The title summarizes my feelings following our tour of Eastern Virginia. I have been immersed in the dairy industry my entire life, so learning about other agricultural commodities is one of my main goals in participating in VALOR. My mind felt like a sponge soaking up so much information about production practices, processing, marketing, trade,… Continue reading This is exactly why I signed up for VALOR!
I had the privilege of learning so much during the VALOR Class IV's first traveling seminar. We visited the Tidewater and Eastern Shore regions of Virginia. This was my first time seeing the Eastern Shore which was very interesting. It is amazing when I consider the extreme differences in many of Virginia's regions from the… Continue reading A Legacy of Peanuts
Happy 2019! The new year is a great time for reflection so here's my reflection on our second VALOR seminar. The seminar gave me the opportunity for many firsts: exploring the Tidewater area; seeing pork and peanut processing; "driving" a self-driving tractor; and driving over/under/through the Chesapeake Bay on the Bridge-Tunnel. I enjoyed the time… Continue reading People: Value, Opportunity & Challenges
VALOR stands for Virginia Agriculture Leaders Obtaining Results. Although our platform is agriculture we will be evaluating leadership in the industry and ourselves. For Session II we completed the Strengths Finder Assessment. It is a 100+ questionnaire and out of a bank of 34 options you are given a ranking of your top 5 Strengths.… Continue reading Soar With Your Strengths, Manage Your Weaknesses
The Suffolk/Eastern Shore Valor trip was eye opening, not in amazement, but in reality of the scope of capitalism, consumerism and class. I’ll probably do several blogs, so this doesn’t turn out to be half the length of War and Peace. ( I didn't do multiple blogs, its long, i'd suggest napping between paragraphs) I’d… Continue reading When your skin is your sin, it’s all about the skin you are in…
In January, I had the honor of representing Virginia in the National Farm Bureau's Discussion Meet where one of the topics was world trade and trade agreements. This experience and the recent issues with trade deals has brought exporting specifically to my attention. Many are unaware of the amount of agriculture exporting Virginia does itself… Continue reading Virginia Exporting to the World
On November 8, 2018, Dell Cotton introduced our VALOR Class to the world of Virginia Peanuts. Dell Cotton is the manager of the Peanut Growers Cooperative Marketing Association and executive secretary of the Virginia Peanut Growers Association. Virginia at one time had around 75,000 acres in 2002 with a government quota system much like tobacco. … Continue reading Virginia Peanuts
Learning about southeastern Virginia agriculture and learning BIG things!
Have you ever wondered how Virginia’s agriculture and forestry products make it around the world? How about how Virginia’s imports make it into the state. My wife just answered NO! But I am going to tell you anyway. The Port of Virginia plays a pivotal role in moving our agriculture and forestry products to far-flung… Continue reading Perdue Agribusiness Deepwater Port
Growing up, I always heard that tractors are very easy to drive. Needless to say, I can’t recall ever sitting in the driver’s seat, much less drive a tractor. On a cold wet evening at the Rogers farm that was about to change or, so I thought. Mr. Rogers was gracious enough to introduce us… Continue reading There are tractors and then there are TRACTORS! This is a story about the latter!
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