It felt like a lifetime since I had seen my fellow classmates since the last VALOR tour in Virginia, wayyy back in November of 2023. I was extremely excited to catch up with our tight-knit group and hear all about their travels across the world to Kenya and back. It was bittersweet not to join our fellowship on the international trip that is a major contributor to the VALOR experience, but I certainly felt like I was changed, all the same, over that same two week period that they were experiencing Kenyan agriculture.
In the late summer of 2023 my wife and I found out the exciting news that we would be becoming a family of three with her due date right in the middle of our intended trip to Kenya. Thankfully, Presley Kendall Ford decided to make her entrance into this world as a healthy and happy little girl on February 1st. Thats why my VALOR classes international trip will always be a memorable one for me, even when I was only there in spirit.
This whirlwind of a few months left me having major FOMO and eagerly awaiting to catch up with everyone, in no better of a place than my home, sweet, home in the Shenandoah Valley. Plus, this session had the added bonus of not making me go too far from my newest best friend.
We began this session with a real treat. Growing up just 15 minutes away and I had never had the opportunity to get a personal tour of the Houff Corporation and learn about all of different businesses that make up the corporation. Anyone that has been involved in Shenandoah Valley agriculture have seen first hand the incredible business that Neil and Kern, and the rest of their family, have built over the past few decades. Their families passion and dedication for excellence have continued to be passed along to the rest of their workforce through their business structure, ownership model, and empowerment of all individuals to be excellent in their role for others to succeed.
Our round table discussion over lunch with one of my Augusta County Board of Supervisors, Jeff Slaven, as well as the VP of External and Member Relations of SVEC, Jason Carter, gave us the opportunity ask questions about local issues within the agriculture industry, that I believe many around agriculture feel isolated over, such as rising property values and solar array investments. I appreciated the personal and professional viewpoints that Jeff & Jason shared, respectively, especially because of their professional experiences. There are no easy answers to these discussions going on across our industry and across the country, but I find some solace in knowing that these discussions are happening in communities just like mine because individuals care enough to ask the tough questions and not just roll over to big corporations or outside buyers.
Our quick first day concluded with a quick stop in to visit with Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, the Honorable Matt Lohr. Matt gave us the opportunity to reflect the past almost two years of our fellowship, discussing major takeaways, memories and explore common themes between our personal reflections. Thank you to Matt for the support he has given to continue to make the VALOR program available to continue to develop leaders within our industry. I look forward to continuing to see that support continue, and grow, under whomever’s leadership following the next election cycle in Virginia.
On Saturday morning we began the day visiting the Virginia Department of Forestry’s nursery in Crimora. My father was a forester for the Department of Forestry in Rockingham County throughout much of my early childhood, and spent many a day at this facility, so seeing it in operation was a treat. The work that Josh and his team do, struck me as oddly similar to some of our work at Rockingham Cooperative, all happening with limited hours in the spring, when we work to assist farmers in spreading fertilizer and treating their fields fighting the clock and avoiding rain clouds. I don’t pretend to play a major role in that part of the cooperative’s business, but definitely appreciate their tireless work during this time of the year to support our industry! The staff at the nursery take similar pride in their work and have similar work ethics during this seasonal gauntlet.
Our pre-lunch visit to Soli Organics, getting a personal tour by, President, Phil Karp, was the highlight of this session to me. Seeing up close and personal a successful early adopter of the indoor farming movement right here in the Shenandoah Valley was impressive. Having the opportunity to hear their growth and struggles to come to where they are today, a multi-location company with contracts with some of the biggest retailers in the US, would’ve been worth the visit alone. But, we also got to see their assembly line growing operation for fresh herbs. Would highly recommend this to anyone that gets the opportunity to visit. I definitely am looking forward to our visit to another of their facilities around Culpeper during our May session.
Saturday afternoon was all about poultry! A longtime VALOR supporter in David Hughes, who also happens to be a poultry farmer, and Virginia Poultry Grower Cooperative staff provided our fellowship with an elaborate history and current operations of the poultry cooperative, which happens to be one of the newest agricultural cooperative’s formed in Virginia. Their success brings a great deal of pride as an individual seeing the success when I first-hand saw a glimpse of the alternative that would’ve become to our Shenandoah Valley ag economy if the cooperative wouldn’t have been formed. Cooperative business principles run strong in the Shenandoah Valley with many successful and longstanding cooperatives operating out of the area, including my employer which just celebrated its’ 100th Anniversary (shameless plug to invite you to read about our cooperative’s history with a book I had the pleasure of writing.)
If you have never been to the Highland Maple Festival I suggest you put it on your bucket list. Or simply visit Highland County. This little piece of paradise tucked away in the western most part of the Shenandoah Valley, bordering West Virginia, is home to one of the smallest population densities in the state, but a wealth of other resources, one of which is maple syrup. For two weekends in the late winter/early spring, each year, the residents of the county coordinate a festival that visitors come from all across the country to visit. The Highland Maple Festival is a major economic driver for many businesses and non-profits in the county. Activities, food and shopping that occur those two weekends make up a large portion of the financial support that many organizations like the Ruritans, 4-H, FFA, and others receive through their fundraising efforts.
What makes the Highland Maple Festival work, of course, is the sugar camps that operate in the county. The unique blend of geography, elevation and topography of the county is the ideal environment for sugar maples to grow and flourish in the mountains. Many thanks to VALOR Class IV alumnus, Kari Sponaugle, for her hospitality and behind the scenes tour that she provided our fellowship on that cold and windy Sunday in March.
Our evening concluded with a delicious authentic Mennonite heritage meal prepared by VALOR Class III alumnus, Kristin Beery. Her family opened their arms to our group and fed us quite well, all the while being an open book sharing their families history in the Mennonite religion and being an open book to answer questions for those of us not as familiar with the plain community.
It certainly is tough to squeeze all that the Shenandoah Valley has to offer in such a short time that our fellowship has with each visit. But we pack a lot of opportunities into each trip, even in some areas of the industry that one might not expect. That was the case, atleast from my perspective, when we toured WestRock, a paper mill in Covington, Virginia. Being completely honest, I had no idea this facility existed until I received our itinerary. WestRock’s facility receives pulp wood and wood chips from saw mill’s within a 2-3 hour radius and processes them down into industrial scale paper products with production contracts all across the world.
If you’re beginning to wonder how we visited the Shenandoah Valley without visiting a dairy farm, I have good news for you! We saved the best for last! Our group spent one last stop together before parting ways at the Ingleside Dairy and Trout Farm in Lexington, Virginia. The Leech family were wonderful hosts who not only shared their family history on the farm and in the area, but also their robot milking operation, which has greatly altered their labor needs. We had the opportunity to discuss their unique pros and cons of this type of operation in comparison to a traditional milking parlor. More and more dairy operations are signing up to install robotic milkers on their farm due to continual labor concerns, among other influences, and I very much enjoyed hearing from some local producers that have gone through the transition and continue to sing its praises. The Virginia dairy industry continues to lose farms and these advancements will help our producers see a potential opportunity for continuing family farms through to the next generation.
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