September marked our class’s one year anniversary, and brought our group to the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, and Chesapeake Bay. One of the catchiest tunes that I can recall from my childhood is a song by Raffi called Down By The Bay. Unlike the character in the song we didn’t see any goats rowing boats, llamas wearing pajamas, or frogs walking dogs; we did however get to experience what life and agriculture is like Down by the Bay.
With this seminar’s proximity to the water it should be no surprise to anyone that aquaculture and fishing were heavily featured during this session. The first stop of the week was the Healthy Harvest Food Bank, where in addition to distributing more than 1.6 million meals in 2023, they are also establishing Healthy Harvest Fresh. The mission of Healthy Harvest Fresh is to educate while continuously producing fresh, locally grown food. Their aquaponics system, when fully operational, will yield 1,50 lbs of microgreens, 90,000-122,000 lbs of vegetables, and 6,000-8,000 lbs of fish. They are still working on their capital campaign, so if you have a desire to contribute to this cause, I encourage you to visit their donation page.
The other fish related stop during this seminar was at Omega Protein. The Reedville location for Omega Protein focuses on fishing menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and along the mid-Atlantic coast. Menhaden are the fish of choice because of their high oil content. In Reedville we got to tour not only the fish processing plant, to see how the fish are converted into fish meal; but we were also able to tour the fish oil refinery. It was incredible to see not only the scope of the operation, but learn about how Omega Protein is committed to sustainability. Not being from Virginia originally, I was unaware at how much regulation happens with the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding watershed. I’m not a big fish guy, but I was absolutely fascinated while learning about these industries and how Omega Protein is really a staple of the Reedville community.
Our final aquaculture stops allowed us to see oyster production. First, we visited Rappahannock River Oysters, which produces farm-raised oysters for fresh consumption. Patrick, the farm manager, did a great job walking us through the production cycle of oysters, I honestly had no idea it took 2-3 years for them to go from larvae to the table. We were then able to see the wild-caught side of things by visiting Kellum Seafood. Here we not only saw how they pack and ship fresh oysters, but we also were able to see how they process and package frozen and canned oyster products.
With VALOR, I never cease to be amazed by the incredible hospitality of the producer’s and companies that we visit. Our trip to the Northern Neck was no exception, and I was blown away by how folks rolled out the red carpet for us. During our visit at Parker Farms, we were greeted with a printed sign in the lobby, and man folks stopped to engage with us while we were on-site. Colonial Farm Credit and the board of the Northern Neck Farm Museum treated us to an evening of incredible fellowship (and delicious food, too), and even loaded us up with some firewood to enjoy back at our AirBNB. The folks at Omega Protein provided what seemed like a gourmet lunch, in addition to incredible tours. And finally, Mr. Haynie not only challenged us to confront hard topics, but also made us feel like part of his family while we learned about his operation and the work that has been done to grow Haynie Farms.
Although weather kept us from making the iconic trip to Tangier Island, I won’t soon forget my time on the Northern Neck! I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my classmates soon and experiencing all that Southside VA has to offer.
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