Harvesting Community

When purchasing produce or meat, consumers often have little certainty about where it came from or how fresh it is. As more West Virginians recognize this, an increasing number are turning to locally sourced food.

Food that is raised or grown on local Mountain State farms is handled with exceptional care from experienced, educated farmers who have the best interests of their customers in mind. Through their work, they are fostering healthy lifestyles and stronger communities and combatting problems like food insecurity.

Frank Ford, co-owner of Mountain Steer Meat Company in Lewisburg, WV, says his family farm has been essential for him and his business partner, James Tuckwiller, in learning important values and supporting their families.

“James and I were fortunate enough to be taught by our dads about livestock husbandry, caring for the land and so much more,” Ford says. “The lessons we learned about dedication, business, life and death and perseverance cannot be found outside of a family farm. The family farm is not a job; it is our lifestyle.”

Natasha Zoe, operations manager for JarHead Farms in Alderson, WV, explains that locally grown food can be picked ripe and doesn’t need to be shipped across the country or globe, reducing the need for chemicals. As the area’s only u-pick farm and host of a mobile market, the farm serves Monroe, Mercer, Greenbrier and Summers counties.

Being so deeply intertwined with their communities, family farms often build special relationships with the customers they work hard to nurture. Holly Morgan, executive director of the West Virginia Farmers Market Association (WVFMA), an organization that supports and promotes farmers markets, says this gives farmers a strong sense of responsibility to their land and their people.

“This level of transparency and trust is a hallmark of family farms, setting them apart from larger operations,” Morgan says. “By fostering these personal connections, family farms not only provide fresh, local produce but also strengthen the bond between the farm and the community.”

Not only do local farms give customers a chance to see the intricate process of their food being made, but every purchase made from a family farm is dire to the business.

Tammy Jordan, president of Fruits of Labor Inc., says getting to know local farmers helps people understand the amount of work put into their food and how, by buying from the farms, they are investing in the challenges these farms face.

Locally sourced food keeps money within the state, directly supporting farm operations in West Virginia, ensuring the continued growth of vital agricultural efforts and sustaining the essential work of family farms. Many times, this involves the employment and education of the next generation of farmers.

Eli Cook, owner of the Spring Valley Farm Market in Romney and Martinsburg, WV, Winchester, VA, and Washington, D.C., says his farm contributes to the economy by offering high school students hard but high-paying work.

“They have the opportunity to work for us and go to the markets in the city,” Cook says. “They can work Saturday and Sunday. They are long days, 3 a.m. to 3 p.m., but they have the opportunity to make $350 in two days working for us.”

Many of these students have gone on to work at the company for as long as five years, and Cook has seen them go on to be some of the most successful professionals in the area.

One of Fruits of Labor’s efforts is supporting those recovering from substance use disorder (SUD) by providing services over an extended period that help them recover and integrate back into the workforce. Individuals in recovery or at-risk youth make up 87% of the staff, and between the third quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2024, 32 participants have re-entered the workforce because of the program.

“Our products are thoughtfully prepared by people who are enrolled in agriculture and culinary training,” Jordan says. “This training is the cornerstone of our approach to recovery, but other components like a safe environment, intensive personal mentoring and ongoing encouragement provide that holistic, safe ecosystem required for long-term success.”

For Mountain Steer, education involves hosting field trips to the farm’s processing plant and supplying West Virginia students with goods. Ford says the farm is working with eight county school systems to provide them with quality beef.

“These kids need to know where their food comes from so they can make healthy diet decisions as they grow into young adults,” Ford says.

As with all aspects of farming, sustainability is a priority for locally owned farms that work diligently to ensure they are using environmentally friendly practices that help conserve their crops and promote community health.

The calves raised on Mountain Steer’s land are fed their mother’s milk, grass and locally grown corn. The farm then harvests the fat and bone to be used for things like tallow, bone marrow and dog bones. Eventually, Mountain Steer hopes to become a zero-waste company, meaning every part of a calf will be utilized in some way.

Jordan says sustainability is important for agricultural practices as well as everyone consuming those goods. She says Fruits of Labor nourishes its land, water supplies and plant selection just as it does its students.

“It is vital to be good stewards of the land so that it will be productive for future generations,” she says.

Morgan explains that the WVFMA promotes sustainability through its education programs, which include its organic production series and the farmers market education tunnel program debuting this fall.

“By advocating for local food systems, we help reduce transportation waste and encourage composting and recycling efforts,” she says.

While the benefits of running a local farm are plentiful, the path is not without its challenges. Behind the scenes, local farms are often fighting against unpredictable weather, fluctuating market prices and the constant pressure to maintain sustainable practices.

Weather is a major factor in crop health, and its unpredictability can easily catch farmers off guard. This year’s summer drought hit local farms hard, causing potentially significant damage to their crops and stunting their growth.

“Lost crops and the sale of livestock herds due to drought are lost income opportunities for farm families,” Morgan says. “Supporting farmers now with the offerings they have available is the best way to keep our local farmers farming.”

Jordan emphasizes the obstacles of managing natural systems as well, highlighting the reality many family-owned farms face of spending a lot of their time managing those difficult elements. Along with the drought, this year’s early spring was a challenge for Fruits of Labor, whose maple syrup system was cut short by it.

“Even with the challenges, it keeps me connected to the land and having faith that all things will work together each year for good,” she says.

Cook, who describes the challenges of running a local farm as limitless, highlights the economic difficulties of inflation, higher wages and higher costs of doing business, as well as the rising costs of insurance. Considering these financial difficulties, it is sometimes difficult for local farms to keep their products at a reasonable price for consumers.

The Mountain Steer farm experiences these challenges as well, but Ford says they are well worth the outcome he sees his business produce.

“Having two agriculture-based full-time jobs is difficult with long hours, no sleep and a new problem around every corner, but calving out cows, watching the sun come up and go down and seeing the joy on people’s faces when they bite into a locally raised, grain-fed steak is priceless, and we wouldn’t change it for the world,” he says.

In recent years, the demand for locally grown food in West Virginia has risen as more people become aware of the benefits of eating fresh, sustainable and transparently sourced products. With concerns about the global food supply chain and a desire to support local economies, West Virginians are increasingly seeking out places like Jarhead Farms, Mountain Steer Meat Company, the WVFMA, Fruits of Labor and the Spring Valley Farmers Market.

Zoe says that JarHead Farms has not been able to meet even half of this demand and that fruit often sells out before the farm can even bring it to market. The farm’s aggregation network has grown to house the fruit of 19 different farmers in just the last 18 months.

While at first skeptical about producing and selling farm-fresh beef, Mountain Steer found that business took off quickly, and the farm is producing more steers every year. Ford emphasizes the number of people who have said they will never go back after trying farm-fresh meat for the first time.

“The chain has been broken, and more people are reaching out to farmers markets, butcher shops and farmers for their groceries because they want fresh,” he says. “The more our consumers want farm-fresh beef, the more cattle we process and the more West Virginia farmers benefit.”

Fruits of Labor continues to grow its education, training and employment opportunities to support recovery efforts of students with SUD. Jordan says that since the farm began 23 years ago, there has been a surge of communities wanting fresh products and local businesses that purchase that product.

Farmers markets have also grown exponentially, as the West Virginia Department of Agriculture says markets have grown from 97 in 2019 to around 300 today. Morgan says as this number continues to grow, the WVFMA’s focus on sustainable agriculture and economic growth does as well.

“We want to support these markets as they navigate product regulation, vendor and community relations and other issues that markets may face,” she says.

For West Virginia, these farms provide more than just produce and meat—they offer education, employment and community support. As these farms continue to thrive, they’re meeting a rising need for sustainable, locally grown products while strengthening the bond between the land and the people who rely on it..