Our latest VALOR seminar took us to Southwest Virginia. We covered a lot of ground during this visit. (I think I heard someone in the group mention we put close to 1,000 miles on the van!) This is an amazing part of the state and I saw and learned more than I expected.
As I reflect back on our time we spent in Southwest Virginia I noticed a theme, or sense, of community and need to keep agriculture strong in those communities. Our tour included visits to Virginia Produce Company, Summerfield Farm, Grayson Natural, Landcrafted Food, River Ridge Land & Cattle and Organics, Appalachian Harvest Food Hub, Mountain Road Vineyard and Duchess Dairy. During each of these stops we heard about how each one of these operations support their local communities and how their communities support them. I am impressed with how supportive this region is of agriculture. However, I was particularly impressed with Grayson County’s support of Agriculture and their dedication and commitment to support and advocate for Ag by striving to always have someone be a part of VALOR!
As we visited Green Valley Poultry, the Virginia State Fish Hatchery in Marion, Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, Appalachian Heritage Distillery, HW Meader Coal Museum and the LMU Vet School I started to connect the impacts agriculture has on the economy in a much larger sense. Each of these locations have positive local economic impacts but because of their size and nature of business also play a vital role in Virginia’s agricultural economy.
Even though we only met for a brief period of time I felt like I made some lifelong connections while in Southwestern Virginia, and took a lot more knowledge and insight back that I ever expected
valeadersor.com 