Published: October 27, 2009 10:39 pm      

Demand said high for locally grown food

Mineral farmers meet with Green Jobs Task Force

KEYSER, W.Va. — Mineral County officials and citizens discussed locally grown food and other environmental topics at Tuesday's meeting of the Green Jobs Task Force.

County Commissioner Dr. Wayne Spiggle said the task force is trying to promote the idea “grow locally, use locally.” Local farmers Tina and Ron Higson attended the meeting to discuss their views on the subject. 

“The demand (for locally-grown food) is greater than ever before,” said Ron Higson. The Higsons sell their produce at the community farmers market and believe that business in that setting is good. However, Ron said that it is difficult to find markets outside of that venue.

Higson complained about the lack of help for his farm due to changes in youth culture. While in earlier decades, young people were readily available to help out on the farm during the summer, that has changed in recent years. The lack of young workers has made working the farm more difficult for Higson.

Writer Neil Stylinksi said that another problem facing local growers is the fact that not all restaurants in the area use locally grown produce. “Some local restaurants will, but it's not consistent,” said Stylinkski. “Restaurants prefer a dependable source that comes in a standard form.”

Task force members suggested that locally grown produce can become more popular by using an intermittent work force. Scott Staley, director of vocational education at the Mineral County Technical Center, suggested that students could work on farms in the summer as part of their training.

A second suggestion was developing a local “brand” with farmers. “We need to build up the farmers as their own brand for local consumption,” Stylinski said.

The task force also reviewed a letter of support from the county commission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a proposed hydroelectric facility on Jennings Randolph Lake. The proposal is sponsored by Advanced Hydro Solutions of Fairlawn, Ohio. While the energy produced by the facility may not be used locally, the facility would produce property tax dollars for the county.

Other topics that were discussed during the meeting included the possibility of the creation of a green jobs training facility in the county and the possibility of adding auto electrification to the vocational education curriculum.

Staley headed these discussions, saying that they could give Mineral County students a vital edge in the work force.

The next meeting of the task force will be Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. at the Mineral County 911 Center.

Contact Cory Galliher at cgalliher@times-news.com.