Although I am not from Virginia, it’s always incredible to me when I can find a sense of home during our travels with VALOR. Our most recent seminar brought the class to the Shenandoah Valley, which actually reminds me A LOT of where I grew up in Central California. The Shenandoah Valley in VA and San Joaquin Valley in CA are both the engine of the state’s agricultural industry, and both are reliant on agriculture to fuel the local economy. I love a place where it’s not uncommon to see “regular life” and agriculture co-existing without issue or notice…something I no longer see living and working in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. While The Valley had me feeling very nostalgic about home, there were also some incredible lessons learned about adaptation and innovation.
A visit to Soli Organic was a great demonstration of leaning into innovation to create meaningful efficiency in production. Soli (formerly Shenandoah Growers) is the #1 leading national grower of fresh, organic, culinary herbs. Soli is an example of the impressive controlled environment agriculture (CEA) space, growing all of their plants in soil, indoors. President of Soli, Phil Karp, gave our class the tour, and walked us through their entire production process, start to finish. We were able to see how the team at Soli utilizes their indoor growing environment to mimic the perfect conditions to grow consistent, high-quality, and flavorful products that are sold in more than 20,000 retail locations from coast to coast. It was impressive to see how Soli leaned into the innovations in CEA, to now become the leader in their segment of the industry.
That same day we had the chance to share a meal and spend quality time with David Hughes, owner of Rivermont Farms; and Patrick Evick and Grant Martin, employees of the Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative. Over lunch David helped our class to understand the conditions which necessitated the formation of the cooperative. When the Pilgrim’s Pride turkey processing plant announced its closing, an opportunity arose for growers in the Valley to step up and control their own destiny. Hearing about the formation of the co-op, and how the producers came together for the greater good was inspiring. It was also great to hear how David manages animal health and well-being on his farm, as well as how he approaches sustainability. After lunch we were able to meet at the cooperative’s feed mill where Patrick and Grant helped our class understand how the cooperative is structured, and how the plant contracts and works with growers throughout the Valley and beyond. The genesis of the VPGC is one example of adaptation to near impossible conditions.
On the last day of the seminar, we loaded up the van and headed to Covington, VA to meet with Roger Timbrook and Cora Hedrick of WestRock. Roger and Cora toured our class around the Covington Mill and discussed how they source and process lumber to make recycled packing products for almost anything you can imagine (microwavable meals, cigarettes, medicine, etc.). It was incredible to see how every fiber of a tree brought into the plant is used to either be a part of the packaging, or burned as biomass to power the plant. As one of the largest mills of it’s type, it leverages size and scale to meet customer needs but also achieve their sustainability goals as a company. I’m glad that the foresters on staff were our guides, because it certainly helped to look at the production from the lens of the natural resources needed to yield the end product.
I really enjoyed my trip to The Valley, and hope to make it back soon. Although I only highlighted a few stops, the ideas of adaptation and innovation were front and center in every stop that we made along the way. Many thanks to all of our hosts, including VALOR supporters Secretary Lohr and the Houff family; and program alumni Kari Sponaugle, Kristin Beery, and Jennifer Leech! It’s so bittersweet to think we have one final seminar before graduation in July! Until next time friends, here are some additional photos from our seminar!
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