As VALOR Class VI embarked on our first trip to explore agriculture in the Commonwealth, I was excited to get to know our cohort members better and learn about the sandy, flat regions of Virginia called Tidewater and the Eastern Shore. With family in Central Virginia and the Valley, and living in Southwest, I don’t… Continue reading Find your market and serve it with passion
The first livestock that my family raised when I was growing up was three pigmy goats: Smokey, Charcoal and Frostbite. Purchased from a friend that my sisters and I happened to be in 4-H with, these three goats road home with us to our barn built in the 1800s in the back of a Pontiac… Continue reading Us Millennials Need to Know the “Why”
Much thanks is given to Kevin Beamer and his family for VALOR Class IV's tour of Virginia Produce Company Inc in Hillsville, VA during our Southwest VA seminar. I enjoyed the tour through the processing and storage facility and learning about how VA Produce Co. works with both local growers in VA and growers across… Continue reading Virginia Produce Company Inc: Seminar VI
Seminar IV in Northern VA and D.C. - Urban Ag & National Policy
VALOR Class IV toured Accomack & Northampton Counties on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
A visit to Ingleside Winery
The libation of choice of our Virginia colonial ancestors, hard apple cider, had a 200-year run in the commonwealth and the rest of the U.S. before falling out of favor in the early 1900s due to a new penchant for beer. Prohibition delivered the final blow to America’s affection for the fermented apple brew, until… Continue reading Back To The Future—How A Colonial Beverage of Necessity Is Becoming Orchard Owners’ Ticket To The Future
The third cohort of VALOR fellows were fortunate enough to have our fifth seminar in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. I may be biased, but there is no better place than Virginia’s largest agricultural county (in terms of gross receipts) to learn about agricultural leadership. And when you are in Rockingham County, the unofficial turkey capital,… Continue reading Turkey Day!
You herd right, Class III of VALOR has begun and I am honored to be one of 13 participants. VALOR is a two-year program for those in agriculture who want to develop their communication, problem solving, and critical thinking skills in addition to broadening their knowledge of agriculture in the pursuit of becoming an advocate… Continue reading Around the water cooler…
I did not grow up on a farm.  At the time, I didn't even know if I was near one.  As a child, I always thought a large parking lot was about as wide open a space as anybody needed (for skateboarding, of course), and when we'd drive past large tracts of pasture or hay fields on… Continue reading Nate Walsh – Introduction to VALOR
valeadersor.com 