What is your name and profession?
I’m Lisa Jones, and I’m the Program Coordinator for the WVU Extension Small Farm Center which is a center under the larger Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Unit that is part of WVU Extension.
I know your work focuses on supporting folks in the agriculture business. Can you tell me what is happening in the world of agriculture in West Virginia, and how your department supports these businesses?
Let’s start with the fact that 98% of the farms in West Virginia are small farms and family farms, so they make up the majority of the farming population in West Virginia. We use “small farm,” which is a technical definition under the USDA, and it’s based on gross annual cash receipts, so basically, farm income. If you make less than $350,000 pre-tax in farm income per year, then you are considered a small farm in West Virginia. It’s important to know farmers’ and agriculturalists’ taxes can be different than other businesses, and they have a tax advantage over operating as individuals. That’s one of the things I communicate to folks—they can potentially pay less in taxes by filing as a farmer rather than as a gardener or homesteader. If they’re engaged in sales, then they should get a business license through the State Department and really run their place as a business as opposed to selling eggs to their neighbors. Take advantage of the sales tax exemption.
In West Virginia, we typically have farms with smaller acreage, in part thanks to our mountainous terrain. Our agriculture looks different compared to a Western farm operating on vast flatlands, for example. In WV it can be highly diversified, and it can be very generational depending on where you go. Lots of folks have a family history of raising cattle, so they do it because their grandparents did it. Others may have a small garden and choose to sell or give away produce to their neighbors. All these differences, plus our topography, can create extra exciting challenges.
We are extremely lucky to live in a state where a lot of our water comes from the sky or springs, and we are not in a desert where we’d be reliant on water to come from elsewhere. We have a lot of advantages when it comes to doing things like growing grass and growing produce that doesn’t require a ton of irrigation, especially for operations growing field-grown produce.
My department acts as the community liaison between the WVU and the community, so we connect farmers with professors to find the latest and greatest research. We also keep an eye on what is happening with laws on the local, state, and federal levels. Then, we make sure we translate all that information so it’s easily accessible.
One of my roles is identifying things that will help build the bottom line of a producer and ask what will add value to what we call a “raw commodity,” and that way an individual can make more of a food-dollar or fiber-dollar in an agricultural ecosystem. Then those funds have a greater chance of staying within the business for a longer period of time as opposed to expending them.
Are there any new trends or research that would be surprising or exciting to people outside of the agriculture world?
An interesting food trend right now is freeze dried food products. Research says it can retain up to 97% of the nutritional value of a fresh food product, which is awesome! It also extends the shelf life of that product by decades if stored appropriately. We’re doing an economic analysis to see if it makes sense to freeze dry different types of locally grown products and how that works within budgets. Let’s think about a school system, for example, where they have less refrigerated storage space. Freeze dried products could be a great way to get nutritious out-of-season foods—like strawberries, which are harvested in the summer—to our students during the school year.
There’s a small family-owned business in the eastern Panhandle that’s doing freeze dried products. One of the family members is very passionate about feeding people, and they have been donating tons of freeze-dried products to areas hit by natural disasters like western North Carolina, where folks are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene. Freeze-dried food is a shelf-stable and nutritionally dense food source that can be safely stored and prepared by people in those disaster-stricken areas with no access to refrigeration. It’s also a great way to prepare food for someone who is camping and looking for something more like an MRE.
I’m also working on a fiber project that’s been really exciting. West Virginia has a lot of forested lands in addition to farms. Maybe you have black walnut trees, and we could potentially harvest those walnuts either for food or use them to produce natural dye products. Another exciting project is growing indigo in West Virginia. We want companies to purchase natural indigo as opposed to a synthetic version, and certain companies have been buying more and more. Levi’s has been buying up natural indigo and have bought in to a dye company. Their consumer base is pushing for more environmentally friendly clothing, so they’re taking it upon themselves to produce the indigo, which is strengthening the market. Coalfield Development is the lead partner on a grant with WVU on growing indigo in West Virginia, and they have a reclaimed mine site in the southern part of the state where they want to try growing it.
We also have plenty of sheep in the state, so we can explore working more with wool. One of our grant projects is looking at how to add value to wool production. It’s important to know that different types of sheep breeds have longer or shorter staple length, which is the length of the individual fibers within that sheep’s fleece, and those different fibers have different uses. The carpet on your floor will be made of a very different type of wool than what is in your sweater. We reached out to some of the Community Rehabilitation Programs to see if they had interest in what’s called “scouring,” which is the cleaning and washing of the wool. We would also like to find an organization or agricultural business to help us tackle waste by pelletizing wool for fertilizer. We are looking for more partners across the state to take on those different jobs and more.
We’re also thinking about cattle and their hides, which will typically become leather, and in West Virginia we do also have a wild fur industry, which should all be included in the local supply chain. These are durable materials that offer an alternative to fast fashion and clothing items made of plastic, which quickly end up in landfills. Fashion and textile production are intertwined with agriculture. For example, some people keep silk worms for their silk fiber, and we could also grow flax for linen. My department tries to educate farmers on alternative ways they can use their land outside of commodity production, and the point is to maximize the value received from the whole farm as a system. There is no shortage of niche agricultural opportunities.
There is a biofuels group at WVU that talks about crops that can be grown on a farm that can be turned into fuel, and we have forestry folks who talk about using the wood lots on farms to produce timber that’ll possibly be used for shelter. We are expanding upon the current education to broaden people’s minds in terms of what can be sold from their farm.
How would someone access this information if they wanted to maximize their farm production?
I recommend calling your local extension office and scheduling an appointment to speak with someone. Also, we have some general information available to the public, like factsheets on our website and videos on our WVU Extension YouTube channel, so our webinars can be accessed online any time, day or night.
What are some pitfalls facing entrepreneurs who want to break into agriculture?
I try to promote only products that are sustainable and therefore may be profitable to a farmer. My goal is to help people find products that meet their personal dreams for their farms, but also be conscious of the end market before planting or starting to spend any money. We are regularly teaching risk management to benefit the farm as a business because we want our farmers to be profitable.
I personally do not talk with folks about the dairy industry because I am not a specialist in that topic, and I think it would be extremely difficult for a small farm to handle the swings in the commodity market while selling conventional fluid milk. Milk is a highly perishable product that you cannot wait long to move to consumers, so if the market price drops, having appropriate insurance is critical for that type of product to survive market fluctuations. I’m not saying it’s impossible to operate a profitable dairy farm, but it’s important to be aware of the risks before diving into any type of operation that has a large capital investment up front.
You mentioned tax incentives earlier as well as government insurance programs. What programs are available for someone getting established or seeking to protect their existing investment?
In my opinion, I recommend you build a farm team, which starts with contacting the extension agent for your area. That person could help you with so many things, like connecting to funding or recommendations on getting your soil test done every year. They have answers for the thousands of questions that come up daily. I would also tell anyone that’s going into business that you need to have a tax professional—like a CPA—who knows small business taxes and agricultural issues, since taxes can be very different when you’re talking about a farm. You also need a lawyer and maybe a financial planner depending on how many generations you want to support. Depending on your farm type and needs, you could also include a crop insurance agent and a loan officer. That is part of the team you need to build, and you should meet at least annually.
Visiting your local USDA office is always critical if you start a new farm, and you need to contact the Farm Service Agency to get a farm number if your property doesn’t already have one assigned.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has a ton of programs and great information. Let’s say you want to put up a high tunnel, for example. They have agricultural engineers who can help with designs.
Rural Development has all kinds of grant programs for things like weatherization and putting different forms of energy on your farm. This is great for farmers working off-grid, or maybe someone who wants to do geothermal or solar energy, to name a couple of scenarios.
I also recommend taking advantage of the excellent programs under the WV Conservation Agency through your local Conservation District, so sign up with them as a cooperator. There are great programs to help with funding that will cost-share a variety of farm practices, including urban agriculture. They also offer technical assistance to implement practices.
The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WVSBDC) has excellent resources for business planning. You can learn about setting up websites, apps, SEO, and explore the world of AI and how that engages with your business. Between them and the SBA, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), you can access excellent information if you’re interested in doing any kind of exporting of products. Charleston has an export center, which is helpful for farmers seeking to scale up and go beyond their small farm. Also, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture has a planning coordinator assigned to every portion of West Virginia, and that planning coordinator is the one who helps agricultural businesses comply with regulations, like using the correct label on your product or obtaining permits to sell to consumers. Their job is to make sure you’ve got everything you need to be successful.
All of these organizations want folks to succeed, so make sure to get connected with other people because these organizations will be your greatest resources.
Interview conducted, transcribed, and written by Marlynda Arnett, Program Innovation Leader for West Virginia Women Work.
