Victorian Landcare and Catchment Management (Australia)
Winter 2011 Issue 52
By John Robinson

Bo (William) Wines, a farmer from Catawba Valley, Virginia, was one of more than 70 volunteers at a workday organised by Catawba Landcare at Catawba Farm.

Virginia is the heartland of the US Landcare initiative. Virginia, which covers roughly half of Victoria’s area and is home to 7.7 million people, currently has two Landcare groups. While many of the issues that confront US landholders are different, the process where groups of landholders identify issues of common concern (and these issues provide the impetus for action), are much the same as in Australia. Virginia’s Landcare groups formed from local communities seeking solutions to specific environmental, economic and land management problems. Landcare Virginia-style doesn’t have a strong focus on revegetation. Virginia has 63 per cent forest cover and a forgiving climate of more than 100 centimetres average annual rainfall. The emphasis is on triple bottom-line outcomes – making sure environmental and social factors are considered alongside financial performance. Although agriculture contributes US$55 billion each year to Virginia’s economy, 53 percent of the state’s 60,000 farmers operate at a net loss (a 2002 figure). While farming costs have risen with inflation, agricultural commodity prices and farmer incomes have remained the same. The Grayson Landcare Group was formed in 2005 in Grayson County, southwest Virginia. Grayson County has a long farming tradition. The Grayson Landcare Group promotes the adoption of sustainable farm and land management practices. This includes rotational grazing to improve productivity and installing off stream watering systems to help protect waterways

Landcare group markets its own natural foods
Members of the Grayson Landcare Group established Grayson Natural Foods in an endeavour to increase landowner incomes and return more money to the local community. Grayson Natural Foods is a co-operative, grass-fed beef cattle processing and marketing enterprise that produces and markets value-added beef and aims to enhance the viability of local farms and protect them from the pressures for subdivision.

The Angus cattle that produce Grayson Natural Foods beef are raised according to an agreed set of protocols, including no antibiotics, hormones, or steroids. To eliminate middlemen Grayson Natural Foods sells its beef hamburgers and steaks direct to consumers, including up-market restaurants in Washington DC (six hours away) and universities. All income, other than operating costs, is returned to the participating farmers.

According to Jerry Moles, Grayson Landcare Group Facilitator, consumers will pay more for quality, safety and good stewardship.

“Demand for Grayson Natural beef exceeds supply, so the Landcare group is looking for more local farmers who are willing to raise grass-fed cattle according to our strict protocols. This illustrates that our shared belief in the triple bottom-line and a willingness to work together can make a difference.”

The group has plans to establish a meat processing facility to further benefit the local economy. Momentum is building in the local foods movement across the US. In mid-2010 there were 6132 farmers markets operating across the country – an increase of 16 per cent from 2009.
This reflects the growing popularity of locally grown, farm fresh produce.

Catawba Farm a Landcare incubator Catawba Landcare Group was established in 2006 to encourage improved environmental stewardship among landholders in the Catawba Valley. The valley is at the headwaters of the Catawba Creek, a tributary of the Roanoke River and the Upper James River, which feeds into Chesapeake Bay. Catawba Landcare has instituted a streamcare program to restore and protect the valley’s streams and rivers, as these waterways ultimately reach millions of people downstream.

The 150-hectare Catawba Farm is the Catawba Valley’s major landmark. It has a long history as a resort, tuberculosis sanatorium and dairy. Virginia Tech University has owned the farm since the 1980s. In the mid-1990s it unsuccessfully attempted to sell the property for a prison, golf course and housing. The local community wanted to see the site put to a productive use and were very concerned at its potential sale.

Catawba Landcare helped develop a vision for Catawba Farm as a Landcare incubator, with the aim of it becoming a productive, sustainable and self-supporting model farm.

The group’s vision for Catawba Farm is gradually being realised. The Catawba Sustainability Centre was established at the farm in 2009, with funding from Virginia Tech University and a range of government agencies. The sustainability centre has been set up as a showcase for students and the local community. It is running projects on innovative land management practices that create better land stewardship and projects that support new and expanding agricultural and natural resource businesses.

Catawba Landcare has also played a role in the establishment of the Catawba Valley Farmers Market.

While Landcare in the US is still at a formative stage, the Catawba Landcare Group and the Grayson Landcare Group are at the forefront of efforts to promote sustainable practices among their communities.

John Robinson visited Virginia and North Carolina in 2008 on a Fellowship from Australian Landcare International to get a sense of how Landcare is being applied in the US and to see how Australian Landcarers can best support the emerging US Landcare initiative.

Read this and other exerpts from Victorian Landcare and Catchment Management here...