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12.06.05

Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Robert Bloxom was on hand at the 80th annual Virginia Farm Bureau Federation convention in Norfolk Nov. 29, and he had some suggestions for an age-old question: “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm?”
The “them” referred to are, of course, sons and daughters of current farmers, and the quote is the title to a hit 1919 song about luring World War I veterans back to the soil after experiencing the sights and sounds of Paris. As Bloxom said, however, it’s not the bright lights of Paris luring farmers away today; rather it’s the lure of more money and fewer hours.
“How are we going to keep them down on the farm when they can find other jobs with far less risk?” he asked the audience. “How are we going to keep them on the farm when a developer offers them millions of dollars for the land? And how are we going to keep them down on the farm when the ‘old man’ dies without a transition plan and the farm gets carved up among the boys, now in their late 60s anyway?
“These are not just esoteric questions,” he continued. “They represent what I believe is the greatest challenge to Virginia agriculture today: keeping farmers farming and ensuring that the next generation can do the same.”
Bloxom had more than questions at his appearance, though; he provided some thought-provoking answers as well, all centered around what he called “creative farming.”
While giving examples of “creative farming”—leasing out farm animals for petting zoos, growing pick-your-own Halloween pumpkins or Christmas trees—he also advised producers alternatives to keep farming financially attractive.
“Research new products, new uses for old products and new ways to get more production out of an acre of land,” Bloxom said. “We need to think something other than corn bread and corn pudding when we look at that corn field, and ask instead, ‘What else could we do with all those ears of corn?’”
Education, marketing and preservation were also crucial areas of focus for agriculture’s future in Virginia, he said.
Additional funding provided to Virginia Tech’s Commonwealth Staffing Initiative in 2006 will support 18 field specialists and 20 county/city agents across Virginia, enhancing the state’s ability to build stronger and more economically viable agriculture and forestry industries. The initiative will also, according to Bloxom, deliver programs that address issues affecting families and communities statewide.
The secretary, finishing up his first year in the role, noted that America’s demographic is changing, as is the world’s, and he urged the audience to consider new demands and needs from their neighbors and from other nations.
“Other peoples and cultures like foods that are different from some of the foods we normally eat, but that can surely be grown in our soil,” he said. “Our challenge is to learn the foods that meet their needs, then grow and sell those foods. This is a whole new special market opportunity for agriculture.”
Further, Bloxom said, farmers need to recognize the growing popularity of organic foods and not be afraid to embrace this demand. He noted that organic foods are becoming so popular that many specialty grocers are finding it difficult to meet the demand. To help gauge and meet these new niches, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently hired a full-time marketing person for specialty agriculture.
Finally, Bloxom touched on farm preservation, which he noted may be the most important focus of all.
“If we don’t work to protect out farmland and forests, we won’t have an industry to promote,” he said. “But it all works together in a kind of hand-in-glove plan. If farmers can’t make a reasonably good living at farming, they will have no incentive to preserve the land for future farming.”