Agriculture in West Virginia

By Jeremy Brannon

West Virginia was a hot bed of agriculture activity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thanks to the very same forces that are driving coal’s demise today—mechanization, industrialization, changing climate and changing markets—the agriculture industry dwindled greatly. Today, with food recalls becoming the norm and consumers putting more stock into how their food is being grown and manufactured, agriculture could easily rebound in West Virginia.

Future Farmers of America. Photo courtesy of the Arch Ellis Collection, West Virginia State Archives.

Rich History, Big Potential

West Virginia farmers are still raising livestock and growing produce, fruit, soybeans and wheat—but not on the levels they once did, though broiler and turkey production has increased significantly over the decades. Most West Virginia farms are small, the average being 176 acres with average sales in the state around $38,000. The majority of West Virginia farmers farm on a part-time basis and are aging quickly. The average age of a West Virginia farmer is 61 or older.

Kanawha County in particular could benefit from a resurgence in agriculture. People have been leaving the county in droves for five years straight. The county used to be the site of expansive farms with an abundance of cattle, grain, corn, fruit and vegetable crops. Big agriculture industries that flourished there once upon a time included wool, salt, dairy and spring water. Salt was a huge agriculture producer in the 19th century, and 52 operations existed in Kanawha County centered around Malden.

In 1898, 50 percent of Kanawha County’s population was estimated to be working in agriculture and agriculture pursuits. Workforce West Virginia reports only 3.2 percent of Kanawha County’s population is currently employed in the agriculture industry.

Among the big names in agriculture to have inhabited the county are Charleston Milling and Produce, Tanners and Dyers Extract Company, Kanawha Woolen Mills, St. Albans Flouring Mill and Sattes Mill. Produce wholesaler C.H. James, the oldest African American-owned business in the country, started in Charleston. The Gravely Motor Plow and Cultivator Company had its roots in Dunbar.

Dairy was huge in the state once upon a time. West Virginia had 64 milk distribution plants in the 1950s, and six milk plants existed in Kanawha County in 1952. Now there’s only one in the entire state, and it is in Kanawha County.

Education is Key

One way of building up the agriculture industry in Kanawha County is by adding agriculture programs to the high schools. In West Virginia there are 81 agriculture programs in 68 high schools and 13 middle schools in 48 counties. More than 100 agriculture teachers offer course work in agribusiness, plant systems, agriculture mechanics, animal systems and animal processing and natural resources, and 25 schools have meat processing facilities.  Three of these agriculture courses count as a third science credit, which is needed to graduate high school, and many community and technical colleges in the state transfer agriculture education course work to college credit.

Agriculture programs paired with FFAs—formerly Future Farmers of America—grow leaders, entrepreneurs and skilled young speakers. FFA membership in the state in 2017 totaled 5,360. This organization teaches young people how to speak, debate, create business plans and be competitive in the business world.

According to the national FFA’s August 2017 survey, 75 percent of former FFA members are working in the agriculture industry, albeit as an agriculture teacher or in the industry itself, and 80 percent of members polled said FFA involvement impacted their career choices. Ninety-two percent of agriculture courses have an agri-science theme, a higher percentage involvement related to horticulture and animal science.

Chris Daniel and Makenzie Ring displaying their grand and reserve champion bacons from the Tri-County Ham, Bacon & Egg Show and Sale. The students raise hogs and cut and cure the bacon and ham as a part of their supervised agriculture experience programs. The meat is auctioned at a local sale each March. Ring is now an undergraduate at Shepherd University pursing a degree in elementary education, and Daniel has started a sheep operation and received his American FFA degree. Photo by Jeremy Greene.

In 2017, West Virginia agriculture students’ economic impact totaled $5.5 million as part of their supervised agriculture experience (SAE). Fifty-four percent of SAEs are in entrepreneurship. According to Jason Hughes, lead coordinator of the West Virginia Department of Education’s agriculture, science and natural resources cluster, agriculture education is beneficial to maintaining and increasing agriculture production and farming in the state.

“Many agriculture careers go unfilled because of the lack of qualified individuals, so we need more agriculture education programs to supply the workforce demands,” he says. “We need more of this generation to stay on the family farm to keep producing agricultural products.”

Buffalo High School’s (BHS) agriculture program in Putnam County is popular with many agriculture businesses that often ask for student workers. Businesses in Kanawha County also request their students.

“Many students in the Buffalo agriculture program assist with sustaining agriculture in Putnam County by being employed in multiple agriculture businesses,” says Danielle Grant, an agriculture teacher at BHS.

Buffalo’s agriculture program offers one pathway—agribusiness. The agribusiness pathway is centered on the science and business end of the agriculture industry. Four curriculum for agriculture science education (CASE) classes are also taught. The curriculum heavily focuses on STEM concepts. The school has a greenhouse and acquired seven lambs for the first time this year.

“Students learn content through activities, problem solving, projects and simulated workplace experiences, which are supported by their supervised agriculture experience program,” says Grant.

Buffalo’s agriculture program also churns out a large number of young people pursuing college degrees in agriculture fields. “My first group of students who went all the way through the agriculture program are getting ready to start their junior year of college,” she says. “Of the completers in that class, 75 percent are in college for an agriculture field.”

In the Eastern Panhandle, Jefferson High School’s (JHS) agriculture program sees 50 percent of its completers pursuing careers in agriculture. According to JHS agriculture teacher Jeremy Greene, 75 percent of his students went on to pursue higher education.

“We have found that the vast majority of students who complete a concentration end up pursuing a college degree and/or post-secondary training,” he says.

JHS’s agriculture program offers students four pathways: CASE plant science; animal science; natural resources; and power, structural and technical systems. Several of the school’s agriculture education course offerings instruct students on assembling and repairing agricultural structures and equipment.

“Students finding the most success directly out of high school have been completers in power, structural and technical systems,” says Greene.

Cassie Hargis and Helena Bridwell handing out bean plants to students at Shepherdstown Elementary School as part of the Food for America Program. Photo by Jeremy Greene.

Uvilla Small Engine Repair, Blue’s Dairy, Vickers Dairy, Grantham Farm Market and Uvilla Orchard are just a few agriculture businesses seeking out JHS agriculture students. S&K Enterprises, a local landscape and tree removal service started by two brothers as part of their supervised agriculture experience at the school, regularly requests Greene’s students.

Tygarts Valley Middle High in Randolph County offers its students three pathways: power, structural and technical systems; natural resources; and CASE animal science.

“The classes and pathways prepare the students to be able to function in the agricultural setting either as an employee or to attend a college or trade school,” says Tygart’s agriculture teacher, Lee Wright. “The program has helped several students graduate who would have dropped out of school. It shows students that there are a wide variety of opportunities in the field of agriculture from research to wildlife management.”

Wright’s students have plenty of opportunities to get their feet wet in the agriculture industry during the year. “Liggett’s Supply will hire our students for after school work,” he says. “Local farmers employ the students in the summer.”

Looking Toward the Future

Thus far, Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin and Riverside High School in Belle are the only two Kanawha County high schools interested in agriculture programs. West Virginia State University Extension Service, the Kanawha Farm Bureau, Buzz Food Service, the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Department of Agriculture have partnered on two public forums put on this year showcasing the benefits of high school agriculture programs.

At both forums, Buzz Food Service President Dickinson Gould said he was interested in partnering with Hoover and Riverside’s agriculture programs should either ever come to fruition. Gould is looking to purchase more locally grown meat.

“Agriculture can and will play a huge role in diversifying West Virginia’s economy in the coming years, and growth in the industry will offer many opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs,” says Gould. “To prepare for those opportunities, students in Kanawha County deserve access to agricultural training resources as soon as possible. An agriculture program at the high school level can provide students with relevant job skills training, preparing them for careers.”

About the Author

Jeremy Brannon holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from West Virginia State University. He resides in Charleston, WV.