to better assure my customers of
the safety and quality of Green
Glades products, as well as to open
up new markets like larger chain
grocers in WV. It is going to really
help us grow.”
To get your food or farm
business started with the program,
contact: Jill Young, statewide VC2
Technical Assistance Coordinator,
at: [email protected] | 304-6614951; or visit the website at www.
vc2.org.
“In which case, we help actively connect them to
the existing resources. We aren’t here to reinvent
the wheel, but rather to fill in the gaps in available
training. If they need help, we find it for them.”
In addition to Young, VC2 has four other staff
working in the field to help match folks up with
needed assistance. The staff has a wide range of
experience in business and in the food sector, and
over half are farmers themselves. “I think it really
helps,” said Young, “that our business coaches can
tell a Jersey cow from a Guernsey cow. It shows that
we know farming and we’ve done our homework –
and that builds trust. Our staff is also available to
come speak at meetings, so let us know if you are
interested. We are committed to helping and we are
working our tails off to let folks know!”
One strength of VC2 is its flexibility in matching
each individual business or group with the right
consulting expertise. For example, VC2 enabled one
producer to hire a marketing consultant to design
professional-looking labels, which will enhance
the marketability and profitability of that farmer’s
value-added products. Another family farm, which
is scaling up and hiring employees, is getting
help from VC2 on a new payroll system, a better
accounting system, and a plan to transition the farm
to the younger generation. Still another producer
received business coaching to analyze financial
information and put together a loan application for
farm equipment.
When asked about the impact that VC2 will have
on his business Ben Walsh said, “VC2 will allow me
VC2 is funded by USDA Rural Development,
the Economic Development Administration, the
Appalachian Regional Commission and the Claude
Worthington Benedum Foundation. VC2 also has
a broad array of local and regional partnerships,
including the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition,
the Collaborative for a 21st Century Appalachia, the
WVU Extension Service and its WV Small Farm
Center, the West Virginia Department of Education,
the Entrepreneurship Law Center at WVU College
of Law, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture,
the Small Business Development Center at WVU
Institute of Technology, Doddridge County Economic
Development Authority, the Mid-Ohio Valley
Health Department, Greenbrier Valley Economic
Development Authority, Heart and Hand Inc., and
Tygart Valley Growers Association.
Photos, from left: Dairy cattle grazing at Green
Glades Creamery; top right, VC2 and WVDA
partnership meeting; above, part of the cheese
making process at Green Glades.
West Virginia Farm Bureau News 23