Knowledge Center Blog

With the arrival of cooler temperatures and shorter days, it may seem like things should be slowing down on farms in the area.  However, just the opposite is true.  The fall months can be some of the busiest for some farmers – while hay season is now a thing of the past, there is still plenty happening on farms.
 

In both Virginia and West Virginia, the average age of a farmer is now over 59 years old.  In Virginia, 36% of farmers are over 65 years old.  For many farming operations, this means that the farm will be transitioning from one generation to the next, or one owner to another, in the next 10 years.

Long days, hard work, hot summers, cold winters.  No matter what they grow, farmers work hard year round to produce the best crop they can.  Livestock producers, grain farmers, cotton farmers, vegetable producers…the product doesn’t matter.  There is work to do each and every day on each of these types of operations, and a long list of things that they have to take into consideration and be prepared for.  Seed, feed and fertilizer costs; the current market price for their product; labor, sick animals, potential pest infestations (weeds, bugs or fungus) and much more are everyday concerns for farmers.  They can be inconvenient or even downright frustrating, but they are all on the list of potential problems.