Visitors to this year’s State Fair of Virginia will have the chance to learn about agriculture from the state’s largest farm advocacy group.
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation will have indoor and outdoor displays at the Meadow Pavilion during the fair, which will be held Sept. 27 through Oct. 6.
“Just look for the big red barn,” said Kelly Roberts, VFBF assistant director of member engagement and co-chair of the fair exhibit. “You can’t miss us.”
The Virginia Farmland Preservation Fund reached a milestone by securing more than 100 conservation easements for working farm and forest land.
Through matching funds that support local purchase of development rights programs, the farmland preservation program empowers localities to limit development on the farm and forest land that each community has deemed a priority for conservation.
Jimmy Messick, a Fauquier County farmer and owner of Messick’s Farm Market, has enrolled 700 acres of farmland in the program. His farm was where Gov. Ralph Northam announced the achievement and issued a proclamation commemorating the milestone.
Virginia’s largest agricultural advocacy group has mixed feelings about Gov. Ralph Northam’s recently released restoration plan for Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
“There are a lot of positive elements in the plan, but some of the mandatory requirements concern us,” said Martha Moore, vice president of governmental relations for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
The plan, referred to as the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan or WIP III, was designed to meet the state’s commitments to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution and restore the health of the bay and its tributaries by 2025. The recent version was released April 5, and public comments were accepted through June 7.
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AgPAC, Farm Bureau’s political action committee, announced in mid-August its endorsement of 39 candidates for the Virginia Senate and 87 candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates.
The endorsements are based on recommendations of local committees of farmers. “Candidates are evaluated through a grassroots process on their understanding of the needs and challenges that we as farmers face in today’s times,” said Wayne F. Pryor, VFBF president and chairman of the VFBF AgPAC board of trustees. “Those who have received the AgPAC endorsement have a history of supporting issues important to agriculture or have demonstrated their commitment through their participation in the evaluation process.
“We believe these candidates will help protect the agriculture and forestry industry and ensure that it remains the No. 1 industry in the commonwealth.”
The non-partisan VFBF AgPAC was created in 1999 and employs in-kind contributions and endorsements to support candidates who can best support agriculture and Farm Bureau issues.
Click here to see a list of endorsed candidates: https://www.vafb.com/membership-at-work/farmers-in-action/political-endorsements
Farmers are invited to submit nominations for the 2020 Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year contest, brought to you by Purina. This is the second year of the contest, which celebrates farm dogs who work alongside their people to bring nutritious food to our tables and our pets’ bowls.
Virginia farmers are among those who stand to benefit from a second round of federal aid designed to offset income losses from foreign trade disputes.
But many farmers would still prefer to see a resolution to trade conflicts rather than a government check.
“We continue to be grateful for help in these desperate times, but we must have a congressionally approved trade deal with our major trading partners: Canada, China and Mexico,” said Wilmer Stoneman, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation vice president of agriculture, development and innovation. “A trade deal now is what’s needed to improve the economic outlook for Virginia farmers.”
Two outstanding Virginians earned statewide accolades July 27 during the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers Summer Expo in Shenandoah County.
Rose Jeter of Botetourt County was named this year’s VFBF Young Farmers Excellence in Agriculture Award winner. Robby Burchett of Lee County was named this year’s VFBF Outstanding Young Agriculturalist.
The Excellence in Agriculture Award recognizes individuals for involvement in agriculture, leadership ability and involvement and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations. Jeter was the 2018 runner-up for the award.
Check out this week’s Merchandiser Minute with Farm Bureau Commodity Specialist Josey Moore!
Nestled in the rolling hills and timberland of the southern Piedmont area of Virginia, Locust Level Farm is in a part of the state where, historically, fields of two to fifteen acres produced tobacco, supplemented by row crops. Michael McDowell is the fourth generation to practice stewardship on this land—designated a Virginia “century” farm—but he has taken some decidedly different directions from those of the past.
At the age of sixteen, McDowell says that his father offered him three acres of flue-cured tobacco under a sharecropper arrangement to produce funds for future college expenses. “I can’t say how important it was to take that step. It taught me early on the value of responsibility and about the challenges and rewards of working the land to provide for my needs.” He went on the graduate from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg with a double major in animal science and agronomy.
Industrial hemp has been one of the most exciting and talked-about crops in Virginia this past year. The inclusion of hemp in the 2018 farm bill had many people — both inside and outside the agriculture sector – racing to figure out the potential market for this agricultural product. The March 2019 passage of hemp legislation in Virginia only added to this fervor.
As of July 3, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) has issued 847 Industrial Hemp Grower Registrations, 161 Industrial Hemp Processor Registrations, and 36 Industrial Hemp Dealer Registrations. Grower registration applications indicate that these Registered Industrial Hemp Growers plan to plant over 8,500 acres in industrial hemp this growing season.
Plows and Politics 