You would not think of a city having food inequalities and access issues, but in DC, the nation's capital, surrounded by immense wealth, you have just that. Life expectancy has a twenty-year difference! We heard from a great panel of Lindsay Smith, Tariq Sherriff, and Kate Lee on our recent seminar to Northern VA &… Continue reading Food Security & Access

VALOR’s most recent session took us to Northern Virginia and Washington DC. Urban ag at its finest-Endless Summer Harvest, Loudoun County Ag Economic Development, and Cultivate the City. National Policy with an array of ag representatives from Capitol Hill. Local food issues from the DC Urban Ag Department and the Anacostia Community Museum’s presentation on… Continue reading A Tale of Two Communities

Have you ever gone to bed wondering when you would have your next meal?  Gotten up the next morning and stood in your kitchen and stared at bare cupboards with nothing to relieve the hunger pain deep in your gut?  What if you had a child standing beside you, looking up to you, tears in… Continue reading To Eat or Not to Eat….

In our recent trip to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., collaboration, creativity and innovation are the qualities that resonated with me. Most in agriculture don’t think about the Northern Virginia and D.C. area having much to do with agriculture outside of politics. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Several of the places and people… Continue reading Collaborating, Creativity and Innovation Combine

The VALOR V fellows visited the Shenandoah Valley in March due to COVID altering our schedule. To us, the altered timing was par for the course for agriculturists managing their operations during this challenging year. It signified the ability of the group to be resilient and know that the changes in schedules didn’t impact the… Continue reading

Cold March rain was falling in Rockbridge County on the day we visited Ingleside Trout Farm. We made our way through the tour; we walked into the hatchery to see the new fry and then back over the bridge to see the larger fingerlings. The owner, Jennifer, tossed out cups of pellets to feed the… Continue reading “Starry Night” – Be a Seeker of Everyday Magic

What started as a way to implement new fertilizer application methods has grown and developed into four companies that focus on and value the employees. From our time at the Houff Corporation what resonated most with me was not the company’s ability to evolve and add new pieces that make sense but the way they… Continue reading Employee Focused

I notice at each stop how passionate everyone is about their work. The hosts cannot wait to tell us what they do and give us a glimpse inside their world. I would say that same passion Class V shares about their role in AG, and everyone in the previous classes shares as well. Our shared… Continue reading Passion

In March, many people think about a little pot of Gold.  It’s all about leprechauns, rainbows, lucky charms and gold coins; the luck of the Irish.  But what about Switzerland?  Virginia’s Little Switzerland. The Hidden Gem. Highland County, Virginia. Blue Grass Valley, Photo Courtesy of Terri and Doug Puffenbarger You might not find a pot… Continue reading Pot of Gold? No, Jug of Amber!