The Virginia Small Business Development Center, Greater Roanoke & NRV, in partnership with Virginia Western Community College and presenting sponsor Farm Credit of the Virginias, hosted Agripalooza on National Agriculture Day, March 18.
Agripalooza was created to bring together established business owners, legacy farmers, and aspiring agripreneurs to gain new knowledge, build critical connections, and access key industry resources. Secretary of Agriculture Matt Lohr and Dr. Scott Lowman of the Institute of Advanced Learning and Research headlined the event as keynote speakers.
“This conference is about ensuring that both established and next generation of folks in the agriculture industry have access to the resources, connections, and innovations they need to be successful in today’s economy,” said Heather Fay, Regional Program Director, Virginia SBDC.
In the morning keynote address, Lohr outlined a range of programs to help engage Virginians in agriculture and grow rural communities, including supporting broadband and the local foods movement. “The bottom line is that the best way to support Virginian farmers is to make them profitable,” he said.
Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) represents the future, Lohr noted. He said 90 percent of all the lettuce grown in the U.S. is produced in Salinas Valley, California, and Yuma, Arizona, on outdoor farms. “There’s a tremendous opportunity to produce these fruits and vegetables here in Virginia, and we’ve taken great steps to be a leader” in CEA. He applauded the work Virginia Western is doing to train the workforce in agriculture technology, and the work that the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research has done on the research component. Combined with incentives that Virginia has offered, “all three of these things together have put Virginia in the driver’s seat to be a future leader in indoor farming, which has been very exciting to see.”
Nine breakout sessions offered tracks of particular benefit to participants at any stage of their journey in agriculture, from expressing interest in the field to legacy farmers. Topics included capital strategies; navigating labor; hydroponics; profitability; whole farm planning; precision agriculture; marketing; insurance, tax and succession planning; and conservation practices.
For the afternoon keynote address, Lowman gave insights from the research and programs hosted at IALR in Danville that support agriculture, which he noted is Virginia’s largest industry, with a $52 billion annual economic impact. Lowman, who is a biochemist, drilled into specific research IALR has performed to increase plant survival rates and marketable yield of crops.
Controlled environment agriculture can be through a greenhouse, indoor, or a hybrid. Benefits Lowman outlined include year-round production; reduced or eliminated need for pesticides; extended shelf life; freshness from being close to the source; a pathogen free product; and innovation and high-tech jobs. AeroFarms, for example, “the world’s largest aeroponics facility, is right there in Danville,” he noted. While CEA is associated with large operations, he said that CEA also can be done on a small scale very successfully.
“We rely on partners to help innovate,” he said, with partnerships in industry and academia. Among its many missions, IALR offers internships and outreach programs.
At each point throughout the day, participants were afforded time for questions relevant to their own experiences, and two optional farm tours were available after sessions concluded.
“We at Virginia Western are thrilled to partner with SBDC to welcome members of the agriculture community to our campus for Agripalooza,” said Dean of STEM and Workforce Solutions Amy White. “At Virginia Western, we strive to foster partnerships that help those in agriculture build their businesses and provide much-needed resources to the state economy, and this event fits squarely into that mission.”
