[ entrepreneurship ]
Farm to Food
Enabling Our Emerging Farmers
KATLIN SWISHER
The U.S. Census is an important tool for
gauging things like a state’s population
and economic vitality. For instance, West
Virginia’s latest census results report that
the Mountain State’s unemployment rate
was 5.9 percent in December 2017 and
that the population decreased by 1.2
percent between 2010-2016. It even goes
so far as to show that the average age of a
West Virginia farmer is 60 years, slightly
older than the national average of 58.
What the census doesn’t do, however,
is portray the hundreds of young farming
entrepreneurs fighting to stay in West
Virginia, contribute to a thriving economy
and improve their local communities by
producing nutrient-dense food. With this
group in mind, the new West Virginia
Food & Farm Coalition (WVFFC) is
working to grow the local food and agri-
culture system in West Virginia in a way
that provides viable incomes for farmers
and local businesses while ensuring all
West Virginia residents have access to
locally produced food.
“Today’s beginning farmer isn’t in-
heriting land from their family, and they
didn’t grow up on the farm,” says Spencer
Moss, WVFFC’s executive director.
“They are, however, college educated and
often well-traveled. They see the effects
of industrialized agriculture on the food
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
system and the environment and have
a desire to contribute to the world in a
different way. They want to build up
the organic matter in soil, breathe life
into these small West Virginia towns
and feed their communities. If West
Virginia is trying to keep a population
of young people, then we need more
young farmers.”
Establishing a Support System
The WVFFC is making success more
achievable with its Beginning Farmer
Program. The program creates oppor-
tunities for accessing land, coordinates
a peer-to-peer learning community and
facilitates networking and the sharing
of agricultural training programs in
West Virginia.
“We are working to respond to the needs
of beginning farmers who are entering one
of the toughest professions,” says Moss.
“As more folks are trained and use our
services to create agricultural commu-
nities and connections, we can foster a
space that will promote more beginning
farmers and thus provide jobs for West
Virginians.”
The need for a program like this in
West Virginia was identified in a meeting
of beginning farmer training programs
at the Small Farms Conference in 2016.
“These programs wanted to work
together to troubleshoot problems, share
resources and build more West Virginia
farmers,” says Gabby Scrofano, WVFFC’s
logistics and program coordinator. “How-
ever, it was evident that training farmers
isn’t enough to create sustainable new
farms in West Virginia. We must provide
continued support for farmers as they
try to go out on their own and lease or
buy land, set up infrastructure and find
markets to sell their products.”
Leveraging Agriculture
Connections
What makes WVFFC’s Beginning
Farmer Program different from other pro-
grams of its kind is that the organization
does not host its own intensive training
program, focusing instead on partnerships
and social networking to help beginning
farmers connect with resources like training
programs, mentors and apprenticeships.
All the services and resources offered are
available at no charge.
Through the program’s website, www.
wvbeginningfarmer.org, the organization
maintains a database of West Virginia
farmers who host interns and are com-
mitted to helping beginning farmers gain
hands-on experience in the field of their
choosing. Prospective trainees can also