board member of the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

Additionally, he is a past president of Franklin County Farm Bureau.

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A. Faye Hundley of Champlain in Essex County was elected Dec. 5 to a third two-year term as chairman of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Women’s Leadership Committee.

Elections of officers and directors were held during the VFBF 2020 Annual Meeting of Voting Delegates.

The VFBF Women’s Program, for which the Women’s Leadership Committee serves as a steering body, provides leadership and service opportunities for farm women and sponsors events that help educate the public about agriculture. The Women’s Leadership Committee chairman also serves on the VFBF board of directors.

Hundley previously served as vice chairman of the VFBF Women’s Committee. She has served 13 years as chairman of the Essex County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee.

She has been an Essex Farm Bureau member for 30 years and serves on that organization’s board as secretary. Additionally, she serves on the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom board of directors and is a past member of the VFBF Legislative Committee.

Hundley is a 2016 graduate of the American Farm Bureau Federation Women’s Communication Boot Camp and a member of the AFBF Grassroots Outreach Team.

She and her husband, Jay, are third-generation grain farmers. She attends Upper Essex Baptist Church, where she serves as deacon and financial secretary and on other committees. She also is a coach and volunteer for Area 28 of Special Olympics Virginia.

Lunenburg County farmer and Virginia Cooperative Extension agent Lindy Tucker Fimon of Warfield was elected Dec. 5 to a two-year term as chairman of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers Committee.

Elections of officers and directors were held during the VFBF 2020 Annual Meeting of Voting Delegates. The VFBF Young Farmers Committee chairman also serves on the organization’s board of directors.

Fimon, a Kenbridge native, has worked for Virginia Cooperative Extension as an agriculture and natural resources agent since 2012. She also works on Rome Farm, her family’s cow-calf operation in Brunswick and Lunenburg counties, where they raise beef cattle and grow hay.

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