July 2007

Agriculture Matters media tour showcases a changing industry

Change. It can come in the form of something as odd as a blue potato. Such potatoes and other crops brought change to Hollin Farms, the former cattle operation that owners Matt and Shannon Davenport converted to a pick-your-own venture with products that run the gamut from the ordinary, such as strawberries, to the extraordinary, including a variety of corn a Bolivian family asked them to plant.

Located in Fauquier County, Hollin Farms was the final destination on last month’s Agriculture Matters Media Farm Tour, organized by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation for news professionals.

The tour featured five farms in Northern and Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. About 10 journalists joined VFBF communications staff at the apple, wine, equine, poultry and agritourism operations.

“‘Agriculture Matters’ is Farm Bureau’s ongoing campaign that encompasses a number of educational efforts,” said VFBF Communications Director Greg Hicks. “One goal is to open farm gates to media so they can learn first-hand some of the issues facing farmers and how technology plays an ever-increasing role in farming.”

At Fruit Hill Orchard in Frederick County, Katherine Whitesell gave the journalists their first taste of Virginia agriculture when she handed out Grab Apples, single-serving packages of pre-cut apples slices. Whitesell and Phillip Glaize own Fruit Hill Slices LLC and distribute their Virginia apples to about 10 Virginia school systems.

“It’s been very successful, and we’re looking at putting in our own slicing facilities next year,” Whitesell said, noting that a New York company currently slices the apples. “We got legislation through last year, with the help of [Sen.] Russ Potts, for a task force for a farm-to-school program and Web site … so we will be able to link Virginia farms to Virginia schools.”

Jim Heffernan, business editor for The Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg, said he wrote a story on Fruit Hill last year but learned more on the tour.

“I’ve always wanted to ask the question about why Virginia schools don’t buy local apples,” Heffernan said after learning that well-marketed, whole Washington apples are historically cheaper. “It just made no sense to me.”

In Rockingham County, participants toured the Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative turkey processing plant. Co-op President Jim Mason recounted the story of how local turkey growers united to purchase the plant three years ago. The co-op is now the sixth-largest U.S. turkey processor in operation.

Hilary Lewis, reporter for the Culpeper Times, said the plant was very sanitary, and the story was amazing.

“I think that people in Culpeper are going to be interested in hearing about how maybe they could come together [in a similar way],” she said.

Thirteen miles outside of Charlottesville, the tour took a scenic turn to White Hall Vineyards, where owner Tony Champ detailed the intricacies of winemaking. He also addressed questions about Virginia’s distribution law, which in 2006 prohibited wineries from selling directly to retailers.

“I was lucky; I had a distributor already,” he said. “Some of the small guys ... have been struggling. I’m hoping the new legislation [to provide a self-distribution system for smaller wineries], once they get that sorted out, will allow the [growing industry’s] momentum to continue.”

Champ serves on the VFBF Wine Grape Advisory Committee.

Lindsey Wagner with The Daily Progress in Charlottesville said she’s covering the timely aspect of self-distribution as well as the local wine industry as a whole.

“It is something that I think Charlottesville residents should be interested in since it is so close to them,” she said. “This is my first time at a vineyard, so I had no idea how wine was produced—it’s a much more complicated procedure than just putting the grapes in a vat.”

On day two, visitors to Step-at-a-Time Horse Farm, owned by Bob and Julie Williamson, discovered that constant change keeps this Culpeper family in the horse business. While there, tour participants saw veterinarian Dr. Chris Robertson perform an ultrasound to determine whether a mare was ready to be bred.

“As the economy has changed, it’s harder and harder to breed and sell,” Robertson said. “What Julie has done here, as many farmers have done, is find alternative niches to make money—basically, foaling mares, assisting in breeding of mares, training, lessons. … This is what it is going to take for people who want to make a living off of horses.”

Julie Williamson serves on the VFBF Equine Advisory Committee and is vice president of her county Farm Bureau. She said serving as a tour host was a no-brainer.

“It’s very important to our family that the horse industry is considered an agriculture industry,” she said. “Farm Bureau’s been instrumental in getting that out there. We want people to realize that we’re farming, and we’ve got a lot of the same concerns and interest that any other farmer has.”

At Hollin Farms, Shannon Davenport said a lack of land available for rent prohibited her and her husband from continuing to raise cattle and sell hay. So they researched alternative crops that could be grown on the acreage they owned.

“What I would like people to take away from the tour is that it is possible to make a living in agriculture if you really put your mind to it and you’re willing to do what it takes in your area to make a living,” she said.

Matt Davenport, who serves on the couple’s county Farm Bureau board, noted that changing with the times, as well as with customers, also helps.

“The [farm] Web site and the Internet—that’s really been the thing that has allowed this business to operate,” he said. “Sure, we get some traffic off of our signs out there on the side of the road, but most of our customers are from Northern Virginia and they’re fairly computer savvy.”

Cathy Dyson, a writer for The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, said she wants to return to Hollin Farms in August to see the potato-digging.

“I’ve always liked covering farmers, because they’re real people, and because they work incredibly hard and you just have to admire their dedication and determination,” she said. “To see farmers like we’ve seen today, who are doing something innovative, entering the 21st century and beyond and trying to make the old ways work with the new ways and appeal to a new market—it’s always interesting to see that.”