~ Press release provided by Laurel Ridge Community College
MIDDLETOWN — The Laurel Ridge Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will be hosting the “Cultivate Your Agribusiness Conference” from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at Laurel Ridge Community College, 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown. This is a free event.
Registration and more information can be found at laurelridgesbdc.org/conference
This conference is open to agriculture businesses who are already in operation and for those aspiring to open an agriculture business. Participants can choose from nine different breakout sessions in the areas of finance, grants, insurance, accounting, tourism, business strategy and more. Industry experts will lead each breakout session.
The keynote speaker for the event will be Matthew Lohr, the fifth Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He will share the economic outlook for Agribusiness in Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley.
Lohr was raised on a Century family farm in the Shenandoah Valley and has spent his entire life working for the betterment of agriculture. He developed his passion for public service while serving as both a state and national FFA officer before graduating from Virginia Tech with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education. He has more than 30 years of experience as a professional leader and communicator.
Lohr served as Chief of the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency with more than 10,000 employees across 3,000 offices. He also previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates, as Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, as Director of the Farm Credit Knowledge Center and as a middle school agriscience teacher. In addition to serving as Secretary, Lohr, along with his two children, own and operate Valley Pike Farm Inc., his family’s farming operation.
The Laurel Ridge SBDC is an SBA grant-funded program matched by local funding from the economic development offices of Clarke County, Frederick County, City of Winchester, Warren County, Shenandoah County, and Fauquier County.
Laurel Ridge SBDC offers free one-on- one consulting and webinars
for those who want to start, grow, or sell a small business.
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AG day at Laurel Ridge College Middletown, VA. Sounds like the program was successful and should become an annual event. It is an avenue to promote Soil and Water Conservation and Bay Cleanup. In the future it would be good to have some farm implement dealers involved to promote the overall Ag. business.
Since the grape/wine industry in the Shenandoah Valley it too is an agriculture related business and should be promoted.